Grant Dobbe » General

The Other 90%

Grant — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:38:57 +0000

There’s a saying in software development: the first 90% of the work takes 90% of the time, and the remaining 10% of the work takes the other 90%.

Well, that’s where I’m at right now. I have about 4 weeks left before I travel to Accra and go through my Completion of Service process, and I feel like I’ve got about another year’s work ahead of me. I have lessons to give, papers to mark, exams to write, computer labs to fix, documentation to write so that other people can keep the lab running, paperwork to fill out, Peace Corps books and property to inventory and return, reports to write, people to say goodbye to, bank accounts to close, and a house full of stuff that I have to decide whether to keep, give away, or try to sell.

On top of that, there’s everything related to returning to the United States. Caroline and I have been working on updating our resumes, looking for jobs (though that’s pretty low key at the moment), trying to arrange for housing in Madison, figuring out how to budget our combined re-adjustment allowances, and beginning to talk about what kind of wedding we want, and when and where we should have it. I’m also at the point in my marathon training where I’m running about 30 miles a week and hungry much more often than I used to be.

So, there’s that.

My last day here in Seikwa is August 1st. My last day as a PCV will be August 6th. As I attempt to wind down my life here, and at the same time try to prepare for a new life in America, I find myself reminiscing about the good times, as well as reflecting on the bad times and what I could have done better. I’ve learned a lot of things here — patience and persistance pays off (case in point: my computer lab); don’t believe anything until you see it for yourself (again, the computer lab, but also travel and other things); no plan survives its first contact with reality; and never be afraid to ask questions, no matter how trivial or ridiculous they may seem to you (Ghanaian culture at large).

The most important thing I’ve learned, though, is this: as long as you are willing to learn, and to try new things, and to embrace your sense of curiousity, anything is possible. I’ve traveled and met people and experienced life here for two years, and every day it becomes more strikingly clear just how little I actually know. I’ve learned a lot about administering Linux boxes, and maintaining computers, and squeezing the absolute maximum performance out of a computer; and as I’ve learned to do that, I’ve realized how much more I didn’t know about using computers, and teaching people how to use them, and teaching people how to maintain them. I’ve learned a lot about myself; and in doing so, I’ve realized just how little I actually knew, and still know about who I am and who I want to be.

I am absolutely fascinated by the world around me, and how it works, and I know so very little about it. But as long as I am willing to be curious, and ask questions, and accept that inevitably I will not know or understand something, then my ignorance will not be an obstacle, and the world will be open to me. That’s true of the Peace Corps and experiencing Ghanaian (or any other) culture, but that’s also true of the American culture I’m returning to. This is work — hard work — that I will likely never finish, but, then again, I’m not sure I want it to be. That’s part of the fun.

And, in the end, that’s the other 90% of what I have to do. Peace Corps has 3 goals; the first one is to train people in technical skills; the second is to help people of other countries get a better understanding of America. But the third one is to help Americans to get a better understanding of other countries. I spent two years here, teaching people about computers and computer skills, learning about and experiencing Ghana first-hand, and now I get to come back and spend the rest of my life trying to explain Ghana to you.

So, the next time you see me in America, remember this: I may look at appliances with varying degrees of bewilderment and confusion. I may ask questions that seem ridiculous, such as “So, who’s this Lady Gaga that I keep hearing about?”, and I might cry a little if you offer me a turkey sandwich on wheat bread with a glass of lemonade. But if you ask me a question about Ghana or the Peace Corps, I’ll try to answer it as best I can, and I will ask questions of my own in return. Together, we can figure out how the world works a little bit better, and take care of that other 90%.

Yep. Still here.

Grant — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:16:27 +0000

*sigh*

Well, then.

April was intense. May was even more intense. Let me tell you about it.

