blog « Hackers For Charity

2-Page PDF Overview

What a whirlwind these past few months have been. All told, the fire rebuilding process took a month of dedicated time and effort. Jessie Rich and Kelli O’Hea from Calvary dropped practically everything right along with us to care for the residents of Loko village. Returning to “our lives” took monumental effort as “work” was piled up, we were all behind in practically everything “our lives” required.

“Our lives”. “Work”. Odd terms. Jessie and Kelli don’t do construction for a living. I and my family certainly don’t. That’s not why we’re here in Uganda. Or is it?

I’m not considering dropping out of tech. Yet. There’s too much of a need here. Students to teach, machines to repair, internet to repair. There are far too many people in need of tech stuff, Ugandans and those here to help Ugandans alike. But projects like the Loko Fire Relief are just as close (if not closer) to the heart of why we’re all here than a lot of the day-to-day stuff we do. More importantly, the victims of the fire are exactly who we need to keep our eyes and hearts open to. In the spirit of that, I’m closing this chapter of the Loko Village “project” which I’ve called “Fire Relief” and opening the next phase, which I’ll call “Loko Village Fire Rebuild”.

Most of the residents are out of work, squatting on land they don’t own. Many of them have no viable job skills. I feel we’ve done a basic service by rebuilding their homes, but we’ll be doing an injustice if we don’t make an effort to reshape and rebuild their lives. They may be living in a new room, but in a year, will they be any better off? We hope so.

I’ll be partnering with local non-profits that specialize in job skill training and placement to do what we can to help those that are willing to be helped. I’ll keep you posted.

I want to thank each and every one of you that donated finances to the project, sent encouragement and those on the ground that gave of themselves to accomplish this project. I’m inspired by each and every one of you. You gave of yourselves to help those in dire need. Again, thank you.

I’m also excited that a blog headline like “Hackers Help Rebuild Ugandan Village” is real. Those of you that know me well know that I hate the bad rap “hackers” get because of the media. I’m always happy to see hackers involved in projects that promote positive social change, and I’m thrilled you’ve allowed me to play a part in this.

Please check out the PDF files attached to this post and pass them around. My two-page overview is above and Jen’s (well-done, much more detailed) newsletter is below. We’ve got more work to do but it’s important to let people know what we’ve done..together.

Loko Village Part 1

Loko Village Part 2

Hi all!

If you were wondering when to sit down in front of the telly and watch Eurosport, the answer is easy! This Sunday, 10am GMT Marathon Des Sables is about to start and the guy with a number 267 waving like crazy it is me!! :o))

Thank you for all your support and words of encouragement. I will do my best to represent HFC and myself in the best possible way. Watch me out! ;o))

You can follow all happenings on http://www.darbaroud.com/index.php?lang=en where there should be videos from the race and the finish line, photos, actual positions of the competitors and much more. Unfortunately I will not be able to inform you all about the things so will do that once back again.

Wish me luck and see you soon! :o))

Cheerio!

[!v@n]

I’m headed back to the US for a few short days in the next couple of weeks, which means it’s time for another “beg list”. I hate asking for stuff, but I’ve been assured by a few trusted friends it’s not nearly as cheeky as it feels. The truth is, if we moved to the US right now, we would be living just over the 2011 US HHS poverty line. We’re not starving, thanks to private donations and the obliterated Ugandan economy, but the stuff on this list is simply beyond our means.

So I ask. I’m simply not too proud to beg.

First, the personal items:

1) A Nintendo DSI charger – It was a Christmas gift for my youngest, and he was really enjoying it until I plugged the 110 adapter into 220. I’m one of the smart ones.

2) Paralax “Basic Stamp” accessories, add-on kits or similar instructional hardware design and programming kits – I have the Basic Stamp starter kits (from Radio Shack) and I’m going to be using it to teach the kids programming along with hardware design. The only problem is that the basic kits come with only a few pathetic accessories, so the projects are quite boring. I’d love to have some more accessories and perhaps some guides to help make this more fun. Eventually I could see a course for this in the training center, if I can follow it, teach it and figure out how to keep the stuff from getting stolen.

