Learning Gives Back - Elliott & Cathy Masie for Malaria No More

One Laptop Per Child??? Africa Implications

2007-12-27T16:23:00.000Z

One Laptop Per Child Arrives! - First Impressions

While in Africa, this very strange looking machine arrived at The MASIE Center LAB. It was our early edition of MIT's One Laptop Per Child - XO Machine.

The timing was perfect, as the goal of this project is to put laptops for education and growth into the hands of children in the developing world. What is you could create a $100 computer, that didn't require expensive networks, operated in tough environments and was part of a collaborative open source learning experiment.

Tom King, one of our MASIE Learning Fellows, will provide a much more in-depth review. But, here are some of my early observations after 15 hours of use/testing:

It is amazing to see a small, powerful, open source based machine, that is optimized for e-learning - both collaborative, creative and "game-changing"
The network function uses these funny two "ears" that pop up, creating a visual map of nearby machines (which can be linked for peer collaboration) as well as WiFi and mesh school networks.
We are fascinated by the provided programs that can use used for learning, including the "Measure" feature, which can be linked to a thermometer, rain gauge or even a e-microscope which can be used to study skin for disease states.
The machine can be imprinted easily with local languages. I would have loved to see a touch screen, like the iPhone, but the $100 level cost is a challenge and the color screen was quite powerful.
You can recharge the laptop with a pull cord device, allowing its use in non-electrified areas.
This is a very cool device. We are shipping several of these to our colleagues in Africa to provide some rapid feedback from the field.

Here is video that Tom King pointed us to from Yves Behar, the designer of the machine. It gives a great perspective on the project:

Learning Makes All The Difference!

2007-12-22T10:14:00.000Z

One significant impression from our trip to Africa is the role that Learning and Training play in making a difference in Africa.

Each of the development projects that we visited, from health care to micro-loans, to AIDS prevention to economic development had one key success factor:

Effective Learning and Training Practices

All the economic assistance in the world will not make a significant difference without good learning and teaching.

While I know the topic of learning was raised often, due to the work that I do, it hit a deep resonant chord in every conversation. Teaching people the skills, information and context they need to survive and then hopefully, thrive, in this environment is totally based on access to good learning.

And, learning here is not about technology. It is about the basics of how people learn. Access to expertise, structures for practice, feedback on performance and support for transfer to the work/living place.

Tabaski Festival - Sheep Sacrifice

2007-12-21T07:12:00.000Z

It is 7 am in Dakar, Senegal on the morning of the Festival of Tabaski. This is considered to be one of the biggest Muslim Festivals of the year - The Feast of the Sacrifice.

According to the Qur'an, Allah asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son. Though Abraham was deeply troubled by Allah's request, he agreed to perform the sacrifice as a sign of his obedience. But just before Abraham began the sacrifice, Allah told him to offer a sheep instead.

To remember Abraham's offering, every family sacrifices a sheep on Tabaski morning. The rest of the day is spent in prayer and celebration. Everyone wears new clothes. Parents give their children presents and money. People feast on roast sheep and share the meat with others. They visit family and friends, and give thanks to Allah.

For the past few days, the streets and markets have been filled with sheep for sale. Even the poorest of families will try to raise the money for a sheep or at least share one in a smaller village.

There is great excitement in the air because of Tabaski. We can feel the importance of the Festival. Interestingly, the actual day of Tabaski , which is based on the lunar calendar, isn't known for certain ahead of time. The imans at the mosque watch the movements of the moon and announce it at the mosques and also on the television and internet just a few days or even hours before the Festival begins.

To read a detailed account of the holiday of Tabaski: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabaski

Field Lessons

2007-12-20T13:28:00.000Z

We visited, with CARE Mali, a group of Health Relay volunteers - on the ground trainers from the villages. Here is a 5 minute video, with their views as well as an impromtu "train the trainer" lesson in the field:

Mobile Phones in Africa - Quite Different

2007-12-19T16:56:00.000Z

The mobile phone in Africa is quite different and rapidly changing some cultural and economic aspects. The growth of mobile phones has been the largest in the "developing world" with a massive surge in Africa.

