Some of you may have noticed that in the previous post there’s a poster with some proprietary office suite software. You may have wondered what it was doing in a school that is using free software? The poster was put up by the lab’s teacher because he wanted to teach it. But now, with the new lab set up by Kids On Computers, they use Edubuntu 10.04 with OpenOffice.org. Maybe we can get some posters about FOSS sent to us. If you know of any, please let me know!
The first day (October 14) was dedicated to setting up the lab. CAM’s principal helped me with the network installation, and I tried to fix some computers that were having a lot of problems. Finally, at 1:00 AM it was finished! Ready for the inauguration the next day at noon. Unfortunately the first day I couldn’t play withthe children – I just shared a few moments with them at lunch time.
October 15 was the inauguration of the computer lab at CAM 27 in Tlaxiaco. That was amazing, with two radio interviews and a lot of delicious homemade cookies. It was a relaxed day, I worked on some “aesthetic” details of the network installation and the computers’ organization. All the work I did the previous day allowed me to play with the children at lunch time, and of course, time to take some pictures. But I wasn’t the photographer, because Alexander, a kid of this school, loved the camera and took some pictures of the “lunch time”. After the lunch, the inauguration started. I received a present from the children in the name of the foundation. A poster where they say “Thanks Kids on Computers” (written in Spanish), made with their hands and at the kids’ initiative. I can’t lie, it moved me to tears.
The inauguration was a small event but the parents, the teachers, a reporter and the most important: the kids all participated. All the kids were really happy, and wanted to use the computers right away. I don’t have words to describe it.
The next day, the principal and me participated in a radio transmission where we talked for an hour and a half about CAM 27, Kids on Computers and the use of GNU/Linux EdUbuntu in the lab. Thanks to the “Perla de la Mixteca” radio for giving us the chance to broadcast the information and support “Kids on Computers” with a campaign to get hardware donations.
Now the kids are really happy using the lab, they play educational games and are learning how to use the word processor and a lot of other software. Another good thing about this lab is that they have an internet connection and want to teach to the children’s parents how to use the computers and the internet to get information about their kids’ disabilities as well as government programs and foundations that can help them.
