July 2010
9 posts
Arrived at Lewa
We flew into Lewa from Nairobi early this morn. Gorgeous flight. We are having lunch at our respective camps and heading over to Ntugi this afternoon.
We all arrived safe and sound. Getting some sleep before an early start tomorrow. The flights we both beautiful, and terrific clear skies.
Jacob, Ntugi’s ex-principal, and the current godfather of the program here in Nairobi is coming down to meet us for a short welcome.
Nairobi!
We arrived safe and happy, although a bit tired. Jacob, Ntugi’s ex-principal, dropped by for a far-ranging conversation. Now some sleep and off to Lewa in the morn. Pic to come.
March 2010
54 posts
Keep updated with Ntugi Day Secondary School at their website: http://www.ntugischool.com
We’re back in Toronto! Thanks for following Twitter, keep updated on Tumblr for some follow-up blog posts: http://UCCvisitsLewa.tumblr.com
We’re relaxing at the hotel, leaving for Toronto later tonight.
Check out our Flickr stream for some photos of our last day at Ntugi: http://www.flickr.com/photos/UCCVisitsLewa
Settling in at the hotel.
We just landed in Nairobi and are driving to the hotel.
On our last day at the school, we spent lots of time with the students playing badminton and music, painting and exchanging emails.
The final assembly was very heartwarming, with several students giving moving speeches about their experiences. We will miss Ntugi!
Please visit our Tumblr blog for an update about the new Arts programs at Ntugi: http://UCCVisitsLewa.tumblr.com
Wrapping Up - Arts
With today being our last day at the school, we have started process of making sure everything will keep running smoothly after we leave. We hope that this post and the next summarizes our successes both in technology and lasting friendships with the students of Ntugi Day Secondary School.
Photography
Prior to the trip, we purchased 3 Casio EX-G1 cameras for the school. Connor and I led...
Richard also began the re-painting of the faded wall murals at the Ntugi Day Primary School.
Check out our Flickr stream for photos of teaching and mural painting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/UCCVisitsLewa
Today, we created Gmail accounts for every student in Form 2 and 3 and also demonstrated how to use Google Docs.
Today, we set up every Form 4 (Gr. 12) with their own ntugischool.com email account and also played music and badminton with the students.
Today we went on a full day game drive. We were extremely lucky and saw 5 rhinos together, 3 cheetahs and a female lion with cubs!
Check out our Flickr stream for some new photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/UCCVisitsLewa .
Today we spent the day in Meru, picking up supplies from Nakumat and various stores around the town.
Check out our Tumblr blog for an update at http://UCCVisitsLewa.tumblr.com
Updates
Our trip to Kenya so far has been both eventful and successful – from the journey to our home at Lewa to our work at the school. We hope that this blog post encapsulates what we have achieved since we arrived.
After a very cramped flight and a long drive from Nairobi, we arrived at Marwell Research Station, our home at Lewa Wildlife Conservatory. During the first couple of days, we stayed at...
We also are going to Nakumat (Kenyan Wal-Mart) to pick up some supplies.
After an exhausting week of teaching, we’ve decided to spend the weekend relaxing at Marwell.
Today, we got to watch a school-wide track and field sporting event that ran for the whole day.
Richard ran the 400m and found the altitude challenging, but managed to complete the race.
Today, we were successfully able to create Gmail accounts for almost every student in the school.
We also found a student in Form 1 (Grade 9) who is naturally good at using computers and she helped us set up lots of accounts.
We also found a Form 1 (Grade 9) student who had a natural knack for computers and she helped us a lot in setting up accounts for her peers.
Today, we were able to set up Gmail accounts for almost three full grades at the school (with very few errors).
WatchGoogle Docs
WatchNicholas
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WatchMVI 6809 - Version 3 HD
WatchMVI 6809 - Version 2 HD
WatchMVI 6809 HD
WatchGuess a Number
…but we all enjoyed the rest of the day. We taught photography, art and music and everyone had a great time.
Today was a very exhausting day. Due to the amount of computers and cell interference, we overloaded our internet capacity at the school…
Our First Day Back
Today, after almost a year, we finally made it back to Ntugi Day Secondary School. We spent part of the day reacquainting ourselves with the teachers and the school, and got to see what progress has been made with the program that we implemented last year. The students have continued to use the OLPCs, and the teachers have continued to integrate the computers into classes.
We spent the rest of...
We just got back from Ntugi and are uploading photos from today - check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/uccvisitslewa !
We’re at Ntugi and are showing the teachers Google Docs: an online document/presentation/spreadsheet suite: http://docs.google.com .
We are looking for panels that provide enough power to charge the laptops, and a solar controller that provides both 12V and 5V outputs.
We have found out that our solar panels are able to sustain charge in the laptops but not increase charge.