The Vung Vieng Fishing Village, Vietnam OLPC Laptop Project Journal & my OLPC Volunteer Efforts!
About this blog
In February, 2009, while traveling in Southeast Asia, I came upon a most remarkable site for deployment of an OLPC Laptop Project. I visited the Vung Vieng Fishing Village located in Bai Tu Long Bay, Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. This is a floating village in a most spectacular geographic environment, part of the Ha Long Bay UNESCO World Heritage Site. I had my XO laptop from OLPC with me when I visited Ha Long Bay with the Indochina Junk Company, an eco-tourism company that specializes in small luxury cruises on the Bay. Our English speaking, guide, Tuyen Luong became very interested in my XO, and in the OLPC Global Education Project. We visited the school in the Vung Vieng Fishing Village and talked about how the OLPC Laptop Project could improve the lives of the village residents, in a culturally sensitive manner.
Fast Forward 1: I proposed a project for the VVV village schoolchildren to OLPC. Through the generosity of the Contributors Program, I am taking the first XO laptops to the village in Vietnam very soon. Ultimately we hope to provide One Laptop Per Child for every child in the Vung Vieng Village school and then, in neighboring villages. Tuyen and I will be working on many details to turn the teachers' and childrens' dream into a successful and sustainable OLPC XO project.
I am hoping that a successful small deployment in this very unique location can be used as a model for the other similarly isolated locales in Vietnam and elsewhere in the developing world.
You can find the project details on the OLPC wiki at: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects/Vung_Vieng_Fishing_Vietnam
A good short summary about the OLPC Global Laptop Project is at: http://wiki.laptop.org/images/5/5d/Learning_Manual_V2.pdf
I will blog and share photos of my journey here. It promises to be a rare adventure. Join me in this exciting project over the coming months! We will have many needs and need lots of help.
May, 2010 Update: Entries 6, 11, 12, and 13 show the VVV children receiving and learning to use their laptops. In entries 21 and 22 you can see the solar power equipment inventory and delivery. The VVV XO laptop project is a work in progress and yes, many challenges to success remain. We invite your help! The teachers, children and Vung Vieng residents are all very grateful!
December, 2011 Update: I continue to volunteer for OLPC to try and bring digital literacy to the world's poorest children. I chronicle my OLPC efforts in this blog to provide information, sharing and mentoring with others with similar efforts and projects. Do you want to get involved in meaningful work with children worldwide? You will surely find useful information and links here. Nancie Severs Volunteer, One Laptop Per Child

