vendredi 25 septembre 2009
GOMA DEPLOYMENT
We were selected to deploy 100 xo latops trough the One Laptop Per Child Corps Africa Movement 2009 in the city of Goma. this city has been victim of several years of war and of volcan iruptions . children of this city have grown up seeing bad events and images of war and other bad things.
THE ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD PROJECT
The One Laptop Per Child Association, Inc. (OLPC) is a U.S. non-profit organization set up to oversee the creation of an affordable educational device for use in the developing world. Its mission is "To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning."[1] Its current focus is on the development, construction and deployment of the XO-1 laptop.
The organization is led by chairman Nicholas Negroponte, and Charles Kane, President and Chief Operating Officer. OLPC is a 501(c)(3) organization registered in Delaware, USA[2] and is funded by member organizations, including AMD, Brightstar Corporation, eBay, Google, Marvell, News Corporation, SES, Nortel Networks, and Red Hat.[3][4] Each company has donated two million dollars.
OLPC has generated a great deal of interest in the Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), in education and One to one computing fields of research.
The organization is led by chairman Nicholas Negroponte, and Charles Kane, President and Chief Operating Officer. OLPC is a 501(c)(3) organization registered in Delaware, USA[2] and is funded by member organizations, including AMD, Brightstar Corporation, eBay, Google, Marvell, News Corporation, SES, Nortel Networks, and Red Hat.[3][4] Each company has donated two million dollars.
OLPC has generated a great deal of interest in the Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), in education and One to one computing fields of research.
THE ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD PROJECT IN THE CONGO
THE THE ONE LQPTOP PER CHILD project came in the Democratic Republic of the Congo thanks to the OLPCorps project 2009. this was a new initiative of the OLPC to eauip groups of students with 100 XO Laptops; a server and a budget to start the One Laptop per Child project in african countries. We applied trough the University of Kinshasa and were selected to initiate the One Laptop Per Child project in the city of Goma in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In this picture Eddy Mintela and Mr Dieudone Mushamalirwa the counselor of the prime minister.
TRAINING THE KIDS
The city of Goma
Goma is a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the western branch of the Great Rift Valley, and Goma lies only 13 to 18 km (8-11 mi) due south of the crater of the active Nyiragongo Volcano. The recent history of Goma has been dominated by the volcano and the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, which in turn fuelled the First and Second Congo Wars. The aftermath of these events was still having effects on the city and its surroundings in 2009.
Goma is capital of North Kivu province, ethnically and geographically similar to South Kivu (capital Bukavu); the two provinces are known as "the Kivus".
Goma at the centre of the refugee crisis
The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 was perpetrated by the Hutu-dominated provisional Rwandan government on the Tutsi population. In response the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) formed by Tutsi refugees in Uganda invaded Rwanda, forcing the Hutu provisional government to Gisenyi. As the RPF won the upper hand, Hutus fled to Gisenyi then, from July 13 to July 14, 1994, 10,000–12,000 refugees per hour crossed the border into Goma as the Great Lakes refugee crisis took shape. The massive influx created a severe humanitarian crisis, as there was an acute lack of shelter, food and water. Shortly after the arrival of nearly one million refugees, a deadly cholera outbreak claimed thousands of lives in the Hutu refugee camps around Goma.
[edit] Goma in the First Congo War
Hutu militias and members of the Hutu provisional government were among the refugees, and they set up operations from the camps around Goma attacking ethnic Tutsis in the Kivus and Rwandan government forces at the border. For political reasons the Kinshasa government of the then Zaire led by Joseph Mobutu did not prevent the attacks, and so the Rwandan government and its Ugandan allies threw their support behind the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaire, a rebel movement led by Laurent Kabila against Mobutu. Rwandan forces stormed the camps at Goma, resulting in thousands of additional deaths, and with their help and that of Uganda, Kabila went on to overthrow Mobutu's regime in the First Congo War, ending in 1997.
[edit] Goma in the Second Congo War
Within a year Kabila had quarrelled with his former allies, and in 1998 the Rwandan government backed a Goma-based rebel movement against Kabila, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD, sometimes called RCD-Goma) made of Banyamulenge people, related to the Tutsis. They captured Bukavu and other towns, and the Second Congo War began. The Goma refugee camps, in which the Hutu had created a militia called the FDLR (Democratic Force for the Liberation of Rwanda), were again attacked by Rwandan government forces and the RCD.
The Second Congo War was unprecedented in Africa for the loss of civilian life in massacres and atrocities. By 2003 the Banyamulenge had become tired of the war and friction emerged between them and Rwanda. In 2002 and 2003 a fragile negotiated peace emerged between the many sides involved in the war.
