Volunteering & Volunteer Students

Often, the internet and other technology is a bad thing for volunteers at a charity.  They end up blogging, putting up photos on Flickr, and wasting the charity’s valuable time.  However, Will and I are really starting to realize how helpful some technology is in our project.  In fact, our project might be impossible were it not for some key nerd tools.

Our basic project is to visit all of the different buildings under Ikamva’s possession and track down the municipal plot number for that building.  Since addresses are all relative and not formalized at all, it is not as simple as it sounds.  Fortunately, we are able to carry with us a GPS navigator.  At each site, we are able to mark down the GPS coordinates, record the building information, and the contact information for the building manager.  Then, when we return to the office, we enter all of this information into Microsoft Access to make it an easy-to-use and searchable database.

Then, we match each building record in the database with an entry on Google Maps.  We do this by entering in the GPS coordinates.  What we are left with looks like this:

After we are done, Ikamva will have on Google Maps a fully color-coded searchable map of all of the different properties in their possession.

The blessings don’t end there.  Since we need to track down the municipal plot number, we are able to take a municipal township map and compare it to our Google Map and find the precise plot to which we are referring. The municipal plot maps don’t have any real street names labelled – only code names like NY115.  Google Maps allows us by sight and GPS to match the common name of the road to the code name of the road, so NY115 becomes Steve Biko Crescent.

Just thought I’d share an example of how computers and internet access can help the developing world.