[Olpc-mg] Maroantsetra Deployment

[jkleider at sonic.net]

Hello all
We are making progress in the San Francisco Bay Area with our plans to set
up in Maroantsetra.  We have secured room and board for our volunteer and
a promise of help to contact  the local community of computer users.  This
would be even better if there was a contact who is familiar with Open
Source software.
We are planning a library/resource centre setup where students can sign up
for classess and teachers can come for training.  We hope to provide usb
memory sticks to participants.  There is electricity available
intermittantly for charging the batteries
 In any event  we are gathering usb memory sticks, adapters and
miscellaneous supplies for the installation.  As it stands we have 12 XOs
and 2 more in sight.  Our luggage restrictions may limit how many we are
taking.  There are rumours that the customs officials in Madagascar are
charging duty on computers coming in as donations.  Can anyone clarify?
We had a successful test of the school server on Tuesday, identified a few
problems, and thanks to Sameer, feel more confident about heading off on
this adventure.  We have tentatively set mid September as our date to
leave.  In the meantime any advice from for us?
Thanks
June Kleider