[edit] Conflict since the end of the war
There have been numerous outbreaks of violence since 2003. The Hutu FDLR remains in the forests and mountains north and west of Goma, carrying out attacks on the Rwandan border and on the Banyamulenge. The Congolese defence forces are unable or unwilling to stop them, and as a consequence Rwanda continues to support Banymulenge rebels such as the RCD and General Nkunda, and to carry out incursions into North Kivu in pursuit of the FDLR.[1]
In September 2007 large-scale fighting threatened to break out again as the 8,000-strong militia of General Nkunda, based around Rutshuru, broke away from integration with the Congolese army and began attacking them in the town of Masisi north-west of Goma. MONUC (United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) began airlifting Congolese troops into Goma and transferring them by helicopter from Goma International Airport to Masisi.[1]
Main article: Battle of Goma
On October 27 2008, fighting broke out in the city between the Congolese army, supported by MONUC, and Nkunda's CNDP rebels. 200,000 refugees had fled the town
Volcanic activity around Goma
2002 Eruption of Nyiragongo
Computer image of Nyiragongo volcano generated from satellite photographs, showing the Goma-Gisenyi conurbation on the lake shore in the foreground. In the background, left, is the Nyamuragira volcano.
In January 2002, Nyiragongo erupted, sending a stream of lava 200 metres (219 yd) to one kilometre (1,100 yd) wide and up to two metres (6½ ft) deep through the center of the city as far as the lake shore. Agencies monitoring the volcano were able to give a warning and most of the population of Goma evacuated to Gisenyi. The lava destroyed 40% of the city (more than 4,500 houses and buildings). There were some fatalities caused by the lava and by emissions of carbon dioxide, which causes asphyxiation. The lava also covered over the northern 1 km of the 3-kilometre (10,000 ft) runway of Goma International Airport, isolating the terminal and apron which were at that end.[3] The lava can easily be seen in satellite photographs,[4] and aircraft can be seen using the 2-km (6,500-ft) southern section of the runway which is clear of lava.
In 2005, volcanic activity again threatened the city.
[edit] The threat posed by Lake Kivu
Main article: Limnic eruption
Lake Kivu is one of three lakes in Africa identified as having huge quantities of dissolved gas held at pressure in its depths. One of the others, Lake Nyos, experienced a limnic eruption or 'lake overturn', a catastrophic release of suffocating carbon dioxide probably triggered by landslides, which killed nearly two thousand people in the area around the lake. Kivu is 2,000 times bigger and also contains dissolved methane as an additional hazard. Nearly two million people including the population of Goma live in the vicinity of Lake Kivu and could be in danger from a limnic eruption triggered by one of the nearby volcanoes and the earthquakes associated with them
Goma is capital of North Kivu province, ethnically and geographically similar to South Kivu (capital Bukavu); the two provinces are known as "the Kivus".
Goma at the centre of the refugee crisis
The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 was perpetrated by the Hutu-dominated provisional Rwandan government on the Tutsi population. In response the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) formed by Tutsi refugees in Uganda invaded Rwanda, forcing the Hutu provisional government to Gisenyi. As the RPF won the upper hand, Hutus fled to Gisenyi then, from July 13 to July 14, 1994, 10,000–12,000 refugees per hour crossed the border into Goma as the Great Lakes refugee crisis took shape. The massive influx created a severe humanitarian crisis, as there was an acute lack of shelter, food and water. Shortly after the arrival of nearly one million refugees, a deadly cholera outbreak claimed thousands of lives in the Hutu refugee camps around Goma.
[edit] Goma in the First Congo War
Hutu militias and members of the Hutu provisional government were among the refugees, and they set up operations from the camps around Goma attacking ethnic Tutsis in the Kivus and Rwandan government forces at the border. For political reasons the Kinshasa government of the then Zaire led by Joseph Mobutu did not prevent the attacks, and so the Rwandan government and its Ugandan allies threw their support behind the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaire, a rebel movement led by Laurent Kabila against Mobutu. Rwandan forces stormed the camps at Goma, resulting in thousands of additional deaths, and with their help and that of Uganda, Kabila went on to overthrow Mobutu's regime in the First Congo War, ending in 1997.
[edit] Goma in the Second Congo War
Within a year Kabila had quarrelled with his former allies, and in 1998 the Rwandan government backed a Goma-based rebel movement against Kabila, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD, sometimes called RCD-Goma) made of Banyamulenge people, related to the Tutsis. They captured Bukavu and other towns, and the Second Congo War began. The Goma refugee camps, in which the Hutu had created a militia called the FDLR (Democratic Force for the Liberation of Rwanda), were again attacked by Rwandan government forces and the RCD.
