Mahenaz Mahmud has a passion for empowering kids. So, when she got an opportunity at the TRC to work with a group of girls in a government school situated in one of Karachi's most unglamorous areas - an institution with broken furniture, precariously piled junk, and students with little or no knowledge of English - she just couldn't resist the challenge: She linked the girls with school kids from a US school. In doing so, she herself formed a link with Patti Weeg - an amazing teacher in a small US school and the author of a math book that truly helps integrate the web into the classroom.

At first the school interaction entailed getting the girls here to write letters in Urdu, which she translated at home and sent off from her computer. Soon the girls were incorporating English words and phrases in their letters. Within days, as exchange became more energetic and exciting, the girls were bussed to TRC's premises, where they 'typed' their first e-mails and sent them off. With each step their confidence grew, and they blossomed.

The girls in the USA often asked about our culture. For example, near Eed the mention of Sivayyan brought about a herd of queries. The Pakistani girls sent recipes and seemed overjoyed over the fact that they were teaching Americans.

One of the many instances that stand out was when Mahenaz asked the kids in class what they thought their KeyPals were doing at that moment. They'll be in class, said the girls. 'No, they're probably asleep', said Mahenaz. 'Are they having vacations?' asked a girl. This led to a discussion of Time differences, Time zones, Longitudes and Latitudes. All of this had been covered in classes earlier....but no one had ever found it either interesting or relevant! Now, it was suddenly important for the kids to know and understand this phenomenon. The occasion had now turned into a 'teachable moment' - the kind for which good teachers are always looking out.

Another experience, and a more personal one, was 4-5 years ago when my daughter Ragni, then 10, decided to sign up for the Kidlink project. After answering the 4 questions that one must, to join Kidlink (Who am I? What do I want to become when I grow up? How do I want the world to be better when I grow up? What can I do now to make this happen.), Ragni was introduced to a group of children in Patti Weeg's school. E-mail flowed regularly and in growing Volume.

Ragni received 'first-hand' information on American History for her school assignment and returned the favour by darting off e-mail on the Indus Valley Civilization. Kids asked her questions about those aspects of our heritage that interested them: Music, Toys, Clothes. Their presentation (and Ragni's) became better with time, as they became more excited about having a 'real' audience....and, as one of them wrote, 'not just a teacher who scans our work only for mistakes!'

Egged on by this, Ragni put up a Web site (which, we decided to leave as is...without updating...so that it can act as an example). She put up a 'host' page so that her KeyPals could send in poems and other writings. She found this an ideal opportunity to put up her own poem, one written much earlier, to share a child's-eye-view of the strife Karachi was going through!

KidLink organized an international chat when news of Dolly, the cloned sheep, hit the front pages. Ragni - then 12 - sat up through the night, with a really bad internet connection (this was quite a while ago and things have improved greatly), discussing the 'moral' and the other aspects of cloning with children from several countries and backgrounds. This was real learning! Today, such an event can become even more exciting...with streaming media and new technological breakthroughs.

The kids learnt a lot more with these linkages than one could have planned and anticipated. An interested teacher or parent facilitating and starting the children in the right direction - and being there to help and guide when needed - is essential. Most importantly, students on all sides understood that every exchange was a learning experience for everyone; that no one was necessarily better because of geography, race, colour; that superiority and excellence were relative terms when it came to knowledge; that, while beliefs and moral standards differed, the people of our planet could co-exist; that a pluralistic society has to rely on understanding and tolerance.

The Rainforest Project was, like others being run today, amazing in that linked a group of kids, trekking in the Rainforest of Indonesia, sending reports, comments, pictures, even videos, to children in participating schools. School kids, in turn, viewed the reports on the internet, asked questions (such as 'What is the level of water pollution in the area?'), sent requests ('Can you please send a close-up picture of the strange looking flower you were standing near?') to which the group responded. Could learning be more interactive, or more Just-In-Time?

Everyone, from the active members of the team to the recipients of information, learnt a lot in the process. Data Acquisition, Analysis, Projection...skills that are and will be demanded as these kids face the real world. Skills, that unfortunately, the pressures of completing the syllabus (outmoded as it is)' seem to be overlooked in schools.

The Other Side (from Tom Synder Productions, publishers of what are certainly among the world's finest Educational programs) is a piece of software that aims at teaching kids the essentials of Conflict Resolution! While excellent for class use, on stand alone computers or in a networked environment, it really comes into its own when you 'play' it across the globe on the internet, with participants from several background. Try it!