Ghana Report on Fablab, Phase I
July 19, 2004
By Lassiter
Dear All,
I have arrived back in Boston safely, and much richer for the
incredible experience in Ghana. Mayor Nkrumah, thank you so
very much for being such a thoughtful host, for making this trip
a comfortable one , for putting your resources at our disposal,
for the opportunity to meet important representatives from the
community, and for preparing the groundwork for the Fablab to be
a success in Sekondi Takoradi. I am writing an interim report
regarding the initial deployment of the Fablab at TTI such that
we can together evaluate what we’ve accomplished so far, and
identify some of the goals and challenges of the coming weeks
and months. For those who do not live in Ghana, or who have not
been there, I am including a very brief background about the area
for your benefit.
I will post this report along with some pictures on the TTI/Fablab
website later today.
http://fab.cba.mit.edu/labs/tti
Many thanks to Robert Baafi and Renee Dankerlin for their enormous
support and assistance in putting this project together, and in
helping me pull together this report.
Ghana Fablab Deployment Report
Lassiter, July 20, 2004
The sister cities Sekondi and Takoradi in Ghana are located
adjacent to one another on the Atlantic coast (actually the Gulf
of Guinea)and effectively operate as one community. The combined
area comprises the third largest city/region in Ghana with a
population of about 500,000. It serves as one of the major shipping
ports for Ghana – fishing and export of cocoa (or trading and
exporting in general) are the primary industries supporting the
community. Sekondi Takoradi is a busy, thriving metropolis in the
throes of growth and development, with road and highway construction
everywhere, and many new buildings under development. Mayor Nkrumah
is beginning efforts to fund and open a university in Sekondi
Takoradi. The sister cities also boast a Polytechnic Institute.
According to World Bank figures for 2003, per capita income in Ghana
is $320 annually . Waste management, dependable communications and
connectivity seem to be challenges foremost in everyone’s minds and
good targets for future Fablab projects in Ghana.
Mobile phone is the best and most effective means of communication
in Ghana as it is very hard to find people in their offices. Cell
service is OK--the networks are terribly oversubscribed and so it’s
often hard to connect. But if you are persistent and keep trying
you will usually get through.
Takoradi Technical Institute (TTI) is the equivalent of a Vocational
Technical School targeting students that are not on the
College/University track. TTI has about 1500 day students who come
from the Sekondi Takoradi community. The students range in age from
15 to 25. TTI has received substantial funding for the last 7 years
primarily from the German government. Though the Institute has been
in existence for a decade or so prior to participation by the
GTZ(German Agency for Technical Cooperation), the GTZ’s
participation has transformed TTI. The GTZ has funded and supervised
the construction of many of the buildings on the TTI campus, as well
as development of its management and coursework. TTI is extremely
fortunate in that it has both a very good management infrastructure
as well as physical infrastructure. The physical infrastructure
consists of several buildings--two or three classroom buildings, a
new canteen, an office building, and several buildings that house
the shops: electrical shop, automotive shop, welding, plumbing,
and machine shops. There is also a house on campus for the principal
and a faculty dorm. Though the hands-on tools and resources in the
shops are older and worn, they are a competent collection, and an
impressive one for the region. The principal of TTI is John Sylvester
Boafo, who works very closely with the Program Advisor from the GTZ,
Jurgen Zimare. Jurgen has been at TTI for 7 years, and working
closely with John, he has been a major guiding force in TTI’s
development. The GTZ has decided that TTI is ready to take the reins
of its own future, and so will pull out of the project next summer.
As I understand it, TTI has a very good and resourceful board of
Directors, the Chairman of the Board is also in the Mayor’s
office--he holds the position of City Manager/Planner.
Under principal John Boafo, who is a good, reasonable, and
level-headed manager, there are a number of other officers of the
Institute, a Director (administrative), an Assistant Director,
Financial Officer, and a myriad of departments to support the
operation of the school. (maintenance, security, etc.) There is
another person at TTI who impresses me as very sharp, resourceful
and has a modern, practical approach to education and problem
solving---he is the industrial liaison and marketing officer for
TTI, Joe Quagraine. He should also be considered a good resource.
Of the important cast of characters in Sekondi Takoradi there is
Paramount Chief Nana Nketsia. He oversees a large section of the
Sekondi Takoradi area. He is a Professor at Cape Coast University
(history) and has a keen interest in TTI and in the fablab project.