The Second Congo War was unprecedented in Africa for the loss of civilian life in massacres and atrocities. By 2003 the Banyamulenge had become tired of the war and friction emerged between them and Rwanda. In 2002 and 2003 a fragile negotiated peace emerged between the many sides involved in the war.
[edit] Conflict since the end of the war
There have been numerous outbreaks of violence since 2003. The Hutu FDLR remains in the forests and mountains north and west of Goma, carrying out attacks on the Rwandan border and on the Banyamulenge. The Congolese defence forces are unable or unwilling to stop them, and as a consequence Rwanda continues to support Banymulenge rebels such as the RCD and General Nkunda, and to carry out incursions into North Kivu in pursuit of the FDLR.[1]
In September 2007 large-scale fighting threatened to break out again as the 8,000-strong militia of General Nkunda, based around Rutshuru, broke away from integration with the Congolese army and began attacking them in the town of Masisi north-west of Goma. MONUC (United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) began airlifting Congolese troops into Goma and transferring them by helicopter from Goma International Airport to Masisi.[1]
Main article: Battle of Goma
On October 27 2008, fighting broke out in the city between the Congolese army, supported by MONUC, and Nkunda's CNDP rebels. 200,000 refugees had fled the town
Volcanic activity around Goma
2002 Eruption of Nyiragongo
Computer image of Nyiragongo volcano generated from satellite photographs, showing the Goma-Gisenyi conurbation on the lake shore in the foreground. In the background, left, is the Nyamuragira volcano.
In January 2002, Nyiragongo erupted, sending a stream of lava 200 metres (219 yd) to one kilometre (1,100 yd) wide and up to two metres (6½ ft) deep through the center of the city as far as the lake shore. Agencies monitoring the volcano were able to give a warning and most of the population of Goma evacuated to Gisenyi. The lava destroyed 40% of the city (more than 4,500 houses and buildings). There were some fatalities caused by the lava and by emissions of carbon dioxide, which causes asphyxiation. The lava also covered over the northern 1 km of the 3-kilometre (10,000 ft) runway of Goma International Airport, isolating the terminal and apron which were at that end.[3] The lava can easily be seen in satellite photographs,[4] and aircraft can be seen using the 2-km (6,500-ft) southern section of the runway which is clear of lava.
In 2005, volcanic activity again threatened the city.
[edit] The threat posed by Lake Kivu
Main article: Limnic eruption
Lake Kivu is one of three lakes in Africa identified as having huge quantities of dissolved gas held at pressure in its depths. One of the others, Lake Nyos, experienced a limnic eruption or 'lake overturn', a catastrophic release of suffocating carbon dioxide probably triggered by landslides, which killed nearly two thousand people in the area around the lake. Kivu is 2,000 times bigger and also contains dissolved methane as an additional hazard. Nearly two million people including the population of Goma live in the vicinity of Lake Kivu and could be in danger from a limnic eruption triggered by one of the nearby volcanoes and the earthquakes associated with them
mardi 25 août 2009
First Steps
The University of Kinshasa students were selected to deploy 100 xos in the city of Goma
in the province of North Kivu in the Democratic republic of Congo. When applying to
the Olpcorps project, we’ve selected a partner NGO situated in the city of Kinshasa
which is the capital of the Congo. That’s why the 100 xos were sent to the city of
Kinshasa instead of being sent to the city of Goma directly. These machines were stored
in security, first in the University of Kinshasa , than in the office of the vice-prime
minister in charge of reconstruction.
Today we started the process of moving the 100 xos from the city of Kinshasa to the
deployment area.
This is Eddy Mintela
We continued to work and it was not a long or hard work, but we were happy and proud
of doing that job.
Still working
We finished and were ready to move
The 100 xos were in twenty big boxes and they were five Xos in each boxe.
The first thing we did was renting a car to move the laptops from the office to the cargo
service. We approached several companies and were a bit concerned because DHL was
not serving in the other provinces of the Congo. This is by far one of the best and safe
cargo company in the world. As the aviation company in the congo is one of the most
dangerous in the world, we were careful to choose the company that would transfer the
228 kg package. Finally, we chose Trans Air Cargo Services which is a company
specialized in the cargo field.
Here we started putting the boxes in the vehicle
In the left of the vehicle is Emmanuel Diasso and we were putting the boxes of the XO
laptops in the vehicle
After some minutes, we reached the entrepot of the cargo service. The package had to be
arranged in order to be transferred to the airport. Here is our arrival to the cargo service
entrepot..
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