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>I seriously doubt getting power is an issue you have no idea what you're talking about. the average salary of a teacher in subsaharan africa is 100$/month. a

>I seriously doubt getting power is an issue you have no idea what you're talking about. the average salary of a teacher in subsaharan africa is 100$/month. a kwh in uganda is ~ $0.17. a liter of gas is ~$1.50. only the wealthiest schools have generators and they save them for powering lights during exam prep periods. people aren't getting around on motorbikes - moto taxis exist and people pay for them but only wealthy people own them outright. nm the cost of even a small generator (north of probably $300).

contingencies 9y ago
OK well if they've got power, assuming your prices, let's say a KwH is about what an hour class would use. So USD$0.17/class, one class per day, 20 classes per month, 20 * USD$0.17 = USD$3.4/month. The teacher won't be the one paying, the community will gather money if required. A small generator is USD$40 to buy here in China as I stated, not USD$300. You are making a mountain out of a molehill. (Edit in response to below: Please, enough personal attacks. I see solutions. You see problems. Fine. Logically, while poverty is real, using your figures USD$3-4/month spread across a community is clearly a non-issue if teachers are on USD$100/month. I don't need to physically visit Ghana to validate that, and if it really is an issue I am sure we can find it amongst those donating hardware to contribute a few dollars annually.) (Further edit: Maybe you are confusing Uganda's situation for Ghana's. Uganda is way poorer than Ghana. "Ghana's rapid growth accelerated poverty reduction, cutting the poverty rate from 52.6% to 21.4% between 1991 and 2012. In 2012, Ghana's poverty rate was less than half the African average of 43%. Extreme poverty declined even more, dropping from 37.6% in 1991 to 9.6% in 2013." versus "With a per capita income of under US$170, Uganda today is one of the poorest countries in the world")
- mlevental 9y ago
  >The teacher won't be the one paying, the community will gather money if required. you are beyond clueless. any school that has a computer is a private school. public schools have zero money. there is no community doing fundraising - you're talking about people who absolutely literally live on <1$ a day and have never seen a computer before in their lives (let alone are willing to contribute money to power one). >A small generator is USD$40 to buy here in China as I stated, not USD$300. how much do you think it costs to ship? how high do you think import tariffs are? do you plan on holding every generator that every school needs on your lap on a flight over? i had to buy a socket wrench once - it cost me 30$ because it was imported. >You are making a mountain out of a molehill. i lived in rural uganda for two years and taught high school. i know exactly what i'm making into a mountain. these people can't afford toilet paper and soap. they shit into shallow holes in the ground. teachers read aloud from textbooks and students copy verbatim into trash notebooks (made out of discarded newspaper) because they can't afford textbooks. they eat boiled corn flour every day for their entire lives - a soda is a treat. just no clue man. how about this: spend the $1000 on a plane ticket and go see for yourself rather than sending rpis that no one will ever use and learn about what it's really like so you can then go on to educate others. > I see solutions. You see problems. lol. go ahead. do it. report back to us in a year how you've found the silver bullet the NGO community has been looking for for 40 years.
  - mirimir 9y ago
    What do you think of http://one.laptop.org/ http://one.laptop.org/ ?
    - mlevental 9y ago
      africa doesn't need computers. it needs clean water, soap, anti-malarals, and nutritious food. cover those things and then worry about computers.
      - jacobolus 9y ago
        This is somewhat patronizing. Have you tried asking rural African schoolteachers what they most need? Empirically, many people all over the developing world are prioritizing communication devices over those other things you listed.
        mlevental 9y ago
        >Have you tried asking rural African schoolteachers what they most need? yes. many times.
        SlowBro 9y ago
        How about: Each computer comes with a bar of soap, and with the skills learned you can compete in the world and afford all the soap you will ever need? I don’t see it as either/or. When computers are used properly many can lift themselves from poverty. I know because that’s what I did.
        mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
        My man! Let them have soap!
      - mirimir 9y ago
        Arguably what they need is the infrastructure to produce and distribute all those things. And the economic activity for people to afford them. Except as an emergency measure, aid tends to destroy all that. But a prerequisite is education, of course. And aren't computers a key part of modern education?

