This thing is gettin nasty. I’ll see what I can do about it.

<jordan

Kenya Writing Center Project

INDEX

________________________________________________________
Priority #1 (Book Collection):
Priority #2 (Fundraiser & Box Pick Up):
List of donors
Volunteer Tasks:
1) Fund Raising
2) Networking
3) Composing Project Documents
Class Homework (due 11/4):
Materials for Writing Center start up:
Email between myself and Ben Byerly (our contact person charged with setting up the
Writing Resources Center at Africa International University/Nairobi Evangelical Graduate
School of Theology (AIU/NEGST)). My questions followed by his responses:
Randomness

________________________________________________________
Must know:
How many books we have.
How much the books weigh.

Priority #1 (Book Collection):

Below is an updated list of faculty who would like to have their book donations picked
up. Place your name in the brackets that follow each faculty member’s information. If
you sign up, BE SURE to follow through and be on time to pick up the donations.

Date Faculty Name Time Office # Volunteer

Name

10/19 Steve Lazenby 2:00 Fret 245 L Jordan

wslazenb@uncc.edu

Oct 27 Julia Intawiwat 3:30-4:30 Fret 290-B Shelvasha

Any Wed. Leon Gatlin 4-5:30 Fret 290M Chasiti

(books on filing cabinet -
 can get anytime.

10/19 Linda Hofmann 12:30 Fret 265C Jordan

10/27 Jan Rieman 1:00pm 265-A David

Any MW Betsy Cochran 12:30-2 Fret 250B Susan

Oct 25 1:30-2

Any TR Sue Diehl 9 am-2 Fret 245-N Joel

beginning on pm
10/28

M btwn 1-4 Tony Scott (email to set up adscott@ Fret 276-B Two people
and most of T time--he will probably have uncc.edu can sign up
a lot of books, since he is but go
the Director of together.
Composition & Rhetoric) [Chasiti]
Well, if
nobody has
done this, I
guess I will
today.
(Matt)

W 11/10 Mary Ellen Muesing W 1-4:00 Fret 265-D Two people

or _______ can sign up
R 11/11 R before but go
9:30 am together.
[Chasiti]

I am signing up for these so that we know they are being picked up. If you want to take
care of a few, please let me know by E-MAILING me jordan.shuping@gmail.com
- OK, if you take over one of my pick-ups, be sure to change your name on this
document so that everybody knows and I don’t keep getting e-mails. Thanks =)

Service hours for moving books from Arnold’s Fretwell 285-F to Cone
Center 369-C (in the Honors College)--ask Monica or Kathy in the English
Department to let you into my office. Only transport the books that are
stacked on the floor. Please let me know how long it takes you to move a
boxful of books from one office to the other, so I can decide how many
volunteer hours to assign to the task. More than one person can sign up for
this, since there are a LOT of books in my office now.
How many service hours are allotted to moving books from the professor’s
office to yours? Is that where we take the books initially, then at another
time move them to the Cone center?

Any day--- Robert Arnold ANY TIME ---Fret 285-F Student Names

11-12 and after 4:00 p.m. Joel

W After 5

M Before 2 Jordan
W Before 2, After 5
T After 12:30

Matt

MW After 5 Clair
TR 3-5 David
F Anytime

Priority #2 (Fundraiser & Box Pick Up):

1) Movie clip project to show during the entertainment session of the fashion show.
Contact Joel first if you would like to help with this. [Clair]

2) UNC Charlotte Recycling says heavy-duty cardboard boxes are placed by the
loading dock at the Friday building on a daily basis. Quote: “They are in a hole in the
wall.” I need several people to volunteer to get boxes TODAY or before class time on
Thursday. I was told that if there are no boxes there, there will be soon. Bring the boxes
to the UHP and place them in my office. [David]

3) We also need a scale to weigh the boxes of books on Thursday. I’m thinking a
bathroom scale should work fine. Anyone have a bathroom scale? More than one
person can bring one, so we have a back up and so we can accomplish more at one
time. [Your names here]

______________________________________________________________________
______
List of donors
Name Books Funds
Mr. Jeannot X
Dr. Meg Morgan X X
Ms. Tonya Wertz-Orbaugh X
Steve Lazenby X
Linda Hofmann X
Verda Jaroszewski X X
Leon Gatlin X
Sue Diehl X X
____________________________________________________________________

Volunteer Tasks:
Place your name in brackets next to the task you are working on. Keep track of your
hours by writing them on your volunteer log.

