my take on AfricaGathering in London

I’ve just returned home from London where I’d been attending AfricaGathering on Saturday 25 April 2009 which was held at Birkbeck College, University of London. A perfectly organised event (by Ed Scotcher & many helpful volunteers – thx!), the Gathering turned out to be quite a success, especially as it eventually provided me with the opportunity to meet some of my AfriMates in real life.

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Kudos also go out to Karola Riegler who took lots of photos throughout the day and to @RedZola & @MatthewNcube who both helped me trying to get online as the University’s WiFi didn’t work out for me.

So instead of providing you with a summary of all talks (I also presented some slides on AfriGadget and couldn’t do any liveblogging), let me just forward you to the following blogs that already did an excellent job of blogging on the event:

There may be even more interesting posts on AfricaGathering. It also helps to do a Twitter and/or Flickr search on #africagathering to catch some additional links (Twitter Search is a gold mine for anyone interested in ppl and their opinions).

Ed also filmed the event and promised to upload some talks to Vimeo this coming week – so let’s stay tuned for an update. Filming such an event is really sustainable and helps those who couldn’t make it to London in time. Teddy of ProjectDiaspora.org was also supposed to attend the panel discussion, but stupid visa regulations killed this endeavour.

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Some attendees already met on Friday evening for great Ethiopian food at Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant – including David McQueen and Sokari Ekine. It was very nice to eventually say hello to Sokari, who I’d been spamming with links via delicious.com for the past few months. Eh, Sokari – we will be back to London in June!

There have been so many inspiring conversations and shared ideas during this AfricaGathering that it would seem to be unfair to pick out a few selected ones -so I will only add a few words to my own presentation. I also need to work on my presentation style as I am bit too nervous on stage, often speaking too fast or having too many details on my mind that I want to include and then miss out. It was a great opportunity though to present our work and I am also quite passionate about it. Oh, and pls ignore that extra slide on a Liverpool flag as seen in a pub in Garissa the other day – unless of course you are like Ken of Kiwanja.net, whose pic on mobile pay phones we’ve used on one of the slides. :-)

My presentation on AfriGadget on behalf of the whole AfriGadget team (remember, it’s a group blog and everyone is invited to contribute and share interesting AfriGadgets – even you!) wasn’t primarily focused at displaying interesting or funny AfriGadgets even though I introduced it by saying that “we are not here to help anyone, we only do this for fun”.

My message between the lines rather was that there’s still so much undiscovered potential on the continent that needs to be commercialised (I hope I got this message across?). AfriGadget is just the vehicle to showcase that there are innovative solutions that work on a local level.

There’s a new generation of young & skilled workers who grew up with mobile phones & an understanding of how technology works. Skilled IT workers who can already take over programming jobs and develope their own tools.

Of course, IT isn’t the only sector and there are other sectors that will benefit from a new perspective on development in Africa. I, for one, believe that the upcoming sea cable(s) – which will help providing better broadband internet access to many African countries – will also help in providing some incentives for the younger generation to stay in rural areas. The internet has changed the way we live and work – I am also working as a consultant from my home office. Consequently, this progress in the IT sector could hopefully also influence other sectors.

Ecological sanitation concepts, for example, currently work best in rural areas. And with an increasing urbanisation, things are only getting worse. As long as we (humans) do not come up with sustainable cities and (much) more urban agriculture (as a way to provide real livelihood for everyone), there will be a need to “upgrade” rural areas and create markets in such areas. Better internet connectivity and the provision of sustainable power supplies is a way forward as it helps ppl to go about their business.

Business, or the consumer orientation, is my 2nd point on the AG presentation. I think that commercialism has for a long time been undererstimated in the African context. We need to return to free markets and an understanding that people knew how to trade goods (and make a living out of it!) a long time before outsiders occupied SubSaharan Africa and introduced new cultural values.

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And by mentioning commerce, I am not talking about dealers in a small village who are ALL selling the same product (like the one pictured above where everyone sells rice), but instead a healthy trade of locally produced goods and services and much more diversity.

Someone from the audience asked if ppl would also be this inventive if they weren’t that poor and could afford to buy “better” products. It’s a tricky question because in reality it’s often not a question of being rich or poor, but rather the availability of affordable solutions. If you just can not buy enough welding machines that are required in the metal business and also won’t get a credit because you are not credit-worthy or because there’s no serious bank around, then you have to look for alternative solutions and make do with what is available. If the problem could be solved by being rich and just importing a welding machine from let’s say a Chinese manufacturer, the African economy wouldn’t benefit as much as when these machines are produced locally. As a consequence of that, ppl are instinctively doing the right thing by developing their own solutions and providing business opportunities for a local market. It’s a natural process that may not be that visible, or maybe even condemned by those who still believe that superior products have to come from the outside.

This btw also happened in Zimbabwe some time ago when local supply of sanitary towels was limited and women (not men) had to come up with their own solutions, e.g. using natural materials. Now, from a technical (process engineering) point of view, it’s much easier to treat natural (biodegradable) products than plastics – at least when it comes to the stuff ppl are flushing down their toilets. So these alternative sanitary towels may not be as convenient as those from the supermarket, but they are available and affordable. By the end of the day, products that work for customers will prevail. Everything else is just luxury and filed under “nice-to-have”.

