Grants:Project/GastelEtzwane and Mouha.ibs/Offline Wikipedia in Senegal Schools/Profile

This project is funded by a Project Grant

Gabriel Thullen - GastelEtzwane

I work as a middle school teacher in Geneva, Switzerland, teaching computer science and math since 1987. I started editing Wikipedia with my students in Autumn 2006, and was giving teacher training courses about Wikipedia a school year later. I then got involved with the Swiss Wikimedia chapter in 2012.

Offline educational resources

As a math teacher, I promote the use and development of online educational resources, and since about 2010, I have been interested in making these resources available offline as well. The Kiwix software, combined with archive files, enables users to access the knowledge contained in Wikipedia without having any internet connection. All this information can be stored on a USB Flash drive or other device and taken everywhere. Having access to this huge trove of encyclopedic knowledge could be a way to greatly enrich the content of the lessons given by teachers who are off the grid.

During a trip to Senegal in 2014, I shared the Kiwix software and downloaded Wikipedia with a few schools and school teachers. This small scale distribution continued during subsequent trips in 2015 and 2016. Mouha.ibs has been my contact in Senegal since 2014, and his help in promoting Kiwix and training new users is invaluable.

Mouha.ibs

Ibrahima (Mouha.ibs) lives in Thiès (Senegal), and has been working with Wikimedia projects since 2014. Ibrahima is an instructor at the Senegalese Navy training facility in Dakar. He has promoted the use of Kiwix and offline Wikipedia, and has trained school teachers and navy officers in it's use. Ibrahima has also organised several local Wikimedia events such as Wiki Loves Africa 2019 in Senegal.