We currently have: Honors Money + $250 + $150

1) Fund Raising (possibly a committee to throw around ideas and organize/recruit

volunteers)
We should throw around ideas soon.
[Joel] [ Ben ] [ Clair ] [ Jordan ] [Susan] [Matt] [Brooke][Chasiti] [Shanice] [David]
-You think you can change the world?® (YTYCCTW) Challenge
Write proposal
-Possible Fundraising Ideas:
October
- Haunted House <-- The Student Union is doing a haunted house for free this
October. Lame. Double Lame.
- Hay Ride
- Raffles, company donations
- Car smash [Smash the Car get a junk yard to donate a car, a towing
company to volunteer to pick up the car
QUESTIONS:
Waivers for liability purposes
December 7 < day before reading day.
Find sources. Pull-a-part on Tryon.
- Climbing Wall - Race to the Top! << funnnnnnnn!
 Talk to Venture.
By donation. Can we charge?
Sandy Kohn. << talk to about this.
Entertainment books - online.
Selling anything off campus - must have permission of campus & venue
- Ground Spark
Chalk donations from local art stores or at a big discount and invite local
Artists to come out.
- Concert - Brandon Kirkley and the Firecrackers
- Donation jars
- Graffiti Wall, people pay to graffiti
- Student auction ((UHP?) professors pay to have students assist them for a
given period of time)
-Set up donation center at Student Union

2) Networking
-Listserv e-mail [ Robert Arnold ]
Email draft:
Title: Resources for a Writing Center in Nairobi, Kenya

Dear Colleagues,
A childhood acquaintance of mine, from my days in Bouaké, Côte
d'Ivoire, recently sent me an email. He is currently a doctoral student in
Nairobi, Kenya and was given the task of setting up a writing center at
Africa International University (AIU) in Nairobi. My friend's area of
expertise is not English, so he was seeking my advice on how to go about
setting up the center. He is trying to do this with very limited resources. I
discovered that the only copies of writing texts, dictionaries, style manuals
and grammar guides he has are his own!
The AIU currently has about 450 students, and 180 of them are in
newly expanded undergraduate programs. There are no first-year writing
courses or other types of writing services available at the university, so the
need is great. The establishment of a writing resource center and
academic writing courses will have a great impact on the university and
the region, as many of these students take up prominent leadership
positions in schools, churches and NGOs (dealing with a variety of issues,
including poverty, AIDS, conflict, reconciliation and trauma healing).
When it became clear to me the AIU would first need help obtaining
some basic resources just to start the center, I hoped to collect just
enough grammar and style guides to give the center the most basic, must-
have essentials. However, that goal has now become much more
ambitious, has the title of Kenya Writing Center Project, and is being run
by the students in my Honors community service course. On their behalf, I
am asking for your help through book and/or monetary donations.

Book donations:
Specifically, the AIU will need book resources for the Director of the
writing center, the tutors, and the students who use the center. Some
texts, such as those specifically geared towards the Director, will need to
be purchased, but we would be glad to accept any composition/rhetoric
textbooks, style and grammar guides or handbooks, dictionaries, thesauri,
and/or texts that address ESL concerns. The publication dates of the
books are irrelevant (unless they are outdated style guides).

You have several options for donating books:

1) Mailbox forms—use the form that will appear in your campus mailbox
within a few days to schedule a time for students to stop by your office, 2)
Bring your books to me at Fretwell 285-F or Cone Center 369-C (in the
Honors College). If I’m not in my office, you can have someone unlock it
for you; there is a shelf for the books.

Financial donations:
Funds will be needed for several different aspects of this project: to mail
all of the donated books to New York, (where they will be placed on a
shipping container already headed to Nairobi, a huge savings on
shipping), to purchase any packaging materials that might be necessary,
and to purchase computers for the center. (Our priority is on providing
books, but we hope to obtain enough financial resources to buy a few
computers for the center.)

Your options for making a financial contribution to the Writing Center:

1) Give any donations of cash to me, and I will provide you with a receipt,
or

2) Make a donation through the Honors Program website at

http://uhonors.uncc.edu/ by clicking on the “Make a gift” link on the left-
hand side of the web page. Under “Gift Designation” in Step 2, select
“Honors College.” This is a fund dedicated exclusively to student
community service projects in the University Honors Program. We will be
disbursing all donated monies collected between Oct. 6 and Nov. 15, 2010
 [Done]

- Facebook group [Clair Hilliard]

-Mailbox form [Clair Hilliard]

