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How the MSCC began In 2008
We installed a solar powered computer lab at a secondary school in Ruhiira, Uganda,
as part of the United Nations Millennium Villages Project (www.millenniumvillages.org).
But it soon became clear that, even using new low-wattage computers, the cost of
installing permanent solar powered computer labs would limit the number of people
the foundation could expose to computer technology.
We set out to find a way to reach a larger audience and introduce computers to as
much of the country as possible. This meant taking a computer lab on the road. This
inspired the first Mobile Solar Computer Classroom (MSCC) and the development of
our emPower Basic training software. By stripping the back seats out of a Toyota
RAV4, adding a custom built roof-rack that could hold three solar panels, designing
collapsible desks, chairs, and a robust tent, we began to take computers to villages
and towns and set up the mobile classroom outside of schools and community centers.
The first MSCC could run 5 computers at a time, not requiring any resources from
the institutions visited. In 2008, it was introduced at Kitengesa Community Library
near Masaka, where community members of all ages were able to touch a computer keyboard
and mouse for the first time.
Some of the young people from that first visit are now studying computer sciences
at universities in Kampala, and Maendeleo Foundation is working with them to get
computer service businesses running.
We now operate two Mobile Solar Computer Classrooms, each providing facilities for
training 15 people at a time. Using low-wattage netbooks based on Intel's Atom processor
and solar energy, we now have the capability of training 200 people per day on the
road.
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