He came to the opening fablab ceremony last week to cut the ribbon.
He can and will be a great resource for the project as well.
Meeting Nana is a must, and will be a very formal ceremony. Neil
and Aisha will need to plan on meeting Nana when they are in S/T.
The SPACE:
Arrival at TTI
TTI buildings 1
TTI buildings 2
Setting Up 1
Setting Up 1
TTI-made furniture
The fablab is located in a large room with glass levelour windows
(no screens). There are ceiling fans, decent electricity, and one
internal phone line. The furniture in the fablab, and for that
matter all over TTI was fabricated in TTI’s own shops--the institute
appreciates the value of fabrication skills. During my stay we lost
electricity only once at the TTI fablab and it was a very brief
outage- a matter of minutes.
Zimare is working very hard to establish internet service into TTI.
Currently they use one outside line for dialup access which is
undependable and slow. (When he sent my two emails to out to you
last week it took him four hours to get them online. That was
unusually slow, but it is never fast. ) There are several internet
cafes in town, EB@se being the most reputable. EB@se supposedly has
broadband, but when I visited the facility the system was down.
The other internet cafe I visited was slow--maybe 128Kbps. DSL is
not really an option yet in the region, though satellite is an option.
The first estimate Zimare received for satellite was reasonable for
the hardware purchase, but monthly fees were astronomical
($800/month for 128Kbps access) and so out of reach for almost
everyone. External internet access may not be an option for the
foreseeable future--even though they desperately want it.
So fablab the site tool won’t be terribly useful for Ghana for the
time being--at least for communication between labs.
Group Photo: Lassiter, Sun, TTI teachers and students
Opening Day for the Fablab
Opening Day for the Fablab
First Art 1
First Art 2
Lasers for girls 1
Lasers for girls 2
Making an Africa Clock
EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS
The computers and laser cutter are getting quite a workout. The
humidity is 100%-- and that effects everything from the operation
of the laser beam to the behavior of the materials we are cutting.
(The southwestern corner of Ghana, including Takoradi,gets the
highest rainfall per year --80 inches versus 30 for Accra). So
this project is going to provide an extreme test for the technology.)
The laser cutter is typically used from 8:00AM to 9:00PM every day
except for Sunday. In fact the whole lab is in use everyday from 8
AM to 9PM!We have so far not used the de-humidifier as the space is
open to outdoor environment. The DeWalt saw has not yet been set up,
but based on my initial survey of the equipment available at TTI, it
should be set up and used under strict supervision.
One of the biggest concerns going forward is materials. We brought
some foam, construction paper, card stock, vinyl and acrylic with
us from Boston to inspire students to learn the system, and this
has worked like a charm . However, we desperately need to transition
to locally available materials. While acrylic is available, it
isn’t available in colors necessarily, and it is expensive. (One
suggestion from Jurgen: rubber.) Cardboard, paper, and card stock
loose their crispness in the humidity and become limp, soggy and
harder to cut. As you know, we usually like to prototype on
cardboard, which still works OK on the machines, but there isn’t much
cardboard around which has been discarded. So we’re using the boxes
we shipped equipment in, and that supply will run out quickly. So we
do need to find prototyping material as well.
There are a few problems with the ventilation system. Though we
brought the right materials for venting into the blower, we don’t
have the right size ventilation tubing for the exhaust end of the
blower (Who knew that they would be different sizes?!?!)
Additionally, the blower only has one speed, high, and when you are
cutting light materials they are blown off of the cutting surface.
As a result we’re doing an awful lot of cutting without ventilation,
which isn’t good for health of people or for the life of the laser
lens. Maybe we should reconsider the Purex filter that is in use
at SETC, though that filter would probably clog with the humidity
in Ghana. This problem needs some thought.
I spoke with Amy Sun earlier this week and she told me that the
Modela and the Vinyl cutter are operational and in use. She has
cut a circuit board, but as of a few days ago, the board had not
yet been stuffed or tested. It sounds like she has begun to teach
some of this (electronics/circuitry) to the TTI students, but she’s
only just begun. This may be a good area for Neil to continue ramp
up when he visits next week.
The training schedule is extremely demanding. Amy wants to teach
every waking second so we constructed the schedule below. As you
can see, as soon as we can get others trained to handle the fablab
alone for a few hours, it will be a tremendous help to Amy. The time
will allow her to get started on some of the local projects that
will be meaningful to the community.