3) Rock Band instruments and Rock Band / Guitar Hero XBOX 360 games – Guitar Hero has become a favorite in the house. A friend of ours donated his guitar and game, and one of our volunteers donated another guitar so we can do multiplayer Guitar Hero. I love playing it and so does my daughter. My oldest son would be interested if we had the keyboard, and one of his friends would be more than happy to sing, but we just can’t afford the instruments and games. So we’re looking for Rock Band games (Beatles, anyone, please, please help me now!?!) and the keyboard and mic instruments. We’re even thinking of setting up Rock Band to the Keep’s sound system before Karaoke Saturday nights so people can come and take Karaoke to the next level! Rock Band / Karaoke might not seem like a big deal but it really is. Not only are we supporting 20+ Ugandans with the (SERIOUSLY struggling) business at The Keep, but we’re serving those working here, and energizing them to get back into the fight. Karaoke night is one of our busiest and funnest nights for those serving in Uganda and those that come have a chance to unwind and blow off some steam in a safe, family-friendly environment. In a town whose nightlife consists of clubs and bars, alcohol, drugs and prostitutes, that’s really saying something. Ah, it doesn’t matter what I write. I just know someone will give me a hard time about begging for “toys”. I get a lot of those emails, so I’m used to it.

4) Arnold Palmer powdered (quart-size) drink mix packs – This one is totally for me, but I will share.. I promise.. I’d like to thank Bill Gardner for my addiction to this stuff. There’s no justification for this item. But it’s mean to keep an addict away from his stuff. Y’know? And there are no suitable rehabs here. Just send me the stuff. SEND IT. NOW. *ahem* .. where was I? Oh yes,

Moving on, we also need a couple of things for the Keep and our training center..

1) A 3.5mm stereo audio cable, 5 meters (15ft) or longer – This is for connecting my laptop audio to my video camera mic jack when we record performances from the mixer.

2) A shotgun microphone for our donated Canon HF-10 video camera – This camera uses a “Mini Advanced Shoe” which is pretty non-standard. Our camera uses a 3.5mm stereo mic jack if the hot shoe is not used. This one is recommended by the manufacturer, but it’s expensive : http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/539265-REG/Canon_2591B002_DM_100_Directional_Stereo_Microphone.html. Ouch! But beggars can’t be choosers. Any shotgun mic with a 3.5mm jack will be fine. That’s what duct tape is for.
This is for recording music performances at the Keep and student interviews at the center. We’d also like to let others in the community borrow the camera for their work. It’s often pretty hard to record any decent audio here without a shotgun mic + wind guard. These videos will go a long way to promoting struggling artists and those served by the Training Center and other non-profits in the area.

3) Mac laptop magsafe chargers (All wattages). We blow through these things like crazy here because of the bad power. I know not many people have spares, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. I’m already looking for two 60W adapters, one for a training pastor friend and another for a young lady running a small non-profit, both here in Jinja. A massive power surge rolled through town this week, destroying hundreds of computer systems, refrigerators and more. I swear it was like a mini-EMP and for Mac users, that’s a drop-dead. There’s simply nowhere to get parts.

4) An LED projector. We’re starting to do computer training classes in schools around the area. Standard projectors do not last here because of the bad power and the dust. Bulbs blow like crazy. The only thing that lasts is LED-based projectors. They’re also small, so they’re easier to ship. I know they aren’t cheap, but if you happen to have one around that you don’t need or use, send it our way, we’ll use it to train young Ugandan hackers students. =)

5) A couple of tripods: one for our camera and one for the LED projector. (How’s that for faith that someone will donate a projector?)

6) Point and shoot digital cameras and SD cards. Really, I don’t care how old the camera is or how small the cards. If it takes photos, please send it. I want to give them to our center staff to use to take photos for the web site. I’m putting the staff in charge of updates so they come more frequently. I’m not at the center nearly enough so I’m missing a lot of good stuff that should be on the web site. Cameras that use AA batteries are best (remember our power situation?) but send any you can.

7) A decent Intel Core laptop for our training center manager, Teo. She’s worked very hard for us and she wants to review classes and take training at night while she’s at home. (!!) The laptop must have a DVD reader so she can read the course material.The laptop must have a good battery (new preferred) as she will likely be working off the battery at night and charging it at the center during the day. She likely won’t have power at home.

8) Hacker stickers. Odd request, but my kids and our staff love them. =)

9) Ipod / iPad / iPhone charging cables. Another odd request, but they can’t be replaced. They are going bad left and right and we can’t replace them.

10) An OSX Lion install USB and other OSX install DVD’s. Not much to say here, but thiese are critical to our Apple repair efforts for the folks here.

That’s about it for now. If you have anything you’re willing to donate, or suggestions that aren’t on this list, please  drop me a line (johnny -the at sign- hackersforcharity – period – org) and I’ll send you the hotel address.

