Had arranged to meet Atish from Cybernet with the Headmaster and Bursar of Uru School, along with the Rimmers. Typically we arrived in Arusha to find that Atish had gone to Moshi where we had just come from. Bugger!

So I ran round to A&A Computers and talked the proprietor into sharing his experiences of getting schools in the area online. Alex really pulled something and talked to us for over an hour, convincing all of us that Uru School wasn’t ready to commit funds to an internet connection and would be better off spending the money on more computers. Yes, he is a computer salesman, but the fact is, Uru School needs to get teachers up to speed with basic computer use before it can set kids loose on the machines. The school could dedicate a year to getting staff trained up and using computers on a day to day basis, then in a years time lessons could begin for students. It does seem like a much more sustainable plan to me. We had been just hoping that the internet would be instantly useful to the school, when of course we in the UK had been exposed to computers for ten years before the internet came along and could just see the applications when it did. Not so in Uru. It would be kind of sad to invest £3,000 and have teachers at Uru just staring blankly at the keys.

It seems that this year may be the year when Uru gets its working computers. A year later than I had hoped for, but at the end of the day they probably will get them and benefit. It just needs careful planning with Uru School, not just our wishful thinking. Otherwise we risk leading old ladies across the street who hadn’t wanted to cross in the first place…