Finishing Up Our Work

Our time at MITS is quickly coming to an end. As we reflect on what we have accomplished, we feel pretty good about everything we've done. Here's an overview...

We installed Windows XP on the eight desktop computers in the Learning Center. This gives them a total of fourteen XP workstations at the Learning Center and twelve at the Computer Shop. The virus threat on all of their machines has been neutralized...at least for the time being.

We were able to get the three wireless/radio antennas mounted at about twenty-two feet in the air, connecting the computers at the girls center, with the computers at the shop and at the Learning Center. This allows computers at all three locations to access the file server and media server. This is a BIG deal.

We installed all of the audio and video files and teaching and learning resources onto the file server. All together, there was about 200 GIG worth of resources copied over. We were also able to install a lot of productivity software on the work stations...Open Office, Picasa, Audacity, iTunes, PhotoStory, etc, etc, etc.

We went into Eastleigh and visited the bases on two occasions and ventured into Mathare Valley once. The primary goal was to get photo and video footage to be used in future MITS presentations. We have enough footage (both on the streets and back on the farm) for several feature-length movies. The real work on this will begin once we get home and start editing.

We introduced blogging to the students and staff. This morning, we set up a blog at www.made-in-the-streets.blogspot.com that the students and staff will HOPEFULLY begin posting to soon. There are so many people all over the world that care about them and pray for them, I really hope they will keep us all posted on a daily or weekly basis. This could make the biggest change for them of anything we've suggested, so I am hoping they will follow though.

We spent a lot of time with Moses and a few other teachers and we feel confident that they are capable of moving forward with the upgrades we've suggested. We have been really careful during our visit trying NOT to impose our agenda or way of doing things on the staff. We want to support their work without taking ownership from them. They are already doing SO MANY things well, we didn't want to American-ize their system. We are leaving everything in VERY CAPABLE hands.

I am not going to list the time we have spent getting to know the kids, visiting with staff, walking and talking, throwing the frisbees, roasting corn around the campfire, hugging and handshaking, listening to life stories and visiting classrooms, because it hasn't seemed like work at all. That time has been the most rewarding and will produce more benefits than anything else we've done. My hope is that I will be able to return next summer and pick up right where we leave off this visit.