Nikhil Singhal
July 18, 2016
VillageTech Solutions
Skip Stritter
This
summer I’ve been volunteering for VillageTech Solutions (VTS), an organization
that finds and solves critical issues in Nepal. Their projects include wire
bridges, earthquake relief, and the project I’m working on, Looma, a computer
system for underfunded Nepali classrooms where students miss out on
opportunities and even simple supplies we take for granted. I actually worked
on this project last summer, but I was only able to work online and therefore
wasn’t surprised to feel disconnected from the organization and the people it
helps. I thought that this year, since I would be working directly with the
organization, the work environment would somehow create that missing connection
so the experience would be more emotionally rewarding, but in reality, since we
had no way to contact any of the recipients of the computers, it felt as
centered on the volunteers’ experience as the students’. That isn’t to say we
didn’t do good work for a good cause. Everyone at VTS has worked hard every day
for the last month to give kids we’d never meet the best educational
opportunities possible.
My
project this year with Colton and Anika is a tool to automatically create simple,
bilingual dictionary entries. Even though this sounds like a simple job that I
shouldn’t need to do, it’s actually extremely important. Before this, the
dictionary was written by hand, and included few definitions, many of which
were incorrect or far too complex. Now, the entries are automatically created
from dictionaries designed for second language learners and children. My
project will free up time for volunteers to do even more work and help to make
sure these kids have the opportunity to learn both English and Nepali as well
as they can, so, even though I’m not directly working with them, I feel like
I’ve made a difference.
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