First of all, a new phone costs about $50 and a used one can be found for as little as $10. Instead of a monthly bill, requiring a credit account which is impossible here, people buy Scratch Off cards from street vendors for amounts as little as $1. They enter the code and amount is placed on their accounts. And, it is free to receive calls and quite cheap to make one or to send a text message.

There is significant innovation for how the mobile phone is used. Day laborers will get a message telling them where there is work that morning. There is a growing use of a the mobile phone as a banking process and some systems allow someone to transfer a "micro transaction" from one phone to another. And, the mobile call can keep together a family that has been forced to disperse to various parts of a country due to economics or conflicts.

The mobile phone culture extends to communities without electricity or running water. People can drop their phone off in a vendor to get it recharged from a car battery for a few cents.

There are also some very interesting uses of mobile phones to keep track of patients are using AIDS medicine with daily reminders to take their pills at key times.

Here is an interesting article about Mobile Phones in Africa from MIT: http://prom.mit.edu/whyafrica.html

Montage and Reading

2007-12-18T20:19:00.000Z

Here are two videos from Mali.

1) Montage of video and images from our trip to Mali.

2) Elliott and an "e-reader" in Mali:

A Photo - Sunset on the Niger - Mali, Africa

2007-12-16T20:39:00.000Z

Impressions

2007-12-15T18:59:00.000Z

I have posted video and photos from our 5 days in Mali, as part of the Malaria No More mission, yet it is difficult to convey the impressions, emotions and learnings that are swirling around inside of me this evening. So, I'll share a few phrases and stories:

Handing a mosquito net to a Mali woman and her child was so powerful. Her 1 year old boy had just received a Polio, Measles, Deworming, Vitamin A treatment and now she had a treated net. These things will keep her son from becoming one of the 20% of infants who will die in the first five years of their lives. She says Merci and held her son as they walked 2 miles back to their village.
Sitting in a clinic as 30 local health volunteers showed us how they are conducting training with railroad staff, police and workers on how to use a condom to prevent HIV spreading. Their comfort with talking about sexual topics was striking.
The smile on the President of Mali as he launched the Malaria Health Campaign that would reach 95% of families in his country.
The voice of the "Village Talker", a Mali town crier, as she calmed the 150 women on line that they would get their Nets, even though it was getting dark. She travels to villages, as the traditional source of news, supporting the campaign.
The conversation that I had as a Jew with Islamic religious leaders about the connection between our faiths and the need to link modern health issues to scripture.
Teaching our guide how to edit his first movie, in the lobby of our hotel, on my Macbook.
Watching 60 Global Agencies cooperate on an effort, with low ego and remarkable coordination.
Viewing the impact of the internet on a whole range of changing perspectives here in Africa (more about that in a few days)

Thanks for listening. We would love to get your emails while we are here.. just send a note to emasie@masie.com

Learning Gives Back

2007-12-14T18:44:00.000Z

Here is a 3 1/2 minute video from Elliott Masie from the clinics in the villages of Mali. It includes a "thank you" from the children of Mali to the people who donated the Malaria Nets.

Video from Malaria Net Distribution in the Field

2007-12-14T13:32:00.000Z

Here is a short video with some short clips from our first day in the field here in Mali, Africa

Athlethes Join Us in Mali for Net Distribution

2007-12-14T01:45:00.000Z

Three wonderful professional sports professionals are in our small delegation here in Mali. We have been pleased to get to know these sports stars and social activists:

Diego Gutierrez, midfielder for Major League Soccer’s (MLS) Chicago Fire

Dwayne De Rosario, midfielder for MLS Houston Dynamo and MLS Cup 2007 MVP;

Ruth Riley, center for Women’s National Basketball Association’s San Antonio Silver Stars and two-time WNBA champion and Olympic Gold Medalist

Diego, Dwayne and Ruth have added a key element to this campaign..a connection to sports and youth. They have been engaged in all of our briefings and are an incredible spokespeople for the Malaria and Health Campaign.

