Quick update to announce that Phase 4 of Kids on the Grid is underway. In the aftermath of the devastating April earthquake we are working to resupply schools in Helambu with computers. Our first two batches of laptops have just arrived in Kathmandu, supplied by Orbitz.com and carried by Michael Burak of Vermont and Craig Miller of Seattle. The HELP team is considering applications from various schools who are interested in receiving laptops, so they will be put to good use soon.
We have more laptops awaiting transportation – let us know if you know anyone heading to Nepal soon. In addition we are working to get hold of more donated computer equipment and would welcome any connections with organizations potentially interested in providing their retired machines to a worthy cause. We have also started exploring transportation options for larger volumes of computer equipment and are optimistic we can find a good solution in partnership with another NGO working in Nepal.
Michael Burak delivering laptops to HELP’s Jimmy Lama and Chiring Lama, September 2015
Craig Miller delivering laptops to HELP’s Jimmy Lama, October 2015
On 25th April 2015 a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal, killing over 9,000 people and injuring more than 23,000. The earthquake devastated the lives of people in the Sindhupalchok area where Kids on the Grid and our partner Helambu Education and Livelihood Partnership (HELP) operate. Whole villages were flattened, 470 of the 545 schools in the area were destroyed, and 85 of the 100 computers in our partner schools were destroyed.
HELP has been working hard over the last few months to provide basic relief and make sure kids are not denied access to education. The team has just completed 46 of 49 Temporary Learning Centers (TLCs) which will enable kids to continue their studies until permanent schools can be rebuilt, and is now focused on planning for long term rebuilding. You can see some of the great work they’ve been doing here – https://www.facebook.com/mondohelp.
We at Kids on the Grid are now exploring how we can get computers back into the schools, as these are one of the things that will excite kids to come back to school. We are exploring access to more laptops via Orbitz.com and other partners, and are looking into various options to transport the laptops to Nepal.
Below are a few photos showing some the devastation and relief work the HELP team has been doing. If you would like to provide any funds to support HELP’s grassroots rebuilding work you can do so here.
Timbu School Girls Hostel – before and after the April 2015 earthquake
Norbuling School – 27th April 2015
Helambu village – May 2015
HELP delivering food and blankets to Norbuling School – May 2015
Distributing shelter kits in Bhotenamlang village – May 2015
Temporary Learning Centers starting to operate – June 2015
Temporary Learning Center at Dabchung village – July 2015
A belated update on an exciting third phase of Kids On The Grid. In May 2014 Ian and Lindsay Harford spent 2 weeks visiting schools in Helambu to investigate the current state of the project. They also brought 10 laptops donated by Orbitz.com and distributed these to schools, bringing the total laptops provided by Orbitz to 35.
Ian and Lindsay visited 12 schools in Helambu with various HELP (Helambu Education and Livelihood Project) staff. They were impressed by the work being done by HELP and the huge strides in improving the building and classroom infrastructure. Considerable work has been put into building an initial computing facility in half of the schools, but a lack of skills amongst the staff has limited their usefulness. There is a clear opportunity to provide better computing training for teachers at the schools and the team is in the process of investigating this. Some initial experiments with internet access for emailing have also been made by individual schools and the team is making progress in investigating various options for internet access for schools in this area.
Our 15 laptops for Phase 2 have just arrived in Kathmandu. Many thanks to Art Freeman, Jeff Hancock, Virginia Felton and David Galvin who carried these 11,000 kilometers from Seattle! They were collected today by Chiring Lama and Narayan Bhandari Srijan from HELP who were key members of our Phase 1 trip in May and are driving this project forward on the ground.
Can’t wait to hear about the next phase of their journey to kids in Helambu schools!
Our 15 laptops arrived safely in Seattle this week after a long trek across the western US from Chicago, and received a warm welcome from Art Freeman and his cat. Art is CFO of The Mountaineers Books where I serve on the board, and he and 3 friends including fellow board member Jeff Hancock have kindly agreed to take at least some of the laptops to Nepal next week. Many thanks Art, Jeff and team!
The laptops were all in great health today and are now resting up ahead of a long push to Basecamp 3 in Kathmandu next week.
I’m very excited to share that 15 laptops just started their journey to Nepal. They left Orbitz HQ in Chicago yesterday and are winging their way to Seattle right now. From there they will hitch a ride with some friends heading to trek in Nepal the following week.
Let me know if you know anyone else heading to Nepal soon as they may not have space for them all… and we hope to get more laptops to send soon too!
Many thanks to the Orbitz.com team and in particular Chris Chiames for orchestrating this so efficiently!
Children at Nakote school recently showed Jimmy what they have learnt of their new laptops! Jimmy was thrilled to see that they can do so much on MS Word and Excel. Congratulations to the Nakote students!
Check out the Gallery for more photos of the pilot project in Nepal!
We have just completed our pilot project in the Himalayas to connect kids to the internet.
We delivered 10 laptops donated by Orbitz.com to 4 schools in rural Nepal, where most of the kids had never seen a computer. It was exciting to see how keen the kids were to play with the laptops and use them to learn English, mathematics, geography, and even Word and Excel. We were very happy to find that these villages in Helambu now have electricity, although it is intermittent, making laptops much more suitable than desktops.
First taste of computers for kids in Helambu, May 2012
The next step is to connect these schools to the internet. The team in Nepal has just successfully tested a wireless dongle from two of the schools. It is fantastic news that wireless data is available in these rural areas. The kids had been really interested to hear about the concepts of the internet, search and email, and it will be exciting to hear about their first experiences online.
We are keen to scale the project to get many more kids on the grid. We have access to more great refurbished laptops via Orbitz, and the key challenge now is importing them to Nepal without heavy import duties. We are working on a few angles…
In the meantime check out a few photos of the pilot project in our Gallery.
Kids on the Grid 