[Olpc-open] Field Support wanted in Afghanistan

[Mike Dawson]

Dear All,


Perhaps Afghanistan is not the first place you think of when considering 
your next vacation or internship.  But since OLPC are donating 10,000 
G1G1 machines Afghanistan and is working with the top level of the 
Ministry of Education this could very well become a showpiece for OLPC 
in S. Asia.


We are looking for 2 Interns / Graduates / Motivated volunteers to help 
us building the capacity of the local team.  We need to operate 
university outreach programs, training, and a fair bit of direct server 
config in advance of having sufficient locally built capacity.   We are 
looking through various graduate/student/internship organisations.


We can offer flight support, accommodation, and a living stipend (salary 
/ pocket money of $300+ a month, covers living quite reasonably here).


Afghanistan day to day in most provinces and most places remains pretty 
safe - one can walk around, go out, visit people using taxis or your own 
car.  Driving can be just a little chaotic, but nowhere near as bad as 
in India.  If you look beyond the media there is a lot to see here, 
hospitality that even exceeds other developing countries, and really 
rapid progress.  There are some places (like the south) that are 
dangerous, but in Kabul and the north things are pretty stable.  One 
just needs to know places to go to and places to stay away from (like 
military bases, big foreigner parties, etc).


Right now we are half way through setting up an open source localisation 
team for Afghanistan and building the open source community.  For those 
of you who are more interested in remote contributions to Afghanistan 
specifically, a chance will be upcoming in the next months.


Afghanistan could be the case study that shows the ability of the XO to 
be at the center of redevelopment.   If we can make the XO work here - 
then we can prove to the world that it can work almost anywhere!  You 
might hear on the news about the chronic waste of money out here, the 
hundreds of millions missing, wasted, and worse.  And you know how cost 
effectively the XO can change that.  The great thing about Afghanistan, 
is being a development work in progress, we can together, and will, 
improve that situation.  I hope we can find some people to join us on 
the ground and help make that happen.



Thanks/Regards,


-Mike




Details, country information, etc. for the formal job title can be found 
under 'IT Coach' at

http://www.paiwastoon.com.af/mainpages-en/careers-intl.sxw.html .


-- 

Mike Dawson
Deputy CEO
PAIWASTOON Networking Services Ltd.


Email: mike at paiwastoon.com.af
Phone: +93 (798) 258 092
VOIP: +44 (161) 408 3048
Skype: mike.dawson

PAIWASTOON Networking Services Ltd.
Next to Ariana TV / Radio
Daral-Amman
Kabul, Afghanistan