Computers and cricket

Cricket update – Tanzania lost its game to Uganda in the World Cricket League Division Three contest currently underway in Darwin. But, as my mother would say, we just have to make the best of it and get on with things.

The main thing I want to share with you today is some news about a whole rash of new computers priced to be accessible to poor countries. I have blogged here about the One Laptop Per Child iments(OLPC) program of Negroponte that aims to provide $100 computers to schools in poor countries. Despite developing a suitable computer, OLPC is not finding buyers amongst governments of poor countries. This doesn't surprise me one bit. The poorest countries are struggling to build classrooms and train teachers to provide the rudiments of elementary education to their kids.

Sudeep Banerjee, India's education secretary, said,

We need classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools.

One commentator says,

The OLPC project is based on the idea that just providing computers can make a huge difference, as children will spontaneously use them to make up for what they lack in books and other equipment and experiences. But many education researchers dispute this theory. And the more that classroom structure and teacher training is needed to maximize the computers' benefit, the more the programme will end up costing governments.

I was interested to read this report about competitors to OLPC. Intel has developed Classmate, and Novatium has developed NetPC, both aimed at schools in poor countries.

Intel's Classmate computer

It is great to see these developments because it means that when poor countries are ready to implement computers in schools, there will be a number of affordable options to meet their needs.

These new computers are a reflection of growing recognition that the slice of world population at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP), i.e. the poorest people, can be regarded as a viable market for goods and services. As these people/countries lift themselves out of dire poverty, they will enter world markets, both buying and selling. It is clear that a number of computer providers are positioning themselves to sell cheap computers to BOP markets – and education is the market they are tackling first.

Jhunjhunwala, the brains behind NetPC, aims to start where they can have a real effect — among the market of emerging middle classes and schools that can afford the computers and have the resources to use them effectively. He says that the OLPC will be irrelevant to developing countries because in the poorest strata of society "this toy will just be sold or stolen".

It's good to see that the governments of the poorest countries have the wisdom to see that the $100 computer is useless without the supports needed to use it effectively.

And it's great to see the School of St Jude has its own strategy for including computers in the classroom.

World Cricket League, Day 1

Cricinfo reports the first day of competition in the World Cricket League, Div 3, tournament, being played in Darwin.

The opening pair of Steve Gordon and Ainsley Hall stroked unbeaten centuries to steer Cayman Islands to an easy 10-wicket victory over Tanzania. Gordon hit a 119-ball 104 laced with 12 fours and a six and Hall faced 150 balls for his 100 with 10 fours and three sixes as the Cayman Islands achieved victory target with 26 balls to spare. Tanzania, put into bat, made 206 for 6 with Athumani Kakonzi top scoring with a 105-ball 82. Shaheed Dhanani contributed 38. For the Cayman Islands, Ronald Ebanks snapped up 3 for 40.

Ah well.... 206 for 6 is not bad, especially as Cayman Islands is rated the strongest team in the tournament.

Actual education or phantom aid?

Earlier this month, I blogged about the pitiful level of Foreign Aid in the latest budget. I noted that the Australian government gives only .34% GNI as Foreign Aid, despite making international commitments to increase this to .7% GNI.

Investigative journalists at the Sydney Morning Herald have revealed that even this low level of aid is fudged. In a series of articles, Phantom Aid, they reveal that more than $600 million of Australia's foreign aid over the past two years never went overseas but was swallowed up in the coffers of a small Federal Government agency in Pitt Street, Sydney.

Examples of questionable aid identified by the Herald include:

• A $27,758 payment AusAID made to the Australian law firm Sparke Helmore for legal assistance during the Cole inquiry into legal breaches of the UN oil-for-food program has been counted as foreign aid.
• Another $81,993 described as foreign aid to Afghanistan between 2002 and 2004 was an Immigration Department assistance package for temporary protection visa holders in Australia.
• Half a million dollars of last financial year's $23.4 million in aid for Nauru was to be spent on co-ordinating aid, while $1.3 million went on "logistics", providing housing, transport and other costs for Australian officials.

The following graph shows how countries rank on on their Commitment to Development.


The amount Australia contributes in Aid (the dark blue bit of each bar) is tiny, but this new information uncovered by the Herald, suggests that Australian Foreign Aid is even smaller, because the figures have been padded. The Government says that it is following the rules about what can be counted. I guess they are proud of being so mean-spirited.

One of the great things about the School of St Jude is that there is no hint of mean-spiritedness about it. The School is founded on generosity and care for others. It aims to provide actual education for bright children from the poorest families in one of the world's poorest countries. These children will benefit from the bricks and mortar school that is being built and run with your real help.

Tanzanian cricketers visit Australia

The Tanzanian national team is one of the eight nations playing in the World Cricket League Division 3 tournament in Darwin this week.

This tournament provides a stepping stone towards qualification for the 2011 World Cup. The top two teams from this event will join UAE, Namibia, Denmark and Oman in Windhoek, Namibia at the ICC World Cricket League Division 2, in November. The top teams from that tournament will go to the ICC World Cup Qualifier in the UAE in 2009.

Tanzania have prepared for the competition with a three week training camp in India in April, which saw them take on five local sides in warm-up matches. Hamisi Abdallah's side also gained valuable experience when they took on some of the Associate member countries taking part in the World Cricket League Division One in Nairobi in January, although they did suffer a 79 run defeat to Scotland.

I'm glad to see the Tanzanian national team visiting Australia. Cricket seems to be one of the most skilled and least violent of the big international games, so it is a sport that I would like to see encouraged. And, as the Australian government recently banned the Australian cricket team from visiting Zimbabwe as a sign of disapproval of the Mugabe regime, it is important that we put out the welcome mat for other African countries.

While I understand the impetus towards African solidarity, I am disturbed to see African countries put solidarity with the Mugabe regime ahead of broad principles of fairness and effective government. In the same way, I get annoyed by the stance that 'Africa is a hopeless case, look at Zimbabwe'. The poor practices of the Mugabe regime reflect on all African countries. So, I am glad that I have learnt a bit about Tanzania, because it allows me to point towards other African countries that are relatively well-run but still desperately poor.

What reason is there not to help, when you find a good project in a country that is working hard to improve the standard of governance and the economy? You can help to ensure that the future leaders of Tanzania, get an education that includes solid values as well as the broad foundations for effective professional lives.

Give your support to the School of St Jude, in Arusha, Tanzania and help Fight Poverty Through Education.

The woes of Kilimanjaro

The fabled glaciers on Tanzania's majestic mountain will soon be gone. Its forests are disappearing, too. For local farmers, this could mean disaster. For the rest of us, it's another permanent loss on an overheating planet.



Here is an insightful news item about the impact of global warming on Kilimanjaro and surrounding districts.

Mt Kilimanjaro is famous for the beauty of its glaciers and snowy cap which is especially remarkable as the mountain is right at the equator.

The article says,

Within the next 15 years, the glaciers atop Kilimanjaro are expected to disappear completely, and with them, some climate experts and government officials fear, a crucial portion of the region's water supply. Over 1 million people who inhabit the lower reaches of Kilimanjaro depend on this water for their crops, livestock and domestic purposes. Conflicts over water shortages have already broken out between water users on the mountain, and some villages have been nearly cut off by their upstream neighbors.

With declining precipitation levels driving glaciers toward extinction and threatening the area's forests, scientists, environmental organizations and even the Tanzanian government are turning their attention to a complex set of questions: How will water resources, and the humans who depend on them, respond if the ice and trees disappear? What will happen as the world's carbon levels continue to rise? For researchers and policymakers, the answers to these questions may be of academic interest or political concern, but for local people they are a matter of survival.

The School of St Jude is in the village of Moshono in Northern Tanzania, near Mt Kilimanjaro. The impact of climate change will affect the whole region.

Your contribution to quality education for bright children from poor families will help to give them a brighter future in these uncertain times.

No water, no power

Last year the Tanzanian electricity supply was wrecked due to the drought that knocked out the hydro generating plants. Today we hear that Australian electricity is threatened by our current drought. The National Electricity Marketing Management Corporation forecasts that the water crisis could cause power shortages next year unless action is taken. Water is needed for the Snowy hydro power, and also for cooling towers of coal powered generators.

Premier Iemma has responded immediately by allocating water reserves in the Hunter Valley for use by the big power stations in their cooling towers.

Bayswater Power Station, Hunter Valley, NSW

Also in the news today is the Australian government plan to spend $23 million telling us about its ‘leadership role’ and ‘balanced voice’ on global warming. No wonder voters are cynical about politicians! After years as a climate skeptic, Prime Minister Howard now wants us to see him as having shown leadership in this area. Leaders are supposed to drive the machine and steer it, not just apply the hand brake. Still, it's an election year, so what can we expect?

I wonder how far $23 million would go in Tanzania if it was invested in projects to produce electricity from renewable resources? Water used to be a renewable resource, but with global warming, that isn’t necessarily so any more. As most of their electricity is hydro, they have an urgent problem.

Climate skeptics are a dying breed. The evidence for global warming has become widely accepted on the basis of scientific concensus. Here’s an excellent resource, accessible and authoritive, for key information about global warming. The helpful guys at RealClimate say,

We've often been asked to provide a one stop link for resources that people can use to get up to speed on the issue of climate change, and so here is a first cut.

They point towards info at different levels – beginners to advanced – and have a handy set of links to answers for specific contrarian myths.

Our fearless leader

Like extreme poverty, climate change is one of the big issues that we need to know about if we are to live our lives responsibly and leave the world a little better for having been here.

So, keep learning, keep giving!

Best seller!

It is very exciting to see Gemma’s book, St Jude’s hitting the best seller lists.



St Jude’s hit Number One in the independent bookshops’ bestseller list on its first week in the list. It was Number two in biographies over all the bookshops (chains, Big Ws etc, as well as independents) and Number 5 over all for non-fiction. It’s a tribute to Gemma’s fantastic hard work flogging it around Australia and a great publicity tour from Pan Macmillan.



I find that St Jude’s is a great book for people who like an old-fashioned ‘good read’. Gemma has a great story to tell and she tells it with simple appreciation for both the rewards and challenges. In this way, it is similar to Albert Facey’s A Fortunate Life.

So, make sure you get a copy, and keep it in mind as a gift for birthdays and anniversaries. It is one of those books that is likely to become an enduring Australian classic. A People’s Classic.

Check out your local bookshop, or buy it online at Collins via the link in the sidebar.




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