The update below from Sam in Madagascar was received late December - As you will see as you read the update - great progress is being made - keep the updates coming Sam!!!!
Global Grant
In my previous update I mentioned the approval of a very important Global Grant - the key enabler for this project. Individual donors, Rotary Districts and The Rotary Foundation all pitched in to make it happen. I mentioned that Districts 9920, 9940, 9980 and 9970 each contributed $5000 USD to the project. It is important to mention that District 9910 also wished to commit $5000 USD but unfortunately the message got through to me late, and we were unable to add the contribution to the grant application by that stage. Nonetheless we are very appreciative to District Foundation Chair Peter Garnett and committee for their willingness to support.
We remain humbled by the overwhelming response from New Zealand's Districts.
Camp
In September and October we ran two 'coding and leadership' camps, with a total of 42 students. I was a little apprehensive as it would be the first time we would be spending a prolonged period with students. Would we know what to do with them? Would they buy into our mission?
Just a day into the first camp session and I had my answer. I was standing outside, just observing. Absolutely in her element, Mitantsoa (our English Teacher, photo above), was running a leadership activity. Students were very clearly captivated, inspired and all-in. That really set the tone of the camp which played out to be a fantastic learning experience for students and our team alike!
The camps consisted of two parts: leadership and coding. The first was a gift to these students. The second gave us a chance to further assess student coding potential. The way I explained it to students, we needed to check "They are suitable for coding, and coding is suitable for them" - after all it's not a career path meant for everyone.
Juliana and Tjinso study chess - one of the activities used to assess coding aptitude
Students were selected from thousands of their peers for academic excellence and top scores in our coding aptitude exams - which we administered all over Toamasina (a province similar in size to Ireland). Despite their talent, these students cant afford to continue studying and mostly work low-skilled jobs.
I'm sometimes asked why we go to such lengths to find students. I think it's a crucial part of our model. The better our students are, the better coders they'll become. With great coders our social enterprise will generate strong revenue and we'll be able to bring opportunity to many more students in future.
Students from the second camp.
40 under 40
I was fortunate enough to be included in Auckland's University 40-under-40 list of change makers. The journalism was done by Andrew Patterson, a well renowned business commentator. In our Skype conversation he was impressed with what we are doing and has become a supporter of the project. Please click here to see the profile.
A HUGE thank you to those that have supported this project. It's only because of you that we've been able to come this far. Please take some time over this Christmas and New Year break to reflect on what you have made possible!
Kindly,
Sam