Powering Potential and Kilimanjaro Education Foundation Install Solar Energy System for Computer Network at Noonkodin School in Tanzania

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Kilimanjaro Education Foundation (KEF), in conjunction with Powering Potential, announced an installation today at the Noonkodin School of a solar energy system and an Ubuntu computer network to bring modern education tools to the school.

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KEF, a nonprofit volunteer organization with a mission to provide African children the same education opportunities as children in developed countries, provided funding for the solar installation, panel and the wiring and also provided an iMac computer that was donated to KEF.

Powering Potential, a nonprofit founded with a vision of all students in Africa experiencing the joys of technology, worked to install a Technology Tent, a computer network and training at the Noonkodin School.  The network includes four computers, a printer and router to enable wireless printing at the school.  

Noonkodin Secondary School serves the young people in a Maasai village. The curriculum is unique in that it honors and cultivates important indigenous values while introducing modern ideas and teaching techniques.

"The Technology Tent will provide modern tools and the skills to use them in harmony with this special approach to education," said Janice Lathen, founder of Powering Potential.

Lathen, whose organization conducted a similar installation of a Technology Tent at the Banjika School in Tanzania, expects that this Technology Tent will have a similar impact in Noonkodin. In Banjika, over a four year period, 700+ students and teachers had their first exposure to a computer, 200+ students received hands-on classroom instruction, 179 students completed a concentrated training course acquiring extensive hands-on experience and fundamental technology knowledge and three teachers are pursuing college degrees in technology: two are candidates for a B.S. in Computer Science, and one is a candidate for a Bachelor of Engineering in Information Systems and Network Engineering.

She quotes a Banjika School teacher who said, "It is the truth which can not be hidden that, Technology Tent has been like a light to the Kids at Banjika. It makes the kids feel that, they are able to face the challenges, which are being brought by science and technology. Before Janice came to our school, no one knew any thing about the computer. They did not know even how it looked like. It is amazing that, now the kids are able to type something in the computer and print with their own hands. These are great changes."

It is important that Powering Potential respect and work in harmony with the local culture, according to Lathen.  

"The work is fulfilling. It's a labor of love," she says. "I love bringing the joys of technology to people and the Tanzanian students give me a feeling of being deeply appreciated. We are very pleased to have been connected with KEF and having their assistance with this project."

About Powering Potential

Powering Potential (www.poweringpotential.org) has a mission to use technology to enhance education and stimulate imaginations for students in Africa while respecting and incorporating values of the local culture -- especially cooperation over competition, community over the individual, modesty over pride, and spirituality over materiality.

About KEF

Kilimanjaro Education Foundation (KEF), (www.kef4kids.org) founded in 2006, is incorporated in New York State and organized as a 501(c)(3). KEF strives to improve education and to build school facilities for underprivileged children in Tanzania and other countries bordering Kilimanjaro. KEF's volunteers and directors share in and impart not only the Foundation's passion for children and education, but also in KEF's core values of honesty, integrity, creativity and imagination.

SOURCE Kilimanjaro Education Foundation