contingencies 9y ago

OK well if they've got power, assuming your prices, let's say a KwH is about what an hour class would use. So USD$0.17/class, one class per day, 20 classes per month, 20 * USD$0.17 = USD$3.4/month. The teacher won't be the one paying, the community will gather money if required. A small generator is USD$40 to buy here in China as I stated, not USD$300. You are making a mountain out of a molehill. (Edit in response to below: Please, enough personal attacks. I see solutions. You see problems. Fine. Logically, while poverty is real, using your figures USD$3-4/month spread across a community is clearly a non-issue if teachers are on USD$100/month. I don't need to physically visit Ghana to validate that, and if it really is an issue I am sure we can find it amongst those donating hardware to contribute a few dollars annually.) (Further edit: Maybe you are confusing Uganda's situation for Ghana's. Uganda is way poorer than Ghana. "Ghana's rapid growth accelerated poverty reduction, cutting the poverty rate from 52.6% to 21.4% between 1991 and 2012. In 2012, Ghana's poverty rate was less than half the African average of 43%. Extreme poverty declined even more, dropping from 37.6% in 1991 to 9.6% in 2013." versus "With a per capita income of under US$170, Uganda today is one of the poorest countries in the world")

mlevental 9y ago
>The teacher won't be the one paying, the community will gather money if required. you are beyond clueless. any school that has a computer is a private school. public schools have zero money. there is no community doing fundraising - you're talking about people who absolutely literally live on <1$ a day and have never seen a computer before in their lives (let alone are willing to contribute money to power one). >A small generator is USD$40 to buy here in China as I stated, not USD$300. how much do you think it costs to ship? how high do you think import tariffs are? do you plan on holding every generator that every school needs on your lap on a flight over? i had to buy a socket wrench once - it cost me 30$ because it was imported. >You are making a mountain out of a molehill. i lived in rural uganda for two years and taught high school. i know exactly what i'm making into a mountain. these people can't afford toilet paper and soap. they shit into shallow holes in the ground. teachers read aloud from textbooks and students copy verbatim into trash notebooks (made out of discarded newspaper) because they can't afford textbooks. they eat boiled corn flour every day for their entire lives - a soda is a treat. just no clue man. how about this: spend the $1000 on a plane ticket and go see for yourself rather than sending rpis that no one will ever use and learn about what it's really like so you can then go on to educate others. > I see solutions. You see problems. lol. go ahead. do it. report back to us in a year how you've found the silver bullet the NGO community has been looking for for 40 years.
- mirimir 9y ago
  What do you think of http://one.laptop.org/ http://one.laptop.org/ ?
  - mlevental 9y ago
    africa doesn't need computers. it needs clean water, soap, anti-malarals, and nutritious food. cover those things and then worry about computers.
    - jacobolus 9y ago
      This is somewhat patronizing. Have you tried asking rural African schoolteachers what they most need? Empirically, many people all over the developing world are prioritizing communication devices over those other things you listed.
      - mlevental 9y ago
        >Have you tried asking rural African schoolteachers what they most need? yes. many times.
        SlowBro 9y ago
        How about: Each computer comes with a bar of soap, and with the skills learned you can compete in the world and afford all the soap you will ever need? I don’t see it as either/or. When computers are used properly many can lift themselves from poverty. I know because that’s what I did.
        mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
        My man! Let them have soap!
    - mirimir 9y ago
      Arguably what they need is the infrastructure to produce and distribute all those things. And the economic activity for people to afford them. Except as an emergency measure, aid tends to destroy all that. But a prerequisite is education, of course. And aren't computers a key part of modern education?