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Kyiha Harris was the lucky person at HP who was responsible for managing and implementing this program.
Here are some extracts from her personal notes leading up to the launch. Enjoy!
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Monday 18th February 2008 - Sydney
Only one week before the scheduled launch date of this project, and the tables and chairs are missing! They were on their way from Perth to Daly River, but due to flooding in Tennant Creek, they've been sent on a detour... but no one is sure where!
I'm getting really nervous about the weather situation in Daly River. The weather channel report is on-screen constantly and today there was over 35mm of rain, which makes me very nervous considering it has already been raining heavily all week.
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Tuesday 19th February - Sydney
Daly River received over 40mm of rain today! Despite the continued bad weather, I've had some good news - the computer equipment has arrived. Fiona (from CSG) called to say the first tinny load of computers successfully made it to the school. Hopefully the other 2 tinnies are able to navigate the swelling floodwaters. I'm so nervous!
This time next week the kids will be using their technology room and opening their eyes to a whole new world of learning. |
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Wednesday 20th February - Land in Darwin
We landed in Darwin and tried to drive to Daly River, but the road was closed. So we had to turn around and drive 130kms back to Batchelor to find somewhere to spend the night - not an enjoyable search at 11pm.
The desks and chairs have been found! They are in Katherine, stuck in the rising waters. We're not sure how we are going to get them to Daly River, but the PC room won't be complete without them.
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Thursday 21st February - Daly River
Finally - we made it to the school!
We were met at 'the 5-mile' by the CSG team, and locals with a boat. It was nerve-wracking loading the last of our equipment into the tinnies - the workstation, the 30" monitor, the multi-function printer... not to mention my clothes! And things got really scary when the printer began sliding toward the water almost taking me and another member of team with it. The boat ride to the school took about 15 minutes and it was absolutely spectacular.
We spent the day working with the CSG team to assemble the PCs, and preparing them for the technical set up. |
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Friday 22nd February - Daly River
The desks were delivered today. A group of kids came to the airstrip to help us unload them from the plane - very helpful! The room is starting to take shape, I can't wait to see it completely set up.
We had dinner with the teachers - it was great to sit down with them and learn more about their lives in Daly River.
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Saturday 23rd February - Daly River
With a beautiful morning, Maj, the principal of the school, and I took to the schools gardens. My colleague, Philip, was stuck indoors, testing the new machines and ensuring they would be ready for the teacher training.
Two local men - Dingo and Joseph, took me for my second ride in the tinny, back to the 5-mile. Stephen Bose from SchoolKiT was on his way to facilitate the teachers training day tomorrow. He's travelling from Perth and this will be his first introduction to the Northern Territory. |
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Sunday 24th February - Daly River
Our teachers bravely turned up at 9:30am, ready for a full day's training on the new computers. Stephen spent half the day taking the teachers through edClass, which has been licensed for every computer in the school. The rest of the day was dedicated to pdPoint, and assisting the teachers in mapping out their own professional development plan.
In the late afternoon we drove back to Darwin.
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Monday 25th February - Darwin
Today was a huge day. Our guests all arrived, ready for a briefing session this evening. The session was due to start at 5pm, but our guest speaker, Miriam-Rose Baumann (ex-Principal of St Francis Xavier), hadn't arrived - although we knew she'd left Daly River early in the morning. No one in Darwin had seen her, and no one at home knew where she was. I really hope she is somewhere safe, waiting for the waters to drop.
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Tuesday 26th February - Darwin to Daly River
Early phone calls from the airport, the Adelaide River police and contacts at the school indicate major problems... The community is on stand by for evacuation. Our plane was due to take off from Darwin at 8am, but by 8:30am we were still waiting in the hotel for word that we could take off. At 9:00am we finally got the call "Get to the airport, we're going to Daly River!"
A nervous plane ride through terrible weather gave us our first view of Daly River from the air, and the massive amount of water that is surrounding the town. Coming in for landing, we could only just see the runway.
After wading through waist-deep water, scaling fences and being rescued by the local policeman, we were greeted at the school by cheering and screaming kids, obviously in hysterics at their Principal arriving at school in the paddy wagon.
At 3pm - normally home time for the kids, we opened the room, and let the kids have their first glimpse of the room. Some were actually squealing with delight. It was one of the most emotionally rewarding experiences for the whole team.
PS- we found Miriam-Rose. She was stuck between 2 creeks, which had suddenly flooded, and thankfully her son found her the next morning and brought her safely home.
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Wednesday 27th February - Daly River to Darwin
The water has risen again overnight. It is now at the back of the classrooms, so the local policeman came to school to talk to all the children about staying out of the water and away from crocodiles. An essential message, considering a crocodile was spotted at the very spot we were wading just 24 hours earlier.
Our plane was due to collect us at 11am. It was a nervous wait, as we watched the plane circle above 3 times, the pilot preparing himself for a very short landing. There isn't much left of the run way today. With the weather conditions rapidly deteriorating, this was our last chance to leave the community before the next big storm.
Our plane ride back was uneventful compared to the scary flight we had to Daly River. We landed safely, and were all exhausted by the time we got back to our hotels.
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