Kenya Writing Center Project
Our University Honors Program Community Service class is collecting books and
raising funds to send to the Africa International University (AIU) in Nairobi, Kenya, for a
writing resources center. The AIU currently has about 450 students, and 180 of them
are in newly expanded undergraduate programs. There are no first-year writing courses
or other types of writing services available at the university, so the need is great. The
establishment of a writing resource center and academic writing courses will have a
great impact on the university and the region, as many of these students take up
prominent leadership positions in schools, churches and NGOs (dealing with a variety of
issues, including poverty, AIDS, conflict, reconciliation and trauma healing).
For your convenience, we can collect books directly from you. (You can also
drop off your books with our instructor, Robert Arnold, in Fretwell 285-F or Cone Center
369-C.) If you would like us to stop by your office, please fill out the following form and
send it to Robert Arnold in the English Department. We can begin accepting your
donations on Friday, Oct. 8th, with an end date of Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2010. Please
provide us with several days notice.

Name: _______________ Date: __________ Time: __________ Office: __________

[Done]

Flyer Design Draft

- Design fliers [ Shelvasha ] [Susan] [Shanice]
 - Talk to bookstores about donations [David-perhaps][Matt, also maybe]

3) Composing Project Documents

Press Release

[Clair Hilliard] [Joel Fitzgerald]

Kenya Writing Center Project
The Africa International University in Nairobi, Kenya is in critical need of a
writing resource center. A writing resource center will help the students at the
University to become better educated leaders and potential workers for NGOs. As
the NGO capital of the world, Nairobi serves every major crisis area in east Africa.
Also, a better educated middle class could eventually lead to a better quality of life
for a larger number of people. Many students from the Africa International
University go on to become prominent leaders, start schools, and find ways to
combat major issues including poverty and AIDS. Quite a few wind up doing
significant work in peace and reconciliation and trauma healing. Peter Okaalet is
just one great example of how students from this school impact the community.
This individual was featured in Time Magazine for his approach to dealing with AIDS
in Africa. You can read this article at:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1124322,00.html
Our contact, Ben Byerly is a doctoral student at The Nairobi Evangelical Graduate
School of Theology (NEGST), which is tied to the AIU. Ben is in charge of setting up
the center and will initially serve as its director. There several key elements
necessary for starting a writing resource center; books, funds, and training for the
resource center tutors. We are soliciting funds from UNC Charlotte faculty, and we
are accepting monetary donations, in conjunction with the Office of University
Development, through the University Honors Program website. We have already
collected hundreds of books, and are still collecting to date. We have raised $600
out of an estimated $1000 for costs we will incur. This money will mainly go
towards shipping the books from North Carolina to Nairobi, Kenya. Our fellow
honors students are putting on a fashion show. All proceeds are going towards this
project.

Dear Colleagues,

A childhood acquaintance of mine, from my days in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire, recently

sent me an email. He is currently a doctoral student in Nairobi, Kenya (He is an
American who has only ever lived in the U.S. for short periods of time), and was
given the task of setting up a writing center at Africa International University (AIU)
in Nairobi. He is trying to do this with very limited resources. I discovered that the
only copies of writing texts, dictionaries, style manuals and grammar guides he has
are his own!

The AIU currently has about 450 students, and 180 of them are in newly expanded
undergraduate programs. There are no first-year writing courses or other types of
writing services available at the university, so the need is great. The establishment
of a writing resources center and academic writing courses will have a great impact
on the university and the region, as many of these students take up prominent
leadership positions in schools, churches and NGOs (dealing with a variety of issues,
including poverty, AIDS, conflict, reconciliation and trauma healing).

When it became clear to me the AIU would first need help obtaining some basic
resources just to start the center, I hoped to collect just enough grammar and style
guides to give the center the most basic, must-have essentials. However, that goal
has now become much more ambitious, has the title of Kenya Writing Center
Project, and is being run by the students in my Honors community service course.
On their behalf, I am asking for your help through book and/or monetary donations.

Book donations:

Specifically, the AIU will need book resources for the Director of the writing center,
the tutors, and the students who use the center. Some texts, such as those
specifically geared towards the Director, will need to be purchased, but we would be
glad to accept any composition/rhetoric textbooks, style and grammar guides or
handbooks, dictionaries, thesauri, and/or texts that address ESL concerns. The
publication dates of the books are irrelevant (unless they are outdated style
guides).

You have several options for donating books:

1) Mailbox forms—use the form that will appear in your campus mailbox within a
few days to schedule a time for students to stop by your office, 2) Bring your books
to me at Fretwell 285-F or Cone Center 369-C (in the Honors College). If I’m not in
my office, you can have someone unlock it for you; there is a shelf for the books.