Thanks in advance. I really appreciate anything you can send!

I’m headed back to the US for a few short days in the next couple of weeks, which means it’s time for another “beg list”. I hate asking for stuff, but I’ve been assured by a few trusted friends it’s not nearly as cheeky as it feels. The truth is, if we moved to the US right now, we would be living just over the 2011 US HHS poverty line. We’re not starving, thanks to private donations and the obliterated Ugandan economy, but the stuff on this list is simply beyond our means.

So I ask. I’m simply not too proud to beg.

First, the personal items:

1) A Nintendo DSI charger – It was a Christmas gift for my youngest, and he was really enjoying it until I plugged the 110 adapter into 220. I’m one of the smart ones.

2) Paralax “Basic Stamp” accessories, add-on kits or similar instructional hardware design and programming kits – I have the Basic Stamp starter kits (from Radio Shack) and I’m going to be using it to teach the kids programming along with hardware design. The only problem is that the basic kits come with only a few pathetic accessories, so the projects are quite boring. I’d love to have some more accessories and perhaps some guides to help make this more fun. Eventually I could see a course for this in the training center, if I can follow it, teach it and figure out how to keep the stuff from getting stolen.

3) Rock Band instruments and Rock Band / Guitar Hero XBOX 360 games – Guitar Hero has become a favorite in the house. A friend of ours donated his guitar and game, and one of our volunteers donated another guitar so we can do multiplayer Guitar Hero. I love playing it and so does my daughter. My oldest son would be interested if we had the keyboard, and one of his friends would be more than happy to sing, but we just can’t afford the instruments and games. So we’re looking for Rock Band games (Beatles, anyone, please, please help me now!?!) and the keyboard and mic instruments. We’re even thinking of setting up Rock Band to the Keep’s sound system before Karaoke Saturday nights so people can come and take Karaoke to the next level! Rock Band / Karaoke might not seem like a big deal but it really is. Not only are we supporting 20+ Ugandans with the (SERIOUSLY struggling) business at The Keep, but we’re serving those working here, and energizing them to get back into the fight. Karaoke night is one of our busiest and funnest nights for those serving in Uganda and those that come have a chance to unwind and blow off some steam in a safe, family-friendly environment. In a town whose nightlife consists of clubs and bars, alcohol, drugs and prostitutes, that’s really saying something. Ah, it doesn’t matter what I write. I just know someone will give me a hard time about begging for “toys”. I get a lot of those emails, so I’m used to it.

4) Arnold Palmer powdered (quart-size) drink mix packs – This one is totally for me, but I will share.. I promise.. I’d like to thank Bill Gardner for my addiction to this stuff. There’s no justification for this item. But it’s mean to keep an addict away from his stuff. Y’know? And there are no suitable rehabs here. Just send me the stuff. SEND IT. NOW. *ahem* .. where was I? Oh yes,

Moving on, we also need a couple of things for the Keep and our training center..

1) A 3.5mm stereo audio cable, 5 meters (15ft) or longer – This is for connecting my laptop audio to my video camera mic jack when we record performances from the mixer.

2) A shotgun microphone for our donated Canon HF-10 video camera – This camera uses a “Mini Advanced Shoe” which is pretty non-standard. Our camera uses a 3.5mm stereo mic jack if the hot shoe is not used. This one is recommended by the manufacturer, but it’s expensive : http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/539265-REG/Canon_2591B002_DM_100_Directional_Stereo_Microphone.html. Ouch! But beggars can’t be choosers. Any shotgun mic with a 3.5mm jack will be fine. That’s what duct tape is for.
This is for recording music performances at the Keep and student interviews at the center. We’d also like to let others in the community borrow the camera for their work. It’s often pretty hard to record any decent audio here without a shotgun mic + wind guard. These videos will go a long way to promoting struggling artists and those served by the Training Center and other non-profits in the area.

3) Mac laptop magsafe chargers (All wattages). We blow through these things like crazy here because of the bad power. I know not many people have spares, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. I’m already looking for two 60W adapters, one for a training pastor friend and another for a young lady running a small non-profit, both here in Jinja. A massive power surge rolled through town this week, destroying hundreds of computer systems, refrigerators and more. I swear it was like a mini-EMP and for Mac users, that’s a drop-dead. There’s simply nowhere to get parts.

4) An LED projector. We’re starting to do computer training classes in schools around the area. Standard projectors do not last here because of the bad power and the dust. Bulbs blow like crazy. The only thing that lasts is LED-based projectors. They’re also small, so they’re easier to ship. I know they aren’t cheap, but if you happen to have one around that you don’t need or use, send it our way, we’ll use it to train young Ugandan hackers students. =)

5) A couple of tripods: one for our camera and one for the LED projector. (How’s that for faith that someone will donate a projector?)

6) Point and shoot digital cameras and SD cards. Really, I don’t care how old the camera is or how small the cards. If it takes photos, please send it. I want to give them to our center staff to use to take photos for the web site. I’m putting the staff in charge of updates so they come more frequently. I’m not at the center nearly enough so I’m missing a lot of good stuff that should be on the web site. Cameras that use AA batteries are best (remember our power situation?) but send any you can.

7) A decent Intel Core laptop for our training center manager, Teo. She’s worked very hard for us and she wants to review classes and take training at night while she’s at home. (!!) The laptop must have a DVD reader so she can read the course material.The laptop must have a good battery (new preferred) as she will likely be working off the battery at night and charging it at the center during the day. She likely won’t have power at home.

8) Hacker stickers. Odd request, but my kids and our staff love them. =)

9) Ipod / iPad / iPhone charging cables. Another odd request, but they can’t be replaced. They are going bad left and right and we can’t replace them.

10) An OSX Lion install USB and other OSX install DVD’s. Not much to say here, but thiese are critical to our Apple repair efforts for the folks here.

That’s about it for now. If you have anything you’re willing to donate, or suggestions that aren’t on this list, please  drop me a line (johnny -the at sign- hackersforcharity – period – org) and I’ll send you the hotel address.

Thanks in advance. I really appreciate anything you can send!

Ivan is a security analyst / researcher who has been a supporter of ours for some time. He’s running in one of the most grueling races on the planet and he’s doing it in support of HFC! Please check out his blog and consider a donation (ending in .01) if you’re interested in supporting him and HFC. We will provide Ivan with a percentage of the donations to offset his expenses as this is a rather expensive endeavor. I can’t even imagine what it must take to run 150 miles in 6 days and to do it as a self-supported participant.

Thanks to Ivan for flying our colors and trying to raise some funds for our work. We’re all cheering you on and even more excited that you’re the first-ever Slovak participant in this famous race. Stay safe and do your best!

For more information, check out http://logitdown.com/ivan, and Ivan’s personal page on Darbaround.

I have so little free time these days so I’m having trouble keeping up. So here is an update and some highlights from the last few days.

We had a team from Give International in Canada come and help us paint. They were also kind enough to donate nine sets of household supplies including mattresses, mosquito nets, pots and pans and more. I’m happy to have met and worked with these folks.

A .. nice man .. Came to us with a “problem”. Seems he was a landlord for four of the rooms (yes, making money off the poorest of the poor) and demanded we remove our buildings that were on “his” land or “help him with a little something”. He works for UNRA, the owners of the land who graciously allowed us to build. We refuses his offer and in front of witnesses, he responded, “There will be chaos and I will be behind it.” the day before he threatened the LC1 with a machete. We took him to his boss and his story changed to him “being affected by the fire” and him simply “looking out for the interest of the others affected by the fire,” himself included. Yes, he has a job, and yes he is greedy and pompous and yes I made a police report. I’ve included his picture as insurance, you know, just in case there is chaos.. Victims will know who is “behind it”.

Progress is coming rather quickly as the interior and exterior boards and the roofing all happens at once. Now with the painting, it’s quite staggering how quickly this project is moving along.

We are going to be in this for the long haul, though, because many of these people need more than a room. In a year, this village could be gone and we will need to help each family help themselves. Our goal is to ensure that each and every family is in a better spot a year from now. We’re looking at job placement, skills training, financial management and micro loans, all with the help and supervision of friends in the community that have more experience in this than we do.

Thanks again to everyone working in this project, especially our friends at Calvary and those who have supported this effort. I’m proud of the work we’re doing and excited for the future of this community.

I would like to say I spent the entire day working on site but that’s not true. I spent too many hours at the police station because my technician decided to take a bunch of our gear and leave our box of laptops unlocked. There are at least five missing. So now he’s in jail and I’ve closed down our repair business. This is the latest in a long string of employees that have stolen from us or have been criminally dishonest and frankly I’m done being nice about it. Everyone around me, especially those that have been here a while are telling me to press charges and let the legal system run its course.

Lovely.

As for the work at the site, we are doing the final framing. Those of you that have been with us from the beginning may recognize the shots of the big tree. Some of the video footage from the fire showed several people tearing away part of a building near this tree. We’ve come a long way since that shot.

Thanks everyone for you continue support!

Two weeks have passed since the fire that destroyed 28 homes at Works village in Jinja and we’re seeing real progress. The frames are nearly finished and we’re preparing the roofing. We’ve overcome many obstacles as a team and thanks to yourdonations and the hard work of everyone here on the ground we’re seeing real progress.

Today we measured the distances between the poles and found that one building was completely out of square which threw off all the distances. This is a problem because each room measures 8′x8′ and the lengths of our wood is 8′. With the gaps out of whack, we either have to patch things together or move poles, which is a problem because the poles are sunk and the rafters and frames are in place. Thanks to Bob (seen in the yellow cap) none of this was a problem. See, Bob has experience as a carpenter and he took one look at the building and saw that one corner pole was bent like crazy. After removing one rafter and replacing that pole things fell into place and .. like magic .. everything fell into place.

The moral of the story: one bad pole wrecks the whole house. This was the theme for more than building.

The buildings are really starting to take shape as we put the poles in place, level the floors and grade the slopes to help with drainage. It’s been great having our friends Kelli, Matt and Becca working on so many things with us as well as several HFC staff members (look for the HFC t-shirts).

But the big news is that we finally took delivery of the wood donated by Nile Ply. They donated approximately 120 4′x8′ sheets including ceiling board (think thin particle board), 3/16″ plywood and “block board” which is basically furring strips sandwiched between 1/4″ plywood sheets.

The ceiling and ply will be used for interior walls and the block board will be painted and sealed and used for exterior walls.

We still have more wood to buy and we are anxious to heard for Roofings about their donation. We should know something from them by tomorrow.

Another really long day. Lots of poles put in place and we leveled lots of ground.

Breaking rocks, moving dirt, hauling trees: hard work. Convincing an entire village that if they don’t accept a gift of a one year eviction extension, they will lose everything: nigh impossible. Convincing the local politicians to accept and quickly act on the decision of the people before they get a power trip out of being the last thing preventing a village of 400+ from being bulldozed: Requires Miracle.

When I got out of bed this morning, every muscle ached. My eyes burned, my throat was nearly closed. I was dehydrated and exhausted. The last thing I wanted to do was manual labor. After several meetings though, I was longing for some manual labor. I hate meetings. I hate politics. But had our ragtag group bailed on these meetings, I know without a doubt that an entire village, even those unaffected by the fire, would have been bulldozed.

The politicians were lazy and the people were clueless and lied to by the very people elected to protect them.

We had a mini town meeting and explained to the residents what was really going on. We told them that if they didn’t ask for a formal extension they were going to face eviction by bulldozer. They agreed even though some residents were wrongly convinced they could do nothing and they would be blissfully ignored for another five or ten years.

We passed the job of finalizing and delivering the letter to the LC1 and explained the hard deadline of 8am Thursday morning. He missed the deadline and jeopardized the homes of over 400 people. We hunted him down and delivered the letter ourselves two hours past the deadline. It was accepted by the landowner, no thanks to the politicians.

All the sweat, blisters and wasted muscles are nothing compared to the importance of that simple letter.

But by saving them from eviction, we’ve also committed ourselves to them for the next year. We can’t just build shelter and walk away because a year from now they will likely be evicted. We are setting ourselves up for a job much harder than building homes.. we must build futures.

This, I think, is why we are here. This is why I was so inexplicably drawn to the victims of this fire. I’m seeing with fresh eyes that charity is not a solution and it is not a “means to an end”. Rather, it is a stopgap measure. It is triage. Triage is necessary in a crisis situation. Stabilization is critical. But no one breathes a sigh of relief when someone they love advances from “critical” to “critical but stable”.

And I can’t rightly allow myself to, either.

This morning I was exhausted, secretly hoping for an end to the labor. By the end of the day, though, something in me had changed. I didn’t have a job. I wasn’t facing labor. My attitude had changed and I realized that I am not merely called to help or to simply work for these people, I am called to love them and even love the stupid self-serving, transparent politicians.

It’s a bit of an epiphany and I know it will sound strange to many who read this, but regardless of how it will make anyone feel, it happened today. This paradigm shift happened and in that shift from labor to love, I found strength to keep going.

Our tiny town meeting: