After two days’ work, these rooms are now useable. The Arts & Crafts Supply Room even has enough room for a full suite of office supplies (previously mixed in elsewhere). The Teacher Resource Room actually has useable resources in it – outdated books removed, materials organized by subject, and a clear floor by which to reach them.

It is clear that, like in the neighborhood homes here, the school has a strong aversion to throwing anything away. It seems every square inch has something in it – sometimes treasure, sometimes trash – but no one wants to toss any of it.

In the afternoon, we searched, in vain, for tools that would make the job easier – a hand truck, shelving units, some labels. Each time, we were met with an alternate cost-neutral suggestion: ‘we got boys from the basketball team, they’ll help.’ Or ‘You don’t need to buy shelves, Mr. Jackson over here can build some for you.’ 

Then it dawned on me: The people here consider very carefully ANY money they spend. Of course they don’t throw away possessions  lightly – whatever it is, it was once a perfectly good one! It took money and/ or sweat to bring it here, so surely we can find a use for it. Somewhere. 

This realization hit me all at once, in stark contrast to my everyday life. In my world, everything is disposable. Don’t like this? Too old? Get a new one. Even as I write this, it sounds cliché… But it really is a fundamentally different mentality.  

Here in Mendenhall, each item is truly the owner’s possession, no matter its condition. Broken items are used until every last bit of utility is worn away. (To make repairs, we often have to fix the tools themselves first.)
The idea of buying new tools is silly – these here still work… mostly. 

I wonder about the so-called Digital Divide. With forces like Moore’s Law, how will a society like this one manage? Their world does not accommodate new models every X months… They are looking for their property to last generations.  Their whole society assumes that this is possible. And yet, technology marches, faster and faster, with no intention of providing products to meet this town’s needs.

At the same time, ‘green’ is an utterly foreign concept here. While I’m working hard to reduce-reuse-recycle in my own life, this community already uses the bare minimum and reuses to a fault. How can I fault them for not recycling?  Again, completely different mindset.

I can’t help but think that the world rushing onward, with Mendenhall catching its dust. How can the families avoid falling so far behind that their children won’t be able to make a living? What responsibility do we, as individuals and companies, have to bridge the gap? 

If we do nothing, it seems that we are contributing to the delinquency of a society. If we do something, what exactly would that be?

Our pre-8am workday started slowly, as we completed small odd jobs at the school and administrative offices. New carpets were installed last week, so our job was to move furniture back into the rooms and set up a few PCs. (Yeah, I can TOTALLY do that!). 

Then we organized some supplies and did some minor repairs here and there. We learned quickly that our hosts are busy people, too busy to babysit us! So if we want to really make a difference, we needed to identify a job to do, and after a quick consult with our Mendenhall friends, jump in and get it done. 

For lunch we ate red beans and rice with the kids at the school. It was satisfying but clearly meant for sustenance, not fine dining.  A good thing, as our meal was cut short when we were asked for more PC help at the pastor’s house. Word had spread that we knew about computers. 

So we tried to help email photos – 130MB worth – to the pastor’s daughter, who is serving in Iraq. We certainly didn’t have a magic solution for transferring such a huge file set using only webmail. (They resisted our recommendation for online sharing). So, multiple emails were our only option. It took quite awhile, but we kept entertained with a two year old hugging and climbing on us. 

In the afternoon, it was back to the school for more supply room organization projects. No one here really has time to figure out a good system for managing everything – pre-K through 12th grade – so we saw first hand how temporary solutions really lack long-term usefulness.

The conditions here are almost unbelieveable. Three years after Katrina, there are still abandoned homes overgrown with weeds. Buildings without roofs. Buildings with temporary plastic roof coverings, which people nonetheless call their homes. 

One of the Mendenhall buildings damaged by the 2005 hurricane has finally been repaired. But years of no water hookup, coupled with a sealed up building (lest it become a drug haven), have cause sewer odor to permeate. Without fresh air, this beautiful large daycare facility goes unused.

Looking back on today, I can’t help but notice how technology plays a role even in this poorest of towns. We saw four PCs, and fewer than four people who knew how to use them. These PCs were performing vital tasks and clearly were heralded for the value they brought, yet each one held much more power than their human counterparts knew.

A large sign outside the youth center said ABSOLUTELY NO CELL PHONES. I was surprised, but maybe shouldn’t have been. Prepaid phones are available to all. Mobile phones are ubiquitous. Even these families, with so little, make the investment.

We also saw the ever-present issue of electronic waste. There were old pcs and tvs that can’t be thrown out (’least that’s what we been told’) but have outlived their usefulness. With no good options for disposal. So they sit, taking up room in the cafeteria, principal’s office, supply closet – in any corner where they can be shoehorned.

And throughout the day, I used my online network (thanks Tweeple!) to find answers and get advice, nearly instantaneously. 

Technology truly is a facet of all our lives. So today – more than ever – I believe that what I do makes a difference. Not just right now, as I help debug a PC in a rundown office building, but every day that I help bring people closer to the technology that can improve their lives.