FOSSI/FOSSI PNG

 FOSSi - Papua New Guinea

Letter of Request:

I am from a rural coastal village called Gavuone in the Central Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG). I have come over from PNG to NZ to do my Masters in Social and Community Work, leaving behind my family. I have two sons and a daughter who are currently attending the Gavuone School. My children had to be moved from an urban school to a rural school which is difficult for them as the rural schools do not have the necessary facilities that you may have in your schools. Gavuone school is in a remote area and has approximately 600 students. These students would be between the ages of 7 to 14. We have about 40 - 50 students in a class to one teacher. The computers you have given will be going to this school. All the students do not know how to use computers and they do not have access to or own a computer because of financial difficulties. Your gift will mean a lot to them. Teachers also do not have access to computers too. Resources and materials are lacking. While you sit on chairs and have tables most of our children sit on the sand to learn. Even if there is a library, we do not have good books or they are old books. Obviously the computers will be taken care of by the Principal and he should be able to teach the students how to use the computers and obviously access information that is required...for example science information, geography information and other areas. I would like to share this story with you, my daughter sent a text message asking me to name some non-flowering plants, rather than her sending this txt she could have easily accessed this information on the computer if there was one, wouldn't she. Anyway she got an excellent score.

The Principal, teachers and students have heard about these computers that will be given to them and they are really excited at receiving them. Once again thank you so much for your assistance.

From the request

 * 10 computers were decided upon
 * A Dunedin (Group/Organisation) donated/paid for freighting
 * Gavuone School was organised to supply monitors
 * Warrington School was asked to assist
 * They were already giving away FOSS computers to their own community
 * University of Otago found 10 good quality retired computers
 * 6 Acer Veriton 5800 and 4 HP Compaq Evo towers
 * Warrington students, Dunlug members and friends assisted with the Ubuntu install
 * The Makerspace Dunedin supplied the inner city venue

Requested

 * Internet, Science, Geography suitable for students 7-14 years and teachers

Conclusion

 * Due to a mix-up with storage and shipment by one of the organisations involved the computers were never dispatched to PNG. This was most disappointing for all people involved in the project.

This project is now closed!