"One more 'gin"
So this roller coaster called the Peace Corps is roundng it's last hill right before it coasts into a gentle stop. But for those of you who know me, you know my love for a good roller coaster. And much like I would at an amusement park, despite the queesy head-jerking highs and lows, I'm getting back on for yet another ride. That's right it's official. Now I can say with confidence I'm doing a third year with the Peace Corps, and this time it will be in Senegal. In effect it's not like getting on the same ride again, but more like jumping off the wooden coaster and running to the front of the line of the new smooth 0 to 60 in 3 seconds super coaster with the VIP pass (I'll be in a big city Saint Louis (for Africa) with a jazz scene, working with CISCO Systems and on the beach to boot, can you say heaven). So currently I'm steadily climbing up the hill of anticipation of that first big requisite drop that typifies all great roller coaster rides...anyways enough of the extended analogy let's just say je suis trop content!

Here is the market or "Mall" if you will. You see those pants there...those are the pants you give to the salvation army..for free...then they end up on sale in the market. It reflects one of the many things that come to Africa in the name of goodwill and end up on sale by those with access to them first (other examples free medicine, food, and school supplies). In the case of medicine there are times when doctors get medicine for free from the World Health Organization and end up selling it to make money...so sad. Anyways continue below for my latest post.

The Last Two Weeks

So let me tell you about my little project. For the last two weeks I've been running a computer training in my town. I got a grant from Peace Corps funds to fund the project. Basically it was a training for just about anyone to teach them the basics of computers and the Internet. Here's an excerpt from the Grant proposal:

While there are currently two Cyber Cafes, they are underutilized by the population. This became clearer when both Cybers lowered their prices when Fasonet/ONATEL (the national service provider) lowered its rates and saw no increase in customers. Despite a more affordable price, connecting to the Internet was left to tourists and business travelers from the capital. This is mainly due to a lack in the understanding of what Information Technology (IT) is and how it can be used for work and everyday living. If there was a greater understanding of the possibilities and applications of the Internet there would surely be an increase in use.

So yeah I was "on a mission" to show people why the Internet is cool, useful, and convenient. It turned out to be a really good idea and was a really successful project in my opinion. There were people who had never sat in front of a computer before and they learned how to create a Yahoo mail account read and write emails and all that. What's really funny (and calls for alot of patience) is seeing someone who has never used a mouse before try to manipulate it on the screen. They do all sorts of funny things with the mouse like lifting it up, shaking it, and and clicking the body of it instead of the buttons. But anyways it was funny seeing the progression. People went from asking what is the internet, to being addicted to it. They even came near to fighting over who got which computer (once they realized which ones were fast). You might be asking yourself why would I need to do a project to do something as simple as teach internet. Well, the cost of internet is nothing like the 19.95/month of the US. For a 24/7 56K connection it cost about $1000 dollars a month (no I didn't accidently type too many zeros). So obviously people who live on about a dollar a day can't exactly afford to surf the net. And those who do have a bit of money don't see the benefit to spending money on it. So anyways I got money for a half of months worth of internet teamed up with a Cyber Cafe and did the training. The best part now that it is all said and done is there are about 50 people in my town now addicted to the internet. That makes the project a double success. One it brought new knowledge to the population and two it created a client base for the Internet Cafes in Dori. Also now that people rooted in the community know how to "naviguer" they can teach other people as well creating a nice wave. In any case I've got my "high" for a couple of weeks.....

Busy Busy Busy,
Here is a post just to say that I have made one recently. I'm currently running an internet training in my town. So far so good. Let's just say I'm going all day from 8 in the morning till 10pm at night. Teaching folks the difference between a left and right click. 2 straight weeks. Today is day number 4. More details to follow. If all goes well I'll be going out with a bang....