The first April crisis was that Caroline and I both got malaria. Well, technically, we already *had* malaria, seeing as the malaria prophylaxis that all Peace Corps Volunteers are required to take just keeps the malaria parasite from reproducing in your bloodstream. But when you combine several days of high stress with poor nutrition, strenuous travel, and little sleep, even the best prophylaxis in the world can’t keep your immune system from throwing in the towel. So, we both got malaria, right as we were returning to my site from KSO.

What is malaria like, you may wonder? Well, it kinda sneaks up on you. For a day or so, I felt mildly ill, but well enough to take care of Caroline. The next day, however, I felt like I had the flu: joint and muscle aches, fever, general malaise, and tiredness. Then, the headaches started and the fever really ramped itself up.

Imagine having the inside of your head scraped out with a rusty shovel. Imagine it happening at random. Then, throw in a fever of 103 and all of the aforementioned symptoms, and add really weird hallucinations whenever you try to sleep. That’s what malaria was like for me. The sad thing is that it comes and goes in cycles, so that you almost begin to feel better, and then it hits you again and you’re back to being totally incapacitated.

Luckily, at that point, Caroline was feeling well enough to take care of me and make me take my Coartem (the drug we use to treat malaria).

Coartem is a really effective drug. It is so effective that after my second dose, I was feeling well enough to get on a tro-tro with Caroline and come back to KSO… which is when she started having a high fever and chills. So she took *her* Coartem. And after several days of having malaria and then recovering from it, we both felt like someone had run us through a garbage disposal. In fact, my first training run after recovering was easily the most difficult 5K run I have ever done.

Anyway, we eventually recuperated and started to feel human again, and I managed to get all of my final exams marked. I also got some good work done on the freedom toaster, and even found time to plan some things for my mother’s visit in May. And that’s when the second crisis happened…

Caroline’s roof blew off in a thunderstorm.

Yep. Blew. off. And her ceiling caved in, too.

She was not hurt, and she had the good sense of mind to put all of her electronics and books into her giant wardrobe once her ceiling started to leak like a running faucet. The only things she needed to replace were her towels (which she put down on the floor to prevent her slipping and breaking her neck) and her pots and pans (which she was using to catch water when she thought it was just a leak, and which got crushed by the ceiling after it caved in). I left my site to come help with the cleanup effort as soon as I could get out of town, and she ended up coming back to my site for a week while the school repaired her ceiling and roof.

The last week of April was the All-Volunteer Conference at Chances Hotel in Ho, Volta Region. After the preceeding events of April, this was a welcome relief. I got to spend time with friends, eat meals I didn’t have to cook, do a little gaming, and learn a little bit about what my colleagues have been doing at their sites.

After All-Vols, the remaining members of my training group had our Close-of-Service Conference, where we discussed how to say goodbye at our sites and prepare for returning to the U.S. This is a topic for another blog post in the future, but it was sobering and a little bit sad, while at the same time being fun and exciting. I look forward to seeing you all in September, when Caroline and I return to the U.S. as RPCVs.

This brings us to May, when Caroline and I met our mothers at the airport for a two week trip around Ghana. There is much to say about this trip. We laughed; we cried; we got sick; we got better. All in all, it was an experience that none of us will ever forget. I will write more about this when I get a chance to sit down and process it in more depth.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got for now. I promise to not get malaria again and keep the updates regular.

In which I ask some very important questions

Grant — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:52:37 +0000

The first question I asked was of Caroline. She was taking a nap, and I entered the bedroom with a little ring box. She woke up and saw the box, and after a little nervous fumbling, I got down on one knee and asked the most important question I’ve ever asked anyone:

“Will you marry me?”

Thankfully, for my sake, she said yes. Actually, it was more like “YES!!!”

Anyway, I am now engaged. That’s the first important question I have to talk about.

———-

The remaining questions I have to ask are from my students. We’ve been studying the internet this term, and at the beginning of the term, we did a group project where I posed the following scenario to them:

Pretend that you have been asked by the government to represent the youth of Ghana at a congress of world youth. Every country in the world is sending a delegation of their best and brightest students to represent them. As part of the congress, you will be asked to give a 20-minute presentation on any topic you like. There will also be a question period where you can ask 5 questions for the other congress attendees to answer.

