Wednesday, January 16, 2008

work news

Chris here. My plan for work in Cameroon was to develop a database for
the RELUFA's microloan program. Some of RELUFA's member NGOs loan small
amounts of money to people and groups to start and run small
businesses. The project include raising animals (including something
like a guinea pig, called a hydrax, as well as goats and sheep and
pigs), running a food stand with beignets or grilled meat or fruit
juice, vending produce obtained in the country, drying fruits and
vegetables, even making bricks.


So I've been working on the system since I got here, and it's almost
done. We meet today to discuss what's next. I've built something (with
Java, Hibernate, JavDB and GWT, for the tech folks who may be reading)
that displays the data, allows editing, and saves it. The next step is
adding new clients to the database, and providing search features, which
should go quickly now that something is running. Valery asked me to
demo it to the RELUFA general assembly at the end of the month.


I mentioned today to Christi that I am not working at 100% capacity
(I've never had so much sleep for so long, as an adult), and she asked
me about maybe working on another project. I may be writing a small
online videogame! Christi has developed, along with some other people,
a boardgame about going to school in Africa, to illustrate the rocky
path to university studies faced by people here who want to get an
education. She showed me some of the artwork today, and it's all based
on photos of people, along with explanatory text that slowly reveals the
impediments to getting an education faced by many Africans. The
mechanics of the game are straightforward, just moving around the board
with dice.


So it's well-defined, and the artwork is professional, thanks to an
artist they hired. So it seems like a good candidate for turning into a
web-based game, which is what they want. It will be public if we do put
it together, so I'll pass on the link if we eventually get something built.


For now, if you're a developer (hi Leon, hi Wilson), please share any
opinions you may have about how best to do this. I can take a crack at
it in Java, of course. But I'm wondering whether there's a good
framework for such things. And I'm also curious how hard it would be to
get my hands on Flash, learn it, and put something together that way.

1 comment:

QNefertiti said...

Hi there. Fascinated by your post, especially about the board game about the educational system in Cameroun. I am an American too, lived in San Francisco for 7 years before going to Seattle and have just moved here with my husband in December 2007. He has some very specific things to say about the educational system here in Cameroun including how he will entirely change it. You might want to read our blog at http://qnefertiti.blogspot.com. As I am so new here would love to trade emails and find out what amenities you have found that are good for Americans...we are just a tad spoiled in the US compared to here. Need a good doctor, dentist, hairdresser etc... Any suggestions? Look forward to meeting too in person if you have a minute. Ciao, Anita NDEMMANU