Thats true but a couple points occure to me,
you could prob expand the cell phone network for a similar sum and phones are way more useful than just email once a day and what happens when funding runs out? If you started to build roads they would still be there when the money goes.
I spent a month in Cambodia in 2001 and while an scheme like this has some merit its just not what they need.
They have only one real road in the entire country from Sihanoukville (the only port) to Phnom Penh (the capital). People in remote areas have almost no access to medical care unless they are able to make a long (up to 10hrs) journey in the back of a pick-up over the worst tracks you have ever seen.
A better use of the money would have been to fund road building programs, teams of visiting doctors / nurses and mobile clinics.
As a side note if you *had* to get email out to the provices I would have thought expanding the countries mobile phone network coverage (which is already pretty good) would have been cheaper in the long run and no matter how slow the connection would still be faster than waiting for the bike to show.
If you're interested in the type of projects that do work in Cambodia you may like to take a look at http://www.starfishcambodia.org
Slashdot Mirror
Thats true but a couple points occure to me, you could prob expand the cell phone network for a similar sum and phones are way more useful than just email once a day and what happens when funding runs out? If you started to build roads they would still be there when the money goes.
I spent a month in Cambodia in 2001 and while an scheme like this has some merit its just not what they need.
They have only one real road in the entire country from Sihanoukville (the only port) to Phnom Penh (the capital). People in remote areas have almost no access to medical care unless they are able to make a long (up to 10hrs) journey in the back of a pick-up over the worst tracks you have ever seen.
A better use of the money would have been to fund road building programs, teams of visiting doctors / nurses and mobile clinics.
As a side note if you *had* to get email out to the provices I would have thought expanding the countries mobile phone network coverage (which is already pretty good) would have been cheaper in the long run and no matter how slow the connection would still be faster than waiting for the bike to show.
If you're interested in the type of projects that do work in Cambodia you may like to take a look at http://www.starfishcambodia.org