Bad news, Good news, and a Break

To begin with the bad news: 7 of our 15 shipped tablets are lost, and–worse–the remaining 8 haven’t made it out of customs. Having done more paperwork (thank you, Demere!), they should be released soon… Fortunately, Global TIES has guaranteed financial support to purchase a few more tablets to ensure that we have a full sample of 20, as planned. Moreover, we are proud to announce that we finally (!) have our signed research clearance from COSTECH, which happily puts us out of the bureaucratic woods we’ve been lost in since

With clearance for a year, we hope to be back soon for further testing!
With clearance for a year, we plan to be back soon for further testing!

we began planning this pilot research. Major kudos to Kat for diligently navigating the obstacles and chasing down elusive officials. Demere and her staff at E&D Readership and Development has also done more than her fair share–and probably more than we realize!

 

School entrance
Kat and Miu pause in the heat for a moment outside the school.

school2On Wednesday, Hugo spent the day improving graphics and squashing bugs, while Kat and George met with our amazing new research assistant Miu to go over the logistics for our study, and for a brief visit to the school, where we met the headmaster and a teacher. The children were in exams, but we saw more than a few pairs of curious eyes. We look forward to challenging the minds behind them on Monday with our educational games!

school3
I would be happy to get out of exams, too!

Having done all that we could to prepare for our study on Monday, we decided it was time to get out of the city for a few days. Thinking that a real safari would disconnect us too much (in case something went wrong…), we decided to hop a ferry to Zanzibar, with its famous beaches and mix of cuisines and cultures.

Our group on the ferry to Zanzibar
The top deck of the ferry gave great views of container ships, local fishing boats and sailboats, and of course the sun.
With our first sunset in Zanzibar, we knew we’d come to the right place.

Stay tuned for our weekend adventures! (And some previews of our new changes to the apps–I promise!)

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