So here I am sitting in a nearly complete computer lab. In front of me is a desktop turned file/web/monitoring server and to my side is nearly 30 computers donated by Global Partnership for Literacy (I talked about them in the previous post.) We got a broadband connection (256k down for $50 US a month), and most of the computers are now connected to the internet.
The students have already been putting these things to good use by researching ideas for a regional science fair next month. The beautiful thing about the internet is it enables your imagination to run wild. Even though the kids competing in the science fair really have no grasp of chemistry, the internet has enabled them to start on a pretty complicated but exciting idea. The kids are basically replicated http://www.huskpowersystems.com/ , using the remains of rice processing (rice husks) and extracting as much cellulosic material as possible to create ethanol. This has turned into a learning experience for me. I tried explaining the basic overview of how to turn the rice husks into fuel (cellulosic ethanol) and they inferred that I already knew how to do everything. I actually have no where near the background necessary to oversee this project but I see this as a huge opportunity for these kids to learn some really substantial science so I’ve hit the books. Feel good stories aside, I am really glad that these kids finally the computer lab as a learning resource.
I am also learning much more about culture here by seeing what the kids look up on the internet. Of course I have an internet filter for the obvious inappropriate content, but like any generation of kids, colloquial terms are used so that adults have no clue what they mean. Boomsy is actually a word they use here to mean a large butt, godie (large testicles), toss (woman or girl), pada or eloh (female genitals), or bull (sexual intercourse). You have a lot of slang coming from fellow Guyanese in New York (or it could be just 50 cent, I will never know) like onion booty, and magic stick.
Greet the birds.
