Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Just one more week to go!


Hello to all!
My name is Paula Heap and I work as the Director of Communications for Saint Stephen's Episcopal School in Bradenton, Florida. Since 2004 my school has partnered with an organization called Global Outreach whose mission is to bring computer literacy to the students of Tanzania. This past year our school has enjoyed weekly Webcam transmissions with the Lugalo Secondary School in the town of Iringa, discussing books and current events, sharing stories of culture and home life, down to the "likes and dislikes" common amongst all teenagers.

But now, the time has come to cross the "digital divide" (and a few time zones) and meet our Tanzanian friends in person. On May 29 I will set out from Sarasota on a two-week journey to the town of Iringa where I will be able to greet the students and teachers of Lugalo with a hearty "jambo," Swahili for hello, and start a series of talks to see what the future holds for our partnership.


Global Outreach's founder, Stan Muessle, has been in-country for the past month and is ready to "put me to work" when I arrive. I will be joined on June 5 by my colleague and friend Barbara O'Neil who will be working with the Lugalo teachers to incorporate technology into their lessons.


For months it seemed as if my departure would never arrive, and now, it's just one week away. Stay tuned!

You can find out more information about Global Outreach here.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Sa'alaam aleikum and bon voyage!
Enjoy this wonderful opportunity...
M2

kisokae said...

Hey Paula,
i hope that you are doing great. my name is Edgar and i have been trying to find someone with Lugalo Secondary contacts. i tried to google but all i got was the p.o.box #. I was thinking about sending a letter but as far as i know it would take forever to get there or even not get there at all. I am trying to get in touch with a man named Augustino Maluli who's a teacher at Lugalo Sec. I would appreciate if you could provide me with the school phone number, email adress,website or any contact that might be helpful. I am also from Iringa but now live in Atlanta GA. I decided to reach out to you because your blog shows that you were there two years ago and thought you might be of assistance. (my email is edgarmalule@yahoo.com)
thank you.