Financial donations:

Funds will be needed for several different aspects of this project: to mail all of the
donated books to New York, (where they will be placed on a shipping container
already headed to Nairobi, a huge savings on shipping), to purchase any packaging
materials that might be necessary, and to purchase computers for the center. (Our
first priority is to provide books, but we hope to obtain enough financial resources to
buy a few computers for the center.)

Your options for making a financial contribution to the Writing Center:

1) Give any donations of cash to me, and I will provide you with a receipt, or

2) Make a donation through the Honors Program website at http://uhonors.uncc.edu/

by clicking on the “Make a gift” link on the left-hand side of the web page. Under
“Gift Designation” in Step 2, select “Honors College.” This is a fund dedicated
exclusively to student community service projects in the University Honors Program.
We will be disbursing all donated monies collected between Oct. 8 and Nov. 15,
2010 to this project. We can begin accepting your donations on Thursday, Oct. 7th,
with an end-date of Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2010.

Thank you for your help! I will be sure to let you know what we accomplish so you
can share in the satisfaction of this outreach project.
Best,
Robert

THE REVISED/EXPANDED PROPOSAL (IN BLUE) (sent to Dalen 10/21/2010)

[Clair Hilliard] [Joel Fitzgerald] [Also, people who answered his questions greatly contributed to
this proposal expansion]
In Nairobi, Kenya, the Africa International University is in great need of a writing
resource center. This writing resource center will help the students of the University to develop
critical writing skills that will enhance their education and future careers. It is our goal to help
contribute to Kenya’s socioeconomic development through the power of education. Specifically
our goal is to provide Africa International University (AIU) with the resources necessary to set
up a writing resources center and first-year writing courses.

In order to create a Writing Resource Center, we are collecting grammar, rhetoric, and
composition textbooks from various departments throughout the University of North Carolina
at Charlotte (mainly the English department). We optimistically hope to obtain around 300 of
these textbooks, and enough boxes to ship the books. We will also be collecting cash and
electronic donations through the UHP website for shipping costs and to purchase
supplementary texts essential for running a writing center, such as the “Writing Center
Director’s Manual”. We will be shipping the books to the AIM office in New York, where the
books will be placed in a large container and shipped to Nairobi, Kenya. Another goal of ours is
to raise enough money to purchase a desktop computer in order to enhance the writing skills of
students and to increase the organization and productivity of the Writing Resource Center. We
have sent out a general interest email to the English department here and have received lots of
positive feedback and almost immediate support. Based on the feedback from the English
department, we expect to collect over 200 textbooks.

Anticipating issues is an important part of any planning process. We have looked over
every aspect of our plans for this project and have come across three main potential issues we
may incur. First, collecting all of the books and packaging everything is a potential issue. With
packaging and shipping, we have to calculate the cost, and in order to calculate cost we need to
figure out how many books we will be sending and estimate the weight. We can then calculate
the shipping cost. Considering that we’ve set a goal of 300 books we should be able to find the
cost. Also, Faculty in the English department have been contacted through listservs and will
receive a form in their mailboxes to schedule book-collection appointments. We will sign up for
collection times. For packaging, we will hold “packaging events,” where several hours, or a
morning or afternoon, will be set aside for this purpose.
Raising enough funds for shipping and computers is also a potential issue, however,
since this will be done using excess funds, this will rely on how much shipping costs and we will
consider various fundraisers if need be to remedy this problem. Also, We are soliciting funds
from faculty through the listservs, and we are accepting monetary donations, in conjunction
with the Office of University Development, through the University Honors Program website.
Our third main issue is figuring out which computers to get, where to buy them from, what
software we will need, and how to ship them. We are currently in the process of researching all
of this information. Our research data, for the sake of brevity, can be found on the google
document to which you have access.