Alasdair Munn also put it nicely on his blog:

“Technology solutions coming out of Africa are built with purpose, against objectives and within the boundaries of their resources. It is a solutions based approach. It is also a stripped down approach where only the relevant resources and tools are used. Simple works because less can go wrong and if it does go wrong, simple is easier to fix. There is a shift in the way tools and technologies are looked at.”

I believe that there’s no master plan for development in Africa, and even less a need for a well-meant guideline from the outside. There’s no one-way solution and this AfricaGathering certainly wasn’t meant to look for solutions “on how to help” etc. etc.. People in need know how to help themselves as most governments on this planet only exist to set a legal framework. We, the people, have to bring the change we want and so it was a valuable opportunity to team up with other like-minded folks during AfricaGathering who have understood that less help and more business may be an interesting alternative for a better way forward.

AOB: I spent less than 48h in London and met enough people to whom I was introduced as “Kikuyumoja”. It still amazes me that ppl know about this blog.

Wrong, Johnson, Moyo – eine Auswahl

Ein Artikel online über Demenz brachte mich auf Umwegen zu Tilman Jens, der ein sehr streitbares Buch über …. den Umgang mit seinem Vater, Walter Jens , geschrieben hat.

Überhaupt, dass ein 54jähriger Mann immer wieder als “Sohn von…” eingeleitet wird, wäre dann schon Grund genug, sich noch zu Lebzeiten zu differenzieren. Aber so?

Das Thema Alzheimer haben wir in der eigenen Familie von Anfang bis Ende durchlebt und nachdem der Spuk jetzt endlich vorbei ist, frage ich mich immer wieder: was bleibt?

Was bleibt – außer der Erinnerung, der Liebe, den Verbindungen – vom Intellekt, vom Schaffen zurück?

Menschen sind wie Bäume. Je älter sie werden, desto mehr Jahresringe bekommen sie und können besser verwertet werden. Spenden sie zu Lebzeiten Schatten und Schutz, können aus ihren Stämmen später lange und breite Bretter gesägt werden. Je mehr ein Baum erLebt, desto ergiebiger lässt sich davon profitieren.

Leider stimmt der Vegleich an dieser Stelle nicht mehr, denn Krankheiten wie Alzheimer oder Parkinson befallen Menschen wie ein Pilz, der die Substanz verändert und genau dort ansetzt, wo es am meisten schmerzt. Aus brauchbar wird unbrauchbar.

Eine ähnliche Frage stelle ich mir immer wieder bei Online Publikationen, die oft weniger breit und nachhaltig irgendwo im weiten Datennetz erscheinen und ob der Fülle an Informationen im Datennirwana untergehen.

Dieser Blogpost könnte auch ganz anders betitelt werden und ich könnte vielleicht von Anfang an hervorheben, dass ich mich viel lieber mit der Bedeutung von Onlineveröffentlichungen vs. Büchern beschäftigen würde.

Allein, ich vermag es in seiner Gänze nicht zu erfassen, gar zu überblicken, daher beschränke ich mich auf simple Fragen und stelle im Folgenden drei Bücher vor, die jetzt dank Amazon den Weg auf meinen Schreibtisch gefunden haben und sich elegant an der sonstigen Pflichtlektüre vorbeimogeln.

Die Pflichtlektüre besteht zur Zeit übrigens aus wissenschaftlichen Publikationen zum Thema Abwasserbehandlung in Entwicklungsländern, was zwar technisch überaus interessant ist, aber eben nicht faszinieren vermag – ganz im Gegensatz zu Gegenwartsliteratur über den afrikanischen Kontinent.

Eines aber noch vorweg: wenn wir in Zeiten einer WebCiety den Wechsel hin zu einer sich-ins-Netz-verlagernden-Gesellschaft bemerken, in der die Kommunikation miteinander an erster Stelle steht, stelle ich mir zwangläufig immer wieder die Frage: welchen Stellenwert haben Bücher (gedruckt, auf Papier) im 21. Jahrhundert?

Und: wer soll das alles lesen (?)…. in einer Zeit, in der die Aufmerksamkeitsspanne von Jugendlichen durch MTV und YouTube gerade einmal gefühlte 10 Minuten beträgt und wenn Informationen nicht mehr in kleinen Häppchen oder gar in Linkform präsentiert werden?

Wenn wir weiterhin davon ausgehen, dass sich moderne e-Book Reader (wie Amazons Kindle und kostengünstige Einsteigercomputer wie Netbooks als alternative e-Book reader) durchsetzen werden (oder gar Handyromane, wie in Japan schon sehr populär), wie werden diese Inhalte (und nur darum geht es eigentlich) mit dem neuen Konsumverhalten vernetzt? Werden unsere Kinder das Buch als solches wahrnehmen und konsumieren, oder eher als Teil des Wissens in einer virtuellen Bibliothek abspeichern? Und wie werden sie damit umgehen?

Alles Fragen, die mich immer wieder beschäftigen und die micht jetzt trotzdem nicht vom Kauf der folgenden Exemplare abgehalten haben:

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Michaela Wrong: “It’s our turn to eat – the story of a Kenyan whistle blower”

Über John Githongo und seinen Kampf gegen die kenianische Korruption. Aufgeschrieben von Michaela Wrong, die ihn seinerzeit in seinem selbstgewählten Exil in England aufnahm. Michaela Wrongs Buch über Mobutu wurde schon gierig verschlungen und liest sich gut, ähnliches erwarte ich daher auch