The Logistics of Millions of Nets

2007-12-14T00:54:00.001Z

Here is how they nets made their way to Mali. I quote Steven Phillips, ExxonMobil's Medical Director for Global Issues and Projects as he tells of the logistics of a campaign to get bed nets, which protect people against malaria, to hundreds of thousands of people.

Here is the story of how each of the 2.26 million nets will make their way into the hands of a pregnant Malian mother and all mothers with children under age five (The nets were funded by a consortium including the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative, the Canadian Red Cross, Malaria No More, and the UN Foundation's Nothing But Nets campaign.):

Orders were placed with a manufacturer who sourced the nets from Vietnam, seven months pre-campaign. The nets were contained and shipped in 58 "high cube containers" (40 x 9-1/2 x 8 feet), from Vietnam to a sorting transit point in Spain. Each container holds about 38,000 nets.

The cargo was sorted and re-loaded to a second ship for its journey through the Straits of Gibraltar and down the West African coast to Dakar, Senegal. It took 55 days for the shipment to arrive in the port of Dakar.

Over the next two to three weeks the cargo was transported over 1,200 kilometers of road and rail to Bamako, Mali. It required a further seven days to clear customs.

The 58 containers were transferred to the only three warehouses in the country large to store them. They filled the three 1100 square-metre warehouses.

The distribution plan called for 40 health districts to receive shipments in six regions of the country over a radius of 600 km from Bamako. A single transport company won the tender and used 60 runs by 40 trucks to deliver bales of uncrated nets. Transport was about 50 percent on "tire roads" which are paved, and 50 percent on unpaved dirt roads. It required ten days to accomplish this phase. Many of the roads would have been impassable in the rainy season. The paradox was striking – the nets could only be delivered reliably during the dry season, when malaria risk is the lowest.

From the 40 district locations nets were subdivided for shipment to 975 health centers. It took one to 10 days to accomplish this. While awaiting trans-shipment, the bales of nets were often subject to "outdoor warehousing" with a hired security guard sitting on top of the bales to prevent theft.

From the health centers, the nets were sent to 2,000-3,000 distribution points with a radius of 5-20 km. This was accomplished via a variety of transportation modes including bicycle, donkey-cart, camel and "push-push", a local cart-like conveyance pushed by human power.

For mothers who could not make it to the final distribution points, mobile teams on bicycles and motorcycles would deliver the nets to their villages and dwellings. In the end, all of Mali's 15,000 villages are covered.

Elapsed time: seven months. Number of people coordinating logistics: six. Lost or damaged nets: none.

First Day in the Field - Malaria Net Distribution

2007-12-13T23:00:00.001Z

This was a very powerful day, emotionally and physically.

We will post a longer blog entry tomorrow, but it started at 8 AM with a launch of the Malaria campaign with the President of Mali and then we journeyed to several health clinics about one hour north of the city.

At each clinic there was a line of about 100 women, with 1 or 2 children each, to have their child immunized against Polio, dewormed, get Vitamin A and then receive a Malaria Net.

The children and mothers were participating in an unprecedented effort to decrease child mortality. They fully embraced us as visitors and it was so moving to interact and even help to distribute the nets.

Many more images and videos to follow...

Interview with Kass - Mali Resident

2007-12-13T14:14:00.000Z

Here is an interview with a man in Mali, about the impact of Mosquito Nets on Malaria in his life over the past few years. While there have been adult uses of Nets, the current campaign will extend this to 95% of the infant population from birth to age 5.

Mali Singer Video

2007-12-13T14:03:00.000Z

We were invited to a special reception the night before the launch of the Malaria lntegrated Health Launch. There was a Mali Band that was awesome. I taped a minute of it to use with a video conference that we did last night to students and faculty at Skidmore College

Sheep for Holy Days

2007-12-13T06:37:00.000Z

In a few days, there is a very holy celebration here in Mali. One of the traditions is for a family (or a group of families) to slaughter and then eat a sheep. Throughout Bomako there are men taking sheep to market.

A Huge Health Campaign in Mali

2007-12-11T23:04:00.000Z

The Health Campaign that is about to start here in Mali is huge and historic. In addition to the Malaria Nets that are being distributed, this is actually one of the largest health campaigns aimed at infants in Africa.

Starting in 2 days, every child in Mali under the age of 5 will be the focus of a major campaign that will provide Polio, DeWorming, Vitamin A as well as the Nets. In other words, the campaign will bring comprehensive interventions to every child under the age of 5.

Today, we met our delegation, which is one of dozens of organizations that are supporting this campaign. The donation from our Learning Gives Back efforts at Learning 2007, are part of the Malaria No More component. There are also significant contributions from the Canada Red Cross, the President's Malaria Initiative as well as many others.

Our delegation is great, including Muslin religious leaders from the US, professional soccer and Women's professional basketball.

Landed In Mali

2007-12-11T08:16:00.000Z

On Monday night, after flights from New York to France to Mali, we landed in Africa.

We were met on the tarmac of the Bamako airport, as the members of the delegations gathered from diverse parts of the world.

There is great excitement about this "Integrated Distribution" that will be distributing the Malaria nets, as well as Measles and other vaccines. There are representatives from the UN, the UN Foundation, Canadian Red Cross, Peace Corps and other agencies.

Daughter of Malcolm X on Trip

2007-12-07T22:26:00.000Z

Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, is joining us on the mission to Mali. She and several other Muslin community leaders will be part of the international delegation.

"I'm thrilled to work with Malaria No More to alert Americans to the malaria crisis ravaging Africa," said Ms. Shabazz. "That I have a family connection to Mali only makes the problem that much more personal."

Ms. Shabazz has committed her life to exploring her family's legacy and
empowering youth. She is author of "Growing Up X".

What is a Bed Net? Prevention for $10!

2007-12-07T22:04:00.000Z

During this trip, more than a million Bed Nets will be distributed in Mali. Here is an explanation about the Bed Net:

"Long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (LLINs) work by creating a protective barrier against mosquitoes at night, when the vast majority of transmissions occur. The African malaria mosquitoes generally bite late at night or early morning, between 10pm and 4am. Most mosquito nets can accommodate more than one person – a mother and an infant or a few siblings – for up to three to five years. A net treated with special insecticides offers about twice the protection of an untreated net, and through its repellency, can even protect other people in the room outside the net. When enough people (about 70 percent) sleep under LLINs, entire communities, even houses without an LLIN, can be made safer."

Questions from Skidmore Students about Mali/Malara

2007-12-06T21:18:00.000Z

10 Questions from Students at Skidmore College about Mali and Malaria...

5,000 Mosquito Nets from Learning Field

2007-12-06T16:55:00.000Z

It all started with Melinda Doolittle, our favorite Idol, and the generosity of thousands of learning professionals.

At Learning 2007, we donated and collected over $50,000 to buy Mosquito Nets for the Malaria No More Project.

Cathy and Elliott Masie are seen here, along with Melinda and Scott Case, as this contribution was made.

But, this is just a beginning in the Learning Gives Back Project. The next step is our journey to Africa on December 10th, to be part of a massive distribution of Mosquito Nets and other health projects in the country of Mali.

We are honored to represent the Learning field on this mission and will be going with a range of other governmental officials and religious leaders. We will be meeting with the President of Mali and visiting villages where these nets will be distributed ... to save lives!

We encourage you to be part of this virtual trip with us. Follow-along on this blog, leave your comments and of course, we would love to have you contribute $10 or more, to buy a Mosquito Nets. Together, we can all make a difference!