The main reason Nairobi and the AIU were selected for this project is because we were
presented with the university’s need by our contact person, Ben Byerly. Mr. Byerly is an
American who has lived in Africa for the vast majority of his life and has worked on numerous
projects in the past. He is a doctoral student at The Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of
Theology (NEGST)--tied to the AIU--has been charged with setting up the center and will
initially serve as its Director. His role, in combination with his long acquaintance with our
instructor, Robert Arnold, means he can be trusted to use the resources we provide honestly and
efficiently. An equally important reason for choosing to aid a university in Nairobi is its status as
the NGO capital of the world, serving Somalia, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Eastern Congo,
Rwanda, and every other crisis area in East Africa. Plus, it's got one of the fastest growing
economies in Africa. Better educated leaders, and workers for NGOs, who can write better
proposals and organize better food-distribution services, will be able to save more people’s lives.
Also, it can be argued that a better educated middle class will eventually lead to a better quality
of life for a larger number of people.
We are in between planning and the collection stages of our project. We are also
considering various fundraisers to supplement the donations. All of our planning has taken
place online and through our Community Service class, taught by Robert Arnold. Also, we have
been keeping in contact with Ben Byerly in Africa who is in charge of setting up the Writing
Resource Center at the University. Connie Rothwell has also contributed to the beginning stages
of this project. We have been keeping records of our planning process through the use of Google
Documents.
We look forward to starting our own project from the ground up. It will be something
exciting and new for us and we look forward to seeing the benefit of our hard work,
contributions, and dedication.

Thank you for your consideration.

Dalen sent Joel a few questions for the Initial Proposal (see the text of the Initial Proposal below
these questions) submitted for the You think you can change the world?® Challenge (YTYCCTW
Challenge). These revisions are due Nov. 4--Nov. 8. Place your name in brackets next to any question
you help respond to. Please don’t change what someone else writes without first writing comments,
questions or suggestions in parentheses next to the already-existing text. Also, feel free to respond to
these questions by pillaging or plagiarizing anything that I or Ben wrote in the emails included at the end
of this document.

1) What are the goals?

To provide Africa International University (AIU) with the resources necessary to set up a
writing resources center and first-year writing courses.

2) What are the concrete objectives that will deem success in terms of your goals?
1) Collect around 300 books from faculty members for the center.
1a) Get empty boxes
 2) Collect monetary donations for shipping and other costs.
3) Purchase any texts the center will need, such as the writing center Director’s manual.
4) Package and ship all of the books and other materials.

3) What are your 3 biggest foreseeable issues?

1) Collecting all of the books and packaging everything.
With packaging and shipping, we have to calculate the cost, and in order to
calculate cost we need to figure out how many books (the weight). We
can then calculate the shipping cost. Considering that we’ve set a goal of
300 books we should be able to find the cost.)[Shelvasha]
2) Raising enough funds for shipping and computers.
(This will be done with excess funds so it’s dependent on the cost of everything else)
3) Figuring out which computers to get, what software they need, and how to ship them.
What about buying locally (Kenya)...is that an option? -DAlen
Looking at dell’s refurbished site, it’s better to buy a new dell.
I have the link here: Dell PCs. The good thing about this is that the
operating system comes pre-installed, and all of the manuals would be there.
The downside is that they would need monitors.[Shelvasha] Monitors can
range from $69 and up; if we get them through the Dell website,[Brooke] Ok
so if we consider the $299 and minimum of $69, we’re looking at about $368
(I know it’s more) per computer. That’s really not too bad. No, considering
they will have pre-installed technology. That and it’ll all be new. [Shelvasha &
...]
I think the biggest cost will be shipping for computer . Also, are we shipping this to NY
as well? [Joel]
Boxing and driving to NY would be much cheaper to ship separate computers altogether.
i know the bigger the box, the more money it will be. Gas would be cheaper. [Brooke]
I think it depends on how soon we acquire them I know that book donations end in
November. So I’ll assume the same time.[Shelvasha]
I think we should do an example of a package in class. Based off of that, we should be
able to come up with an estimate of how many books we can fit in a box and its weight.
Also, how many boxes we will have in the end going off of our 300 book goal. You can
get an estimate on the UPS site. [Chasiti]
We’d have to do a sample package, figure out how many books will be available, and
then UPS. [Shelvahsa]
The only problem with boxing and driving - in NY it tends to snow. We just need to
watch out for fun weather problems. [Jordan] >> if you color code things, it is easier to
follow conversations.
4) What are your plans for overcoming those issues?
1) Faculty in the English department have been contacted through listservs and will
receive a form in their mailboxes to schedule book-collection appointments. We will sign
up for collection times. For packaging, we will hold “packaging events,” where several
hours, or a morning or afternoon, will be set aside for this purpose.
 2) We are soliciting funds from faculty through the listservs, and we are accepting
monetary donations, in conjunction with the Office of University Development, through
the University Honors Program website.
3) Some of us are researching computer costs and software requirements.

5) Why Nairobi? Why Kenya?

