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Life in Rural Africa —
After Telecommunications
Communication was made significantly easier for OCDN when they installed a satellite Internet
connection in October 2004. The fact that staff must pay for Internet access ($1.20 Canadian per
hour), and that customers are frequently using the computers, mean that Internet access is still
intermittent for them. But this is a vast improvement since an email exchange now takes days,
not weeks. And occasionally we find ourselves online at the same time and can "chat" online using
an Internet-based program that works like instant email. (Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger are
examples of popular chat programs.)
Not only do the telecentre staff find Internet and email access to be valuable resources for
project collaborations with friends and partners in the UK, Canada, and elsewhere, it is also very
important for the community. Family can arrange visits from members overseas much more easily now.
Children can access online teaching resources that are not available in schools. Parents can keep
in touch with their children who are students in universities in other Nigerian cities.
Students can download Nigerian school application forms from the Internet — a great
convenience, saving travel time and funds. Farmers can contact the International Institute of
Tropical Agriculture in Ibadan, which supports farmer training and projects in Ago-Are.
This all makes life easier.
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