- That was something I forgot to put in my comment: everyone in Tanzania seemed to be using cellphones - for text messages rather than phone conservations. So much for not being able to read!!! A great case of appropriate technology working well. Also its nice to see that an industry that has exploited Africa (those dreadful mines for those semiconductor minerals) actually benefitting normal Africans.
I think the idiots you were referring to forget that English/French is often an African's THIRD language. I'm British: there are very few of us who can speak three languages fluently.
I was in Tanzania last month. As the story says is the case in W Africa, community internet access is very popular. Its patronizing and simplistic to assume that just because these are poor people, they have no other needs than food/water (as other posters have commented). If nothing else, in the Maasai village I was staying in, people were using the internet to get farming/weather information that was otherwise unavailable. More relevantly, they were trying to contact the Houston company (http://www.tgts.com) that was shooting the leopards, lions and buffaloes on their land without permission. They were also starting their own school, using internet as a tool. All of this can be seen in a community context, which might explain why community-level internet access might be successful.
Done right, technology will provide the information that will allow people to help themselves - much better than the normal aid dependency syndrome.
Reply to another comment: I don't think Quake is so exciting for Maasai who have to kill a lion with a sharp stick before being allowed to marry.
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I don't even seem to be able to manage one - "conversations"
- That was something I forgot to put in my comment: everyone in Tanzania seemed to be using cellphones - for text messages rather than phone conservations. So much for not being able to read!!! A great case of appropriate technology working well. Also its nice to see that an industry that has exploited Africa (those dreadful mines for those semiconductor minerals) actually benefitting normal Africans. I think the idiots you were referring to forget that English/French is often an African's THIRD language. I'm British: there are very few of us who can speak three languages fluently.
I was in Tanzania last month. As the story says is the case in W Africa, community internet access is very popular. Its patronizing and simplistic to assume that just because these are poor people, they have no other needs than food/water (as other posters have commented). If nothing else, in the Maasai village I was staying in, people were using the internet to get farming/weather information that was otherwise unavailable. More relevantly, they were trying to contact the Houston company (http://www.tgts.com) that was shooting the leopards, lions and buffaloes on their land without permission. They were also starting their own school, using internet as a tool. All of this can be seen in a community context, which might explain why community-level internet access might be successful.
Done right, technology will provide the information that will allow people to help themselves - much better than the normal aid dependency syndrome.
Reply to another comment: I don't think Quake is so exciting for Maasai who have to kill a lion with a sharp stick before being allowed to marry.