HARTFORD, Conn. – Ibrahim Diallo, Kate Cummings and Sofia Melograno thought that raising the $40,000 they needed to complete their Computer Literacy Project in Freetown, Sierra Leone would be the toughest hurdle they would have to face. Little did they know that coming up with the money would pale by comparison with the fortitude, patience and perseverance they would need to see the project through to its completion.
“It took some time for us to figure out our strategy,” said Diallo. “It was a long bureaucratic process.” Added Melograno: “Before we left [for Sierra Leone], we had different expectations and didn’t realize how much work was ahead of us.”
From left to right, Sofia Melograno, Ibrahim Diallo, Kate Cummings and Mian Zeeshan.
Yet all three members of the Class of 2011 (along with Mian Zeeshan of Brooklyn College), found the experience rewarding and were pleased that they left the West African nation knowing that they had succeeded in nearly quadrupling the size of the computer lab at Fourah Bay College, a school with an enrollment of 5,000. Before the four American students had arrived, the lab had 30 computers. By the time they departed in August, the lab had grown to 110 computers.
The Trinity students are members of the African Development Coalition (ADC), which was started by Diallo, a native of Guinea. The ADC was recognized as an official student organization by Trinity in the fall of 2008. Its mission is “to raise awareness of contemporary African culture, politics and economic issues on the Trinity campus and beyond, ultimately bringing together a network of civil servants to work towards peace, education and development on the continent.”
In December 2008, Diallo was presented with the inaugural Leo Nevas Human Rights Student Advocate Award by the New York City-based United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) and the Business Council for the United Nations. The award is given to an individual who has worked to promote human rights around the world and is named in honor of Nevas, the longest-serving board member of UNA-USA and a champion of human rights. A year later, Diallo was invited back to speak at the groups’ 51st annual Global Leadership Awards Gala.
Each school year, the ADC selects an African country to focus on, and this summer it targeted Sierra Leone. Originally, the organization's aim was to outfit the college’s lab with 25 computers. But the students’ modest goal grew as they raised nearly $40,000 for the project. Of that amount, $10,000 came from Newman’s Own Foundation, which "is committed to making the world a better place," and $16,000 came from the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, a New York, family-based foundation that supports the arts “to meet urgent human needs, to defend liberty and to promote social justice.” Supplementary funds were awarded through the Kenneth S. Grossman '78 Global Studies Fund at Trinity, administered by the College’s Center for Urban and Global Studies, as well as from family, friends and Trinity President James F. Jones, Jr.
The students knew their project was going to be “an adventure,” but they hardly realized the hardships they would endure, the red tape they would have to unsnarl and the obstacles they would have to surmount to prepare the lab and install the 80 computers, all equipped with flat screen monitors. Forty computers were donated by Trinfo.Cafe, although they had to be upgraded, and another 40 were purchased from the manufacturer. Trinfo.Cafe is a Trinity-run neighborhood technology center.
Completed computer lab at Fourah Bay College.
The computers were shipped separately. When the students arrived, they quickly discovered they were going to have to adapt to a vastly different culture and way of doing business. For example, the students spent a great deal of time shuttling between offices and biding their time, waiting for local officials to meet with them.
Although their frustration was evident, especially at first, they managed to adapt. “We were fine once we realized that their way of living is different from our way of life,” said Cummings. However, they all admitted that it took some time to devise a winning strategy and figure out which person it was necessary to meet with to get the appropriate green lights. Even getting the keys to the lab was a chore. One day it literally took 12 hours to get a letter and a stamp.
“It was frustrating at times,” said Diallo. “They were very patronizing. Everyone took themselves way too seriously. But we tried our best to stay calm.”
Melograno, too, was surprised by the indifference of the local officials, especially in a country where only 10 percent of the students are computer literate. “They continually told us that our project was small.”
The students also needed to make sure that the facility where the computers were installed was secure, that it was air-conditioned and that it had an adequate power supply. Tasks such as painting, building desks, cleaning out the rooms and other carpentry work had to be done.
But the students remained undaunted. Although Cummings and Melograno returned to the United States shortly before the project was completed, Diallo and Zeeshan stayed on and saw the installation through to its end.
Less than 24 hours before Diallo and Zeeshan were scheduled to depart, there was an opening ceremony at which the director of public affairs and the director of information at the U.S. Embassy in Freetown were in attendance, as well as the Fourah Bay administration, some college students and members of the press. Diallo called it “a great learning experience for our young organization.”
In retrospect, Cummings said she was pleasantly surprised. “The problems only made it a better experience to go through. What I got out of it was completely unexpected. Although we didn’t receive thanks from the [college] administration, just knowing we were able to do a project like this was gratification enough. That was all that matters.”