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Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by contingencies on Friday March 02, 2018 @11:55PM (#16507951)
OK well if they've got power, assuming your prices, let's say a KwH is about what an hour class would use.

So USD$0.17/class, one class per day, 20 classes per month, 20 * USD$0.17 = USD$3.4/month.

The teacher won't be the one paying, the community will gather money if required.

A small generator is USD$40 to buy here in China as I stated, not USD$300.

You are making a mountain out of a molehill.

(Edit in response to below: Please, enough personal attacks. I see solutions. You see problems. Fine. Logically, while poverty is real, using your figures USD$3-4/month spread across a community is clearly a non-issue if teachers are on USD$100/month. I don't need to physically visit Ghana to validate that, and if it really is an issue I am sure we can find it amongst those donating hardware to contribute a few dollars annually.)

(Further edit: Maybe you are confusing Uganda's situation for Ghana's. Uganda is way poorer than Ghana. "Ghana's rapid growth accelerated poverty reduction, cutting the poverty rate from 52.6% to 21.4% between 1991 and 2012. In 2012, Ghana's poverty rate was less than half the African average of 43%. Extreme poverty declined even more, dropping from 37.6% in 1991 to 9.6% in 2013." versus "With a per capita income of under US$170, Uganda today is one of the poorest countries in the world")

Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by mlevental on Saturday March 03, 2018 @12:02AM (#16507982)
>The teacher won't be the one paying, the community will gather money if required.

you are beyond clueless. any school that has a computer is a private school. public schools have zero money. there is no community doing fundraising - you're talking about people who absolutely literally live on <1$ a day and have never seen a computer before in their lives (let alone are willing to contribute money to power one).

>A small generator is USD$40 to buy here in China as I stated, not USD$300.

how much do you think it costs to ship? how high do you think import tariffs are? do you plan on holding every generator that every school needs on your lap on a flight over? i had to buy a socket wrench once - it cost me 30$ because it was imported.

>You are making a mountain out of a molehill.

i lived in rural uganda for two years and taught high school. i know exactly what i'm making into a mountain. these people can't afford toilet paper and soap. they shit into shallow holes in the ground. teachers read aloud from textbooks and students copy verbatim into trash notebooks (made out of discarded newspaper) because they can't afford textbooks. they eat boiled corn flour every day for their entire lives - a soda is a treat. just no clue man. how about this: spend the $1000 on a plane ticket and go see for yourself rather than sending rpis that no one will ever use and learn about what it's really like so you can then go on to educate others.

> I see solutions. You see problems.

lol. go ahead. do it. report back to us in a year how you've found the silver bullet the NGO community has been looking for for 40 years.

Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by breakyerself on Saturday March 03, 2018 @12:21AM (#16508044)
I think you're confusing helping out this class with helping solving all of Africas problems.
Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by mlevental on Saturday March 03, 2018 @12:26AM (#16508054)
no i'm not. i'm just responding to the guy that thinks power isn't a problem and if it is then solving it is easy-peasy.
Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by aero-002 on Saturday March 03, 2018 @11:46AM (#16510097)
why are you so triggered. stop attacking the guy
Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by mirimir on Saturday March 03, 2018 @12:20AM (#16508040)
What do you think of http://one.laptop.org/ ?
Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by mlevental on Saturday March 03, 2018 @12:25AM (#16508052)
africa doesn't need computers. it needs clean water, soap, anti-malarals, and nutritious food. cover those things and then worry about computers.
Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by IkmoIkmo on Saturday March 03, 2018 @05:09AM (#16508662)
Can you just stick to Ghana or something more specific? There's various countries which are absolutely not in need of any of those things. For example, more than 10 million people in Tunisia living on a PPP gdp/capita of $1k a month who aren't worrying about soap. Or Egypt, a country of about 100 million people living on $12k PPP gdp/capita, if Tunisia was too small.

I'm not trying to say here that North-Africa is representative for all of Africa. But I am tired of people making the opposite claim.

Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by mirimir on Saturday March 03, 2018 @12:55AM (#16508134)
Arguably what they need is the infrastructure to produce and distribute all those things. And the economic activity for people to afford them. Except as an emergency measure, aid tends to destroy all that. But a prerequisite is education, of course. And aren't computers a key part of modern education?
Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by jacobolus on Saturday March 03, 2018 @12:32AM (#16508070)
This is somewhat patronizing. Have you tried asking rural African schoolteachers what they most need?

Empirically, many people all over the developing world are prioritizing communication devices over those other things you listed.

Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by mlevental on Saturday March 03, 2018 @12:44AM (#16508103)
>Have you tried asking rural African schoolteachers what they most need?

yes. many times.

Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by SlowBro on Saturday March 03, 2018 @07:03AM (#16508926)
How about: Each computer comes with a bar of soap, and with the skills learned you can compete in the world and afford all the soap you will ever need? I don’t see it as either/or.

When computers are used properly many can lift themselves from poverty.

I know because that’s what I did.

Re:Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft W... by mrhappyunhappy on Saturday March 03, 2018 @11:34PM (#16513280)
My man! Let them have soap!