Class Schedule while Amy is in residence:
Mon-Thursday
8:00-9:30AM (9-12) TTI students
9:30- 11:00 ( 9-12) TTI students
11:30-2:30 (8) Teachers (except Wednesdays)
3:00-4:30 (12) local children under the age of 14
4:30-6:00 (12) local children under the age of 14
6:00-9:00PM Free access for anyone from school or community who
wants to come and learn and use equipment.
Fridays
8:00AM-11:00AM Girls class--arts and crafts
11:30-2:30 Teachers
Afternoon/evening off for Amy
Saturdays
Community access all day and evening.
TRAINING AND ACCESS
In our first full week, we had classes filled to capacity in each
time slot--except for the teachers sessions. It was the last week
of formal classes for the year, and the teachers had many other
duties to fulfill. This week should be better for the teachers.
We have not identified and brought in adults from the community
to the fablab. That is the one group not addressed in our work
so far. We do need to find that group and bring them into the
fablab.
There are several strategic people who have expressed interest in
fablab learning from the community and it seems that Amy started
training a few of them this week: Emmanuel Bebaako Obimpeh from
the Mayor’s office, a gentleman from the Polytechnic Institute, and
one more VIP from the community. The evening Open Session, which
was organized on speculation that there might be after hours
interest, has so far proved to be very popular. Students and
teachers come back in the evenings to continue working. So do
students that are not in the more formal fablab classes during
the day. On the first night we had 3 students, the second night
we had 10, the third night even more. Night access. completely
free of structure, seems at first brush to be a good idea.
Free time for community access is very important to us and to
the project, and so we need to figure out a way to let it continue
beyond Amy’s stay in Takoradi. There is a danger that security
issues might encourage TTI to restrict access to the fablab in
the evenings and on Saturdays, and that would be a mistake. There
is also a funding issue, someone needs to be paid to stay with the
lab during open hours at night. That will require some fund raising
by TTI and the Mayor’s office. We need to do everything we can to
insure equal and open access to the fablab for the community.
As for the students and the children, they are learning very quickly.
In days 2 and 3 they were less dependent on us for help, and in
days 3 and 4 they were beginning to teach each other. The teachers
are behaving similarly. The groups of 3 or 4 around a computer
terminal seem to be a strength rather than a weakness during these
early days--in that everyone sitting around the terminal discusses
what the next steps should be and usually figure it out on their own
before calling on us for help. What is really lovely to see happens
in the evenings when the older students and the children are in the
lab together. The older students are very generous with their time
and gently teach the small children. Amy has a wonderful picture of
an 10 year old boy on the lap of a teenage boy who has his hand over
the hand of the child guiding the mouse. Peer to peer training
seems to be working in this environment quite well. Basic
computing skills are being picked up quickly (more quickly with
the students and children than with the teachers) and are of course
very transferable skills. Peer to peer training success is critical
in this environment due to the fact that English is the official
language of Ghana, but seems in practice to be the second language
for most of our students and teachers. At TTI and in Takoradi
people mostly speak their native tongue to one another.(There are
I think about 8 or so different languages spoken here, and numerous
dialects within each language.) Teaching in English works OK, but
teaching in Twe or Fante is much better.
There are one or two teachers that seem to be emerging as natural
fablab leaders, but it is a little too soon to determine who might
be best suited to continue running the laboratory once we leave.
We have identified one male student (Douglas) and one female
student (Amy has her name) who are emerging as leaders. We’d like to
try to get them up to trained to an independent level as soon as
possible such that they can free some of Amy’s time in the fablab
for other projects. In discussions with Boafo and Zimare we’ve
determined that the students should probably be paid a small salary
to cover transportation to and from TTI, as well as a bit more to
make up for work that they might have been able to obtain outside of
TTI this summer. For the fall TTI will work to put in place funds
for these students. During Amy’s time in Ghana MIT should pay the
students. It’s a reasonable amount of money, and this will give TTI
time to put funding in place for the fall. Similarly, security
(theft) is an issue and TTI feels that a teacher should “man” the
fablab in the evenings when we offer open access to the community.
Again, the teachers should be paid a small sum to comepensate them
for the time. Who pays this for the summer has not yet been determined
–but in the Fall it would come under TTI’s umbrella.
Boafo and Zimare are thinking that they need to dedicate one full time
teacher to the fablab. That will require funding. I believe they
are going to work with Mayor Nkrumah on finding the funds for a
teacher. There is one teacher on campus that may be appropriate,
but if that teacher takes on fabllab, then another teadcher will
have to be hired to replace him in his normal post at TTI.