I then asked them, in groups, to write down:

a.) the topic that they would present
b.) their 5 questions for the rest of the congress

I went around to all 8 of my classes and had the students vote on their favorite topics and questions, and told them the winners would be posted on the internet for the whole world to see.

So, now I make good on my promise, and let you see their questions. I’ve organized them by classes, so you can see the similarities and differences between each.

—–

3 Arts 1
Winning topic: Teenage Pregnancy
Winning questions:
1. What can we do to limit and reduce unemployment?
2. How can we make sure that the schools provide adequate ICT education?
3. How can we deal with the problem of street children?
4. How can we prevent deforestation?
5. How can we avoid teenage pregnancy?

—–

3 Business
Winning topic: Teenage Pregnancy
Winning questions:
1. What are the causes of increased teenage pregnancy in Ghana?
2. What can we do to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS?
3. Why do African countries find it difficult to develop?
4. Why should students have access to the internet?
5. Why are foreign industries developing faster than local industries in Ghana?

—–

3 Agric
Winning Topic: Teenage Pregnancy
Winning questions:
1. How can we avoid teenage pregnancy?
2. How can we bring teenage pregnancy under control?
3. As future leaders, what can we do to stop HIV/AIDS?
4. Is teenage pregnancy only an African problem?
5. What is the world doing to curb the effects of global warming?

—–

3 Arts 2
Winning topic: 3 year vs. 4 year high school education
Winning questions:
1. How can we prevent bush fires?
2. What punishment should be given to those who start bush fires?
3. Can the government of Ghana provide enough infrastructure for a 4 year SHS system?
4. What can we do to control teenage pregnancy?
5. Why is teenage pregnancy such a big problem?

—–

2 Arts 1
Winning topic: Teenage pregnancy
Winning questions:
1. Why is it important to educate our children?
2. What can we do to eliminate malaria in Ghana and the rest of Africa?
3. How can we support democracy in Africa?
4. Will there be enough security at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa?
5. Why do Ghanaians have freedom of speech, but other countries don’t?

—–

2 Agric
Winning topic: Girl-child education
Winning questions:
1. What can the government do to create more jobs?
2. Why do we put so much money into football?
3. Why are farmers poor?
4. Is HIPC a good fund, and should African countries join it?
5. Why can’t university graduates in Ghana find jobs?

—–

2 Business
Winning topic: Education
Winning questions:
1. How can we prevent corruption?
2. How can we prevent serious accidents in our countries?
3. Why don’t Europeans like Africans?
4. Why did HIV/AIDS spread so quickly?
5. How can we improve education?

—–

2 Arts 2
Winning Topic: Bush Burning
Winning questions:
1. How can we prevent deforestation?
2. Why is Africa the “poverty continent”?
3. How can we prevent bush burning?
4. What can we do to improve the standard of education world-wide?
5. How can we prevent HIV/AIDS from spreading?

—–

Now, it’s my turn. How would you answer these questions? What questions would you ask my students? What questions do you have for me? If you send me your answers, or things you want to ask my students, I will pass them on.

Cheers,
Grant

And now, I pour a little out for my homies

Grant — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:27:32 +0000

I wanted to document my school’s technology situation, and how I have chosen to tackle the gargantuan task of teaching computer skills to 300 kids with 5 computers. Rather than doing this in an email, which is a waste of bandwidth and would fill the inboxes of those who don’t care/don’t understand, I have decided to do it as a blog post.

I came to Nkoranman Senior High School in late July of 2008 on site visit as a then-Peace Corps Trainee. I was presented a pile of computer equipment and told “this is what we have.” I had a pile of approximately 15 computers, split between Dell Optiplex GXpro 200s and Compaq Deskpro 5400s. In addition, I also had 3 computers that had been tasked for use in the administrative offices, mostly for word processing.

HARDWARE

My first task was to figure out what worked. I removed the parts from pretty much all the machines, set up a couple of testing stations, and proceeded to identify the working hardware. Out of the 15 machines, 6 of them worked — 5 Dells and an AST Advantage. I also had a tidy pile of spare parts — hard drives, video cards, network cards, memory, CD-ROM drives, and a couple of spare power supplies. I took these, set them aside, made a list of parts I needed to make the 5 Dell machines usable, and stripped down the rest. I did save one of the Compaq machines, as well as some of its parts, for use in teaching hardware. As for the AST machine, I decided to save it for a later project in which I try turning it into a router using the LEAF Project’s software.

My next task was to get the machines I did have to an operational state. They turned on, they would start to boot, but they didn’t do anything. After a trip to Kumasi to pick up more hard drives, and a few donated floppy diskettes (remember those?), I was able to put together some computers that were ready for software.

At this point, my 5 machines had roughly the following hardware specs:
- Pentium Pro with MMX 200MHz
- 32-64 MB of EDO DRAM, depending on the machine
- 3-10GB Hard disk space, again depending on the machine
- Onboard USB 1.1 (except for one machine)
- Onboard 10/100 network interface cards
- 16X CD-ROM Drive
- 1.44MB 3.5″ Floppy Drive

The far end of trailing-edge hardware. The rare memory and lack of it made doing anything fancy out of the question; these machines were not going to run Windows XP. At the same time, I was reluctant to try anything like Windows 98, due to the fact that it’s no longer supported. It looked like Linux was about my only option.

SOFTWARE

At first, I was limited to what I brought with me: Ubuntu and Xubuntu. Both of these ended in resounding failure, due to the ridiculous amount of resources required by Xorg and Gnome. Luckily, about the time I cleaned up the remnants of Xubuntu, I had internet access at site. I thus began to download and test the following distributions:
- Damn Small Linux
- Puppy Linux
- cAos
- TinyMe
- Debian Etch (netinstall)

In the end, Debian won out. The rest were either too rigid or difficult for me to work with, and Debian allowed me to install only what I needed to teach. Due to the homogenous nature of my hardware, I also had the added benefit of being able to create one “build” of Debian, which I could then copy to all of my machines almost verbatim.

The next task was figuring out what software I needed within Debian. I needed something that wouldn’t be too intimidating for a first-time computer user, but would still run smoothly on the hardware I had. I also needed a few basic apps for teaching keyboard skills and mouse usage, and a way to make everything accessible graphically. The whole setup had to be secure and contained, so that I could control the computing experience without the kids changing the wallpaper or screwing with settings as they became more familiar with the setup. Finally, I needed to make the user interface look aesthetically similar to Windows so that my students wouldn’t be incredibly confused the first time they used a Windows box.

In the end, I opted to use a combination of Xorg, IceWM, and iDesk to give me a Windows-like feel that I could keep somewhat locked-down. I also installed XDM to present a graphical logon, and customized it a bit to make it look less like XDM. The only two applications I have installed at present are TuxTyping 2 and TuxPaint. I figure that if I have nothing else installed, it’s nothing else that can turn back and shoot me in the face.

INSTALLATION

I finished tweaking the settings, gave it revision number 0.1, and moved on to the arduous process of getting the software from 1 computer to 5. Rather than configure each box by hand, and because my hardware is pretty much all the same, I opted to use disk imaging for my lab. I used the System Rescue CD 0.2.19 live CD and my trusty USB pen drive to create the image, then deployed it to my 4 other classroom machines in the same way. Once the imaging was complete, I’d reboot, change the hostname (I’m using lab01 through lab05) and reconfigure X to use the proper resolutions for that monitor.

There were a few snags in this plan. First off, I had to rob memory out of all of the machines in order to provide the machine I was imaging at the time with the 128MB required to boot the live CD. Second, not all of the machines had CD-ROM drives that were CD-RW friendly (one of the more useful tools I brought to Ghana), so I had to install a drive that was in order to boot the live CD. Finally, I have one machine that doesn’t have USB, which resulted in me using two CD-ROM drives and two CD-RWs to install the image. All things considered, the process was cumbersome, but I’d expect any first-run system to be so.

TRIAL BY FIRE

The only true way to test software is to give it to users. In an educational setting, that means sitting a kid down in front of the machine and letting them bang on it. It has been nothing short of a resounding success — the kids love to use TuxPaint, and they scramble for the opportunity to play TuxTyping games. The first night I had the lab open, I came home feeling like a king. These kids finally have the chance to learn practical computer skills, and I managed to do it without any horrible crash-and-burn failures.

THOUGHTS AND NEXT STEPS

I’ve been using this build for about three weeks now, and it’s been surprisingly issue-free. I do have some cosmetic gripes, of course — I want to find a display manager that’s more user-friendly than XDM, I need to find a way to lock the icon position on the desktop, and so on. I also would like to optimize memory usage, both by compiling a custom kernel and removing unnecessary services from boot. Finally, I’d like to set up another small linux system just for re-imaging the machines, so that I don’t have to go through the cumbersome process of frankensteining together hardware every time I deploy a software update.

I also still have the administration machines to worry about. Right now, they work, so I’m trying not to change them until I have a reason to. At some point, however, I’ll probably end up deploying some sort of system for storing documents in a central location, as well as some sort of student information system — whether that ends up being a glorified spreadsheet or something more meaty is yet to be seen.

In which our intrepid hero shakes hands and imparts the wisdom of the ages

Grant — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:24:27 +0000

I would like to begin this email with a prepared statement:

Dear sweet mother of everything holy and awesome, I have the *worst* craving for pancakes and (due to a lack of baking powder) no way to rectify it. I hope you all appreciate your proximity to places that serve breakfast 24 hours a day.

I taught my first lesson last Monday to a class of very eager, very intimidated form 2 students. It went well, but I caught myself rushing a few times and noticed that I get pedantic when I’m nervous. My second lesson on Wednesday was much better, and by Thursday afternoon, I felt like I was beginning to accomplish something.

We’ve begun with a basic overview of how human beings communicate using technology, which covers things like broadcast media, print media, and computers. This week, I’m going to start introducing computers, specifically the stuff they need to know in order to practice mouse usage and typing. My main goal right now is to get the students to a point where they can actually use a computer without too much
handholding, so that I can feel confident in moving on to to more complex material next term.

My average class size is about 90 students. Right now, I’m teaching remedial ICT to forms 2 and 3, which gives me about 180 students. When the form 1 students arrive, I’ll have 300 students in total for this term, which ends on 19 December. Next term, ICT will be an elective course for forms 2 and 3, which will result in fewer students for me to
worry about.

Thursday afternoon and almost all of Friday was spent with the headmaster, traveling around to different government offices and talking to various people in an effort to find out why the construction of our computer lab was being held up. We think we figured it out; it has to do with the construction funding. A few in-person conversations, a few well-placed phone calls, and now we’re supposed to be expecting a contractor sometime this week or next week. Just goes to show that it’s not what you know; it’s who you know.

Alright, that’s enough out of me. Enjoy your week, everyone.

In which our intrepid hero shakes hands and imparts the wisdom of the ages

Grant — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:22:53 +0000

I would like to begin this email with a prepared statement:

I taught my first lesson last Monday to a class of very eager, very
intimidated form 2 students. It went well, but I caught myself rushing a
few times and noticed that I get pedantic when I’m nervous. My second
lesson on Wednesday was much better, and by Thursday afternoon, I felt
like I was beginning to accomplish something.