The main reason Nairobi and the AIU were selected for this project is because we were
presented with the university’s need by our contact person, Ben Byerly. Mr. Byerly is an
American who has lived in Africa for the vast majority of his life and has worked on
numerous projects in the past. He is a doctoral student at The Nairobi Evangelical
Graduate School of Theology (NEGST)--tied to the AIU--has been charged with setting
up the center and will initially serve as its Director. His role, in combination with his
long acquaintance with our instructor, Robert Arnold, means he can be trusted to use the
resources we provide honestly and efficiently. An equally important reason for choosing
to aid a university in Nairobi is its status as the NGO capital of the world, serving
Somalia, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Eastern Congo, Rwanda, and every other crisis area
in East Africa. Plus, it's got one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. Better
educated leaders, and workers for NGOs, who can write better proposals and organize
better food-distribution services, will be able to save more people’s lives. Also, it can be
argued that a better educated middle class will eventually lead to a better quality of life
for a larger number of people.
____________________________________

Initial Proposal: [Clair Hilliard] [Ben Huffman] [Joel Fitzgerald]

Kenya Writing Center Project

In Nairobi, Kenya, the Africa International University is in great need of a writing
resource center. This writing resource center will help the students of the University to develop
critical writing skills that will enhance their education and future careers. It is our goal to help
contribute to Kenya’s socioeconomic development through the power of education.
In order to create a Writing Resource Center, we are collecting grammar, rhetoric, and
composition textbooks from various departments throughout the University of North Carolina at
Charlotte (mainly the English department). We will also be collecting cash and electronic
donations through the UHP website for shipping costs. We will be shipping the books to the AIM
office in New York, where the books will be placed in a large container and shipped to Nairobi,
Kenya. Another goal of ours is to raise enough money to purchase a desktop computer in order
to enhance the writing skills of students and to increase the organization and productivity of the
Writing Resource Center. We have sent out a general interest email to the English department
here and have received lots of positive feedback and almost immediate support. Based on the
feedback from the English department, we expect to collect over 200 textbooks.
We are in between planning and the collection stages of our project. We are also
considering various fundraisers to supplement the donations. All of our planning has taken place
online and through our Community Service class, taught by Robert Arnold. Also, we have been
keeping in contact with Ben Byerly in Africa who is in charge of setting up the Writing Resource
Center at the University. Connie Rothwell has also contributed to the beginning stages of this
project. We have been keeping records of our planning process through the use of Google
Documents.
We look forward to starting our own project from the ground up. It will be something
exciting and new for us and we look forward to seeing the benefit of our hard work,
contributions, and dedication.

Thank you for your consideration.

4) Pick up books & $$ [Jordan] [ Shelvasha ] [ Ben ] [Clair] [Joel] [Brooke][Chasiti]

[David]

5) Research shipping costs to NY [ Clair ]

Ship to:
Attn: Mark Wilson
ACTS at NEGST Kenya
C/O AIM
135W, Crooked Hill Road
P.O. Box 178
Pearl River
NY 10965

[This address is for books only; see below for shipping computers.]
The shipping for computers definitely bothers me. Because are we only shipping
books from NY? If so, shipping the computers is going to be quite complicated.
Can we just ship them direct?

-Shipping Price calculators- we need box size, weight, and value though....
usps ups FedEx

Shipping Computers: Often individuals visiting AIU (frequently from the

Chicago/Indianapolis region) can bring computers and equipment as part of their
luggage. This tends to be the quickest, cheapest, and most secure method of “shipping”
to Kenya. Depending on the timing, I would have to find out where the next team of
visitors is coming from, so you could ship the computers directly to them. Sorry that it’s
not more straightforward. [Ben Byerly]

6) Research Computers
-Costs [ Shelvasha ] [Matt] (PC models)
 We have two routes to take as far as computers go: We have to get PC modeled
desktops and they can either be refurbished or new. As far as refurbished goes,
I’ve found a few websites that would be worthy to look at.

-Operating System
-Monitors (maybe)

For comparison purposes, a good, brand-name desktop in Nairobi retails for about
$650-$700. Cheaper ones that are still functional can be as low as $400-500.

You can add more brackets or sign up for more than one thing if you would like. The
person composing the e-mail can even write it on this document. Or, if you know
anything about Google Wave [Google it, lol] then we can use that.
______________________________________________________________________
______

Class Homework (due 11/4):

In General Notes From Class (9/23):
Find a research article/opinion piece referring to the results/benefits of community
service.
www.nationalservice.gov
Midterm REFLECTION (see handout given in class on 10/21)
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Materials for Writing Center start up:

1) Books for writing center director:

Writing Center Resource Manual IWCA:
http://writingcenters.org/directors.htm (about $25)

2) Books for tutors [training] and students:

Grammar books, dictionaries, thesauri, style guides, composition/rhetoric texts, etc.

3) Funding:
A fair amount of $$ will be needed to simply ship books.
Fund raisers.
Trolling the English Dept for books - leftovers
Connie has suggested opening the fundraising up to all of the UHP, but those of you in
this class could still raise funds separately, to try and win the $150 matching funds for
the UHP challenge. (You might win, since I have already “softened” folks on the
Rhetoric & Composition listserv).

4) Computers:
Still checking to discover what needs to be loaded on the computers.
They use 220 V electricity, so all computers would need to be able to switch.
Should be able to send computers with the AIM container: still being checked.
AIU has a site license for Microsoft Office, but Ben says “they expect Windows software
to come with each unit. We've found thin client to be pretty effective for the multiple
station situation. One souped-up desktop can host up to nine separate work stations.”
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Email between myself and Ben Byerly (our contact person charged with setting
up the Writing Resources Center at Africa International University/Nairobi
Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (AIU/NEGST)). My questions followed
by his responses:

Robert: What are the characteristics of the population who attend AIU/NEGST (average
age, language issues, familiarity with computers, etc.)? What are the characteristics of
the potential tutors for a center like this (grad students, undergrads who are skilled
writers, etc.? (Anything else you can think of about who attends, why they attend, and
what they do afterwards.) How does the school pay its bills: student fees, grants from
the government or church organizations? Basically, I'm thinking in terms of justifying
pouring resources into the project, in case I end up having a conversation with an
administrator. Oh, and what type of facilities do you have? A computer lab? How many
computers? What types? Does your university have a contract with Microsoft to load
software on all their computers?

I had a talk with Dr. Mark Hall and he was a huge help in pointing to very specific
resources that he would HAVE to have for a writing center. He pointed to "The Writing
Center Resource Manual," available through the IWCA website link I sent you. The
manual costs $25, so my class will take care of that for you. He also thinks a must-have
book is The Writing Center Director's Resource Book, ed. Christina Murphy and Byron
L. Stay. I'm hoping I can get you a copy of that. Mark also suggested you sign up for the
IWCA listserv. He said big-name, writing-center folks regularly answer people's
questions on there, so it should be a great resource for you. There are a bunch of other
books and resources Mark mentioned, but to avoid overwhelming you, I'll just see what I
can get and send to you. I'm trying to get the resources a director, tutors and the
students would need.

My students and I brainstormed about how to meet your need, and they want to go all
out. I handed the project to them (they took over, really--these are Honor students after
all. They're really just like grad students, but younger.) Before I give an overview of what
their plans are, let me start by saying that the number of books we can get is huge.
More than 200 is a massive underestimate. So, let me ask you this: does your university
need Composition/Rhetoric textbooks for first-year writing courses, or anything like that?
Maybe you could tell me what type of writing instruction people get (if at all). Let me
touch on a few of the things my students will be working on: 1) Soliciting books
(dictionaries, thesauri, grammar guides, style books, comp/rhet textbooks, etc.) and
cash from faculty in the English department & soliciting cash from other departments in
their own personal networks, 2) Starting a Facebook page, 3) Using Google apps to
organize their efforts or coordinate the assignment of tasks, 4) Researching computer
costs and shipping--this one needs explanation (oh, and I need the lowdown on internet
service at your school). Dr. Hall said that, at our WRC at least, computers are very
important. You might need them for research purposes, so students can open their
papers directly from their flash drives (assuming they use flash drives), or to access
online writing resources like Purdue's OWL website. As you can see, we are confident
enough in our resources to know that we can set you up properly--it just depends on
how things are on your end (a place to set up the computer(s) in a room, etc.) We would
want to have word processing software on the computer(s), if we are able to swing the
computer thing--I'm not making promises, so we would need to know if you can get
software or if we have to. Oh, and what about getting computers to Nairobi? How would
that work without customs eating you alive?

Anyway, just the nature of the University Honors Program (it's focus on community
service, it's hyper-intelligent students, its good budget) means that this thing got way
bigger than even I had dared to imagine. Also, publishers' practice of sending
unsolicited free texts to professors means there are literally hundreds of composition
books sitting in people's offices collecting dust. It's ridiculous, so it's about time those
books went to good use. I hope it isn't becoming more than you would like to handle.
Still, I doubt it would be a bad thing to get more stuff than you need (I hope). I'm sure
anything you don't need can be put to good use somewhere in Kenya.

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Ben: American "can-do" dreaming is a thing of cultural beauty--especially among the

brilliant, young, and energetic.
We are definitely going to have to step it up here on planning for the writing center. I
guess the big up-front decision will be whether we launch it small scale with a couple of
tutors or and upgrade once we see how we are really supposed to do it, or whether we
wait till a couple of manuals show up and tell us how to do it right.

BOOK SHIPPING: I'm pretty sure we can add the book shipment to a container coming
out soon. There is a big shipment of books for the Islamic studies department coming
out soon, so we may be able to piggyback on that. I will also talk to the bookstore here
which tries often figures out who is sending out a container to which we can add books.
The Theological Book Network also sends a container of books out about twice a year.
The very excited librarian is looking into all those options.

COMPUTER LAB: Right now, they have about 12 work stations--three standalone
desktops and nine thin clients. They hope to add about nine more thin client
workstations within the next two weeks or so. All the workstations run Windows XP and
Microsoft Office (all fully certified). Thanks to the new sea cable, we are now connected
to a high-speed fiber-optic line. Occasionally, as with all things in the developing world,
it can go out for a couple of days at a time, but generally, it's fairly reliable. A good,
brand-name desktop here costs about $650-$700. Cheaper ones can be as low as $4-
500.

Income to the school is a mix of foreign donations for scholarships.

Part 2,

I'm still a bit stunned by how quickly your students jumped on this. I'm also a bit
overwhelmed.

My major fear is the tutor issue. So far I've been looking at a handful of masters
students who have shown themselves to be reasonably good writers--about half of them
are American and European. Most of them already do proofreading and editing for their
friends, so I'm hoping to formalize and streamline that into more of the writing lab ethos.
Ultimately, I argue, it should lighten their load by building more capacity in the students
themselves.

Student council is trying to negotiate with the administration about possible

compensation, but the school is so cash strapped right now that they've even had
trouble paying regular workers on time, so I'm not sure what will happen. To keep a long
story short, the government--unfairly in our minds--hit them with years of back taxes
based on a bureaucratic error on the government's part. The university has also had to
make some major capital investments gearing up for full university accreditation in
Kenya. Accreditation has now been fully approved, but student council priority is now
negotiating over a new housing policy, so this has dropped down the food chain a bit.

All that is to say, being the typical African, I was originally just planning rolling with the
punches and see how far we got. Now, with your honors students jumping on this, the
stakes would be much higher...and that really is a wonderful problem to have!!

The university currently has about 450 students, but it's started expanding its programs
significantly in the last few years. About 180 of those are in new undergraduate
programs. Twenty are PhD candidates (biblical studies and translation), and the rest are
in various master's programs. At the BA level, almost a 100% are Kenyan, but the
masters students are much more mixed. We have students from all over sub-Saharan
Africa (Nigeria, Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zambia,
Malawi, Cote D'Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Chad, to name the ones that come
immediately to mind.) We also have a handful of Americans, Brits, Koreans, and an
Indian.

Most of these students take up prominent leadership positions somewhere when they
are done. Many go back and start schools and NGO's of their own dealing with a variety
of issues including poverty, AIDS, and conflict (all the things that Westerners
stereotypically brand Africa with.) Quite a few wind up doing significant work in peace
and reconciliation and trauma healing. A number of our graduates played a significant
role in some of the positive directions Kenya has taken since the post-election violence.
All of the major (middle of the road) churches in Nairobi have pastoral staffs full of
NEGST grads. The two guys in charge of the political wing of all the churches in Kenya
are both NEGST graduates as is the General Secretary of all the protestant churches in
Sudan. As far as AIDS work goes, here is one of our shining stars:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1124322,00.html

As you know, for good or ill, the church in Africa is booming, and this school will likely
play a prominent role in shaping some of its ethos. As far as I know, we have the
strongest graduate program and best library among protestant schools in sub-Saharan
Africa (not counting South Africa). Compared to anything in the States, it's peanuts, but
those are the realities of life here. By promoting clear critical thinking through good
writing, I think we can play a part in helping shape that Christianity to be more
thoughtful. You get a sense of that direction from the Institute for the Study of African
Realities, which is the part of AIU I work under (http://www.africanrealitiesinstitute.com/).
Also, a lot of our graduates wind up being liaisons with Westerners wanting to invest in
Africa and issues like grant and proposal writing--not to mention media image--become
critical.
Anyway, I hope that helps you get a sense for why I think developing a writing center
here is important, and why what your honors students want to do here could have a
pretty significant impact going beyond.

Peace,
Ben
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Randomness