There are a lot of rhetorics and hyperbolas around OLPC. It is very confusing to new comers.
As a newbie, I think if we can cut the craps, get to the dry bones and repeatable results, we can then see what we can and can't do --to help--.
I think joining your workshop is a good idea but unfortunately we can't all drop everything else and go. I for one can, at the present time, only learn from documents, source code and forums/blogs.
[I appreciate your documentation problems. I have been dealing with mine for some time.]
Can you point to the url with the latest source code that can be downloaded?