We’ve begun with a basic overview of how human beings communicate using
technology, which covers things like broadcast media, print media, and
computers. This week, I’m going to start introducing computers,
specifically the stuff they need to know in order to practice mouse
usage and typing. My main goal right now is to get the students to a
point where they can actually use a computer without too much
handholding, so that I can feel confident in moving on to to more
complex material next term.

My average class size is about 90 students. Right now, I’m teaching
remedial ICT to forms 2 and 3, which gives me about 180 students. When
the form 1 students arrive, I’ll have 300 students in total for this
term, which ends on 19 December. Next term, ICT will be an elective
course for forms 2 and 3, which will result in fewer students for me to
worry about.

Thursday afternoon and almost all of Friday was spent with the
headmaster, traveling around to different government offices and
talking to various people in an effort to find out why the construction
of our computer lab was being held up. We think we figured it out; it has to do with the construction funding. A few in-person conversations, a few well-placed phone calls, and now we’re supposed to be expecting a contractor sometime this week or next week. Just goes to show that it’s not what you know; it’s who you know.

Alright, that’s enough out of me. Enjoy your week everyone.

In which our intrepid hero is ready to get on with it

admin — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:13:42 +0000

Greetings, everyone! I hope you’re enjoying the Olympic coverage as much as I am. For those of you who watched the opening ceremony and saw the Ghanaian Olympic team, I have a little trivia. They were wearing kente cloth, which is a traditional cloth that is made only in ghana and is woven in strips about 6 inches wide and 9 feet long. The pattern of kente bears special significance, and certain patterns are only allowed to be worn by dignitaries or royalty — I’m told that that pattern was woven especially for that team.

I’m experiencing one of those things in life where I am forced to do something that I have absolutely no desire to do. I liken it to going to the DMV, sitting through a bad movie, or going back to school at the end of the summer.

In fact, that last one is pretty much it. I went to site, did my thing, enjoyed doing my thing greatly, and then had to get on a tro and spend 8+ hours getting back here. Why am I back here? To spend another week taking some tests, do the swearing in ceremony, and then go *back* to site. I’m ready to get to work, and to use a term my mother can appreciate, I’m chomping at the bit.

On a more positive note, it was really cool to see everyone again, share pictures and stories about our sites, and commiserate about traveling. It was also good to see my host family, who have become a second family to me here.

It was also interesting to see how different life at site was from life here. People in and around my site are much more subdued; they’re still friendly, but they aren’t as insistent to know everything about you. I wonder if that comes from the fact that there have been two volunteers at this site before me (the third white guy isn’t nearly as interesting as the first), or if it is just a difference in the regional culture. My site village is also much more remote — it’s about the same size as Old Tafo, if not bigger, but the road is much rougher and a 30 kilometer trip to the nearest big city takes about 45 minutes to an hour. Old Tafo, on the other hand, is right on the main road to Koforidua, which by comparison is much nicer and makes for much quicker travel.

The most surprising part of the whole trip to site wasn’t even at site itself. I stopped at the Kumasi Sub-Office to check the place out, and I was pleasantly surprised. The place is svelte. It has wireless internet access! and a full kitchen! and hot running water! and books that I haven’t read yet! It was incredible. I downloaded email, grabbed about 17 books, and talked to a couple of PCVs who were enjoying some downtime, and then got back on the road. Now that I know where it is, you can expect pictures in about a week and a half.

Alright. I have to get ready to cook this afternoon — Peace Corps is making us prove that we can actually make edible food so that we won’t starve to death at site. My menu is grilled chicken sandwiches with tomato, cocoa yam leaves, and a carrot, onion, and eggplant tapenade… I’m feeling pretty confident that I’ll pass. As always, keep the questions coming.

Twittery Goodness for 2008-07-08

Grant — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:59:59 +0000

sitting in a classroom in Koforidua #

Twittery Goodness for 2008-06-13

Grant — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 06:59:59 +0000

Greetings from Accra! #

Twittery Goodness for 2008-06-09

Grant — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:59:59 +0000

3.5 hours and counting. #
Well, here we go. #