The Kakamega Pilot Preamble
The Kakamega Pilot was carried out from 28th-4th March 2011.It was a huge success and a lot was learnt and gained from the pilot. The People
The following were the participants in the Pilot.
1. Limoke Oscar http://wikimedia.or.ke/User:Limoke_oscar 2. Alexander Wafula http://wikimedia.or.ke/User:Xelawafs 3. Sarah Osano 4. Stephen Wanjau 5. Lilian Nyamboga 6. Branton Obwari
The Schools
The following were the schools visited and the experiences learnt from them. St.Peter's Mumias Boys High School
It has around 20 usable computers.The Office was not that much receptive although they okayed the same.I think they did not really understand what it was all about.The Deputy Head teacher whom I had contacted during the pre-visit had been transfered.Nevertheless we were allowed to install in there student computers.Interestingly,one etcher who was working in the computer lab noticed what we were doing and on being explained to,was really excite and instantly he searched and found very rare Art notes he was teaching his students!Excited,he printed the same and went out to fetch other teachers to explain to them the same.It was explained to a few teachers who liked the idea so much.Although we did not have audience with the students,we were glad that a few teachers learnt and liked the project. Muslim Boys Secondary School
Very receptive School.Problem was they had very old computers.Most of which did not have USB ports or DVD Roms(We will post pics soon).We installed in a few student computers and to the office and staff computers.We also made a presentation to the a huge number of students.The lab technician requested some utility software which unfortunately we did not have after a power blackout caused there central examination repository computer to crash. Unfortunately it was while we we had just started installing Kiwix!! We also encountered a problem with the Director of Studies computer which apparently crashed after we had used a flash disc from the student computers to install in his computer.Alex-our IT guy later explained why it may have crashed still after we had formated the flash disc.That the viruses may still have been transfered in our computers and the student computers thus still after formating,they still got transmitted to the flash from our computers. Alex was however quick to correct a repeat of the same by finding a way to make our flash discs "Read Only".Together with Stephen,they successful made our flash discs "Read Only" and thus more secure. Mukumu Girls High School
Very receptive.First School to have audience with the Principal in Her office.She really liked the idea and so did all the teachers.We installed in all the Student computer labs and office computers of the school.We had a presentation with to the Students and teachers.the students really found the Wikipedia very resourceful especially those who were preparing for the Science Congress for Kenyan Schoolshttp://wikimedia.or.ke/index.php?title=Science_Congress_for_Kenyan_Schools&action=edit&redlink=1 Sigalagala Technical Institute
The first and only college we visited.Very receptive.Had audience with the Principal and the Management Information System Officer.They really liked it and asked us to come back for a presentation to the students later!A technical challenge due to the logistics and budget constraint. Vihiga High School
Very receptive.Had a brief presentation to the teachers who really liked the idea.Installed in all the student computer labs and all the office and personal computers of the teachers.Had a presentation to the students. Mbale Shalom Academy
First and only private school we visited.Very receptive.had audience with the management of the School. Installed in all the student computers.Very good computers.Had a presentation to students and teachers Kakamega High School
very receptive school.has very good Computers.Installed in most of the student computers and office and personal computers of the staff.Had a presentation to the students and teachers. St.Agnes Shibuye Girls
I was skeptical about this school.The head teacher had earlier on been quite 'afraid' with regards to the MoE's letter.but the Director of e-leaning was very supportive.he made sure it was a success.despite having a power blackout,they switched to a generator.We installed in a few computers as not all the computers were served by the generator.We also had a presentation to the students and teachers who were so excited by it. On the sides
The Kakamega had lots of fun too.after a hard days work,we visited all the tourist spots around.We visited Mumias Sugar Companyhttp://wikimedia.or.ke/index.php?title=Mumias_Sugar_Company&action=edit&redlink=1,"The Bench" in Muliro Gardenshttp://wikimedia.or.ke/index.php?title=Muliro_Gardens&action=edit&redlink=1 ,The Crying Stonehttp://wikimedia.or.ke/index.php?title=The_Crying_Stone&action=edit&redlink=1 and the Kakamega Foresthttp://wikimedia.or.ke/index.php?title=Kakamega_Forest&action=edit&redlink=1.Great food and entertainment was in plenty.Pics will be uploaded soon.... Alex was able to re-design our completion certificate that Abbas had sent on our way to the first school. Awesome work Alex Thanks for the awesome work guys,lets keep the fire burning.Limoke oscarhttp://wikimedia.or.ke/User:Limoke_oscar 10:05, 7 March 2011 (CET)