It has struck me several times over the last two weeks how important
BOSETA’s work and established connections in Ghana are to the
success of the fablab. These are all due in great part to the
relationships which Dankerlin, Baafi and Essien have built in
Sekondi Takoradi . Their presence and work in the community have
laid the groundwork for this and other projects. They are helping
us from afar, and will be important to the future maintenance and
success of the fablab in Sekondi Takoradi. Mayor Nkrumah took a long
time during his fablab opening speech to credit BOSETA, Baafi,
Dankerlin and Essien for the wonderful work they have done on behalf
of this community.
As Renee and Bob both recommended, it is important that we identify
and formally bring on board a local, technically savvy advisor for
the project. Bob Baafi has a friend/acquaintance in the Accra area
who might be appropriate as advisor. His name is Leo Mastromatteo.
Leo is an engineer living in Ghana, working on solar power projects
and has a good background in electronics. He is associated with
Chief Nana Kyei Amponsaharea (near Accra I believe), who himself is
computing savvy--having worked for the Dept of Defense for many
years. Leo is interested in being involved with the projcet, and I
have suggested that he and Nana Amponsaharea come to Takoradi this
weekend when Neil is there. He and the chief will require
reimbursement for transportation and lodging when they come—MIT will
fund this first exploratory meeting. If Mastromatteo seems the
appropriate candidate for advisor, then funding for twice monthly
ongoing transportation and accommodation will need to be put in
place by Mayor’s office, TTI or assistance from BOSETA.
There are several other individuals from the Sekondi Takoradi area
that the Mayor’s office and TTI would like to introduce to the
fablab, with the same possible advisory role in mind. There was so
much going on that I did not get all their names and backgrounds.
Amy talked to one gentleman quite a lot--a teacher from the
community named George, who has a month or so off and would like
to learn the fablab. We really need to identify the advisor very soon,
establish the relationship, and teach him/her fablab basics before
Amy leaves.
Goals/tasks over the next 6 weeks:
Transition to local materials. Need to help TTI identify local
materials and then experiment with them on the equipment. TTI
is considering a small materials fee to help fund the more expensive
prototyping materials.
Put together and internal network and server for TTI. Jurgen and Amy
are hatching a plan to maybe incorporate the computer lab in the
room next to fablab wirelesssly so that it can be used in the
evenings or as spillover for computer access to the fablab.
Currently it is typical to have 5 or 6 students to one computer
in the fablab.
Put together wireless LAN in Mayor’s office?
Identify one teacher who can run fablab and train students to use.
TTI will have to find funds to dedicate a teacher full or part time
to fablab. Mayor’s office will be approached for funds for this as
well.
Hire two or three students who emerge as leaders in fablab to work
part time supporting Amy. We(MIT) will pay them this summer as TTI
has not had an opportunity to raise funds for this purpose. (Amy
has identified 2 so far, a male (Douglas) and a female whose name I
don’t yet have.) The cost is affordable, and Amy needs the help.
Security--we need to limit the number of people in the fablab to 30
at a time. TTI is concerned about theft and access to equipment.
TTI would also like to pay overtime to a teacher in the evenings
to watch over Amy and fablab during night sessions as they feel it
is dangerous for her to be there alone. I don’think this means
physical danger, but robberies do happen. This is a good idea
going forward into the fall as well. TTI is not yet funded for
this, so this is another funding matter that needs to be settled—
both for when Amy is in Takoradi, and going forward for community
access in the evenings in the fall.
Meet Leo Mastromatteo and/or find appropriate high level advisor for
fablab. Also need to fundraise or find financial reimbursement for
transportation and room and board for this person once or twice a
month if they have to come from Accra or elsewhere.
Meet Paramount Chief Nana Nketsia in formal session while Neil is
there.
Meet Mayor Nkrumah while Neil is there.
Identify one or two projects of use and interest to the community and
map out plan going forward. We need to start a practical project
such that the larger adult and political communities can better
relate to the fablab and what it can do for them.
Sherry Lassiter
Program Manager
Center for Bits and Atoms
MIT Media Lab
20 Ames Street, E15-404
Cambridge, MA 02139
Tel#617-253-4651
Fax#617-253-7035
lass@cba.mit.edu
http://cba.mit.edu