See you next year!

The last two days of our work (Sunday and Monday) consisted of HP finalizing a few server settings and cloning a few hard drives, while Stefan and Michael started freeing up space in the classroom by removing the unnecessary hardware and stowing all the spare items in the closet at the back of the room, inside somewhat neatly labeled cartons.

Josh, who had really proved indispensable over the past weeks, was instructed in the art of cloning HDDs, setting the right resolution on monitors and how to scan for viruses using the ClamTK GUI. He’s going to be supporting IT teacher Charles until September now. We also finished writing up our documentation (screenshots included) and printed everything on a shiny new Epson L220 scanner/printer, a last-minute purchase from a mall near Ruaraka, as the two Deskjet printers we’d had simply decided to pack it in and stop working. HP also managed to find and install the correct Linux driver for the new printer after a bit of searching.

Then it was time to say goodbye. The Sisters had procured pizza and wine for a little farewell party; there was laughter, singing, and a few gifts as well – tea, coffee, a whole lot of mangoes as well as a Maasai shuka blanket for each of us. Unfortunately the photos we took didn’t come out very well because of the lighting. We did manage to salvage a recording of the farewell song, though… ( Click to listen.)

Our plan for the next morning was to head to the airport at 7.00 the next morning – that was the plan, but our driver Peter ended up getting stuck in the morning traffic and didn’t show up in time. Time was slowly slipping away, and the traffic heading towards downtown Nairobi kept increasing. Fortune favored us that morning though, as Sr. Emily organized a replacement driver – Oscar – for us, and he knew the right shortcuts and bypasses to take. And so, with Srs. Maria and Rosa accompanying us in the car, we made it to the airport in time.

Michael had to open up his suitcase at the security check as he was carrying a motherboard, a defective laptop and several memory chips that attracted attention from customs, holding up the whole line in the process. But then we were through and waved goodbye to the Sisters.
We’d already printed our boarding passes the night before, and so checking in at the Turkish Airlines counter didn’t take very long. We dropped off our luggage, Michael uttering a farewell: “Hope to see you in Zürich“.

And after a total of 13 hours traveling with two flights and a stopover in Istanbul, we were able to collect our luggage again at Zürich’s Kloten airport. Gilla and Birgit greeted us in the arrivals hall with a custom-made Linux4Afrika sign and the brightest of smiles… and then it was time to head off in different directions.