Chilanga Primary School

On our way to Lusaka at the start of our homeward journey, we called at Chilanga Primary School, a very large school catering for many vulnerable children. The computers had been moved from their normal hub to the library so that they could be spaced out for the Grade 9 ICT Practical exams. The IT teacher, Joel had made a good job of this.

Our purpose this time was to install a Synology DiskStation to deliver RACHEL to all PCs on the network. Howard and Joel worked together on this and Joel also had some practice on making and testing network cables. When all the PCs are moved back on Monday, the system should be fine. We were not quite sure that the DiskStation hard drive was functioning perfectly so have bought a replacement which can work alongside.

We could access RACHEL resource from the Synology DiskStation via iPhone or any other wireless device and when cabled, all the PCs will access it too.

On Saturday morning we visited ABESU Women’s Cooperative at Chongwe. We had arranged to check out their solar set up along with two technicians from Muhunya Solar. The community was 6Km up a dirt road off the main road. They had ten solar panels which were very dusty and were no longer functioning efficiently. The technicians looked at the controllers and inverter and everything was as should be. They were using eight batteries and these seemed to be the problem. Either they had not been fully charged before initial use, or too many appliances had been connected to the system so that they were not keeping charged above 50%.

Our handy technicians checked over the generator that was driving the water pump and advised what action needed to be taken there.

Solar Power for Kawila

The main purpose of this visit to Zambia was to install solar power via solar panels at Kawila Primary School, giving them power for the first time. This is a remote school which serves 15 surrounding villages.

We were greeted by staff, pupils and members from the local villages. Philemon also came over from Dambilo School to help.

Everyone lent a hand right from the start. They soon understood what was needed to check out and connect the panels, then sort out the battery.

We even mounted the panels on the roof thanks to a couple of intrepid village lads.

The solar panels and batteries provide a robust sustainable solution for schools such as Kawila. We have previously installed solar power at two other schools in the area (Dambilo and Sianyoolo) and hope they will be able to support each other.

Next we shared a drink made from maize and sugar followed by a delicious lunch of nshima, rape leaves and chicken.

Adele and Sian spent some time with the pupils while Malcolm interviewed and filmed staff, helpers and PTA members.

When we left, the solar panels were powering LED lights, a router, a projector and a Raspberry Pi3 with RACHEL offline learning resource. We also gave the school three laptops.

After a successful day, all that remained was to get some thick cloth from the local market to block out the sunlight.

We were able to complete this part of our project thanks to a grant from The Waterloo Foundation. Muhunya Solar of Lusaka helped with advice on the solar power set up, also donating some of the cables.

Preparations for September trip

Progress

I’ve finally booked the flights today so that’s good progress with preparations for our September trip to Siavonga, Zambia! It’s exciting to have Sian, Luke and Malcolm coming along with us to share their skills and expertise. We’re very grateful to them for volunteering their time and funding their own travel as we do.

Schedule

We’ve set ourselves a challenging schedule with five teacher training days, two solar panel installations, and three installations of RACHEL elearning resource on Synology Diskstation.
So, at the end of our visit we hope to have achieved the following if funds allow:
1) One additional rural Primary School will have solar power for LED lights, a Raspberry Pi distributing RACHEL wirelessly and four laptops for teachers to access the resource. Read more about RACHEL here.
2) Siavonga Nutrition Group (SNG) will have solar power for women’s groups to use their sewing machines.
3) Three big secondary schools with power, will be able to access RACHEL from  Synology Diskstations.
4) SNG will have a Raspberry Pi allowing their office to be a hotspot for local children to access learning resources.
5) A large primary school will have wireless access over its whole site via additional access points.
6) A local Resource centre will have the resources of RACHEL via Raspberry Pi to make it a learning hub for the local community.
7) We will  train teachers in hardware maintenance, network security, programming with Raspberry Pi, using the RACHEL resources and Maths and English topics for primary children.
8) Finally, if possible, we hope to supply Raspberry Pi servers to four other primary schools.

Sample Costs

So, if you would like to contribute to any of our expenses, this is an approximate idea of costs, although any donation is welcome.
Raspberry Pi £36
Raspberry Pi server £80
Hard drive for Synology Diskstation £60
Ex demo Synology Diskstation from £200

We always welcome donations of routers, access points and working laptops/ tablets.