[Foundation-l] Languages and education

[Jens Ropers]

> Anthere wrote:
>
>> (...)
>>
>> all asked for books. Only books. Not
>> food, nor money, nor sweets, only books. And they
>> wanted books in french language. I told them "but you
>> can't read french". But this is what they wanted
>> nevertheless.
>>
>> (...)
>>
>> Computers in these villages is out of question. They
>> have electricity but I doubt a computer could survive
>> long in such an environment (I spent two hours in the
>> local gendarmerie, they have desks, paper, pens and
>> sand). However, most of our youngest guides had an
>> email adress and went on the net thanks to cybercafes
>> in Tamanrasset.
>>
>> There might be things to do no ?

On 5 Jan 2005, at 14:58, Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales wrote:

> This is absolutely fascinating to me.  Just really fascinating.
>
> I think this is the kind of knowledge we have to have, knowledge of
> real conditions in real places, in order to be able to help
> effectively.
>
> --Jimbo

Seconded.

Caution may be advised however:
If, say, we get something going and distribute books ''from France'', 
this could easily be seen by local (Algerian) politicians/nationalists 
as "some French-American organization is trying to subvert our 
education system by hijacking our children's literacy development." 
Very bad mojo/karma/blood. Yes, I agree with Anthere's (implied) 
suggestions, but if we even try to do something, we should be very 
diplomatic about it and thread very carefully. Make sure our 
non-affiliation and charitable nature is very much known and possibly 
involve the (Algerian) national through local government and/or kindly 
ask them for advice or even permission. Make sure our attitude does NOT 
get to be: "What a crappy country and f*&ked-up government/education 
system. Heck, we can do this SO much better." And make sure local (ie. 
Algerian) people KNOW that that's not our attitude. Just asking people 
nicely and showing them that we fully respect them will often work 
wonders. And make sure that they know that they can become Wikipedians, 
too.

-- ropers [[en:User:Ropers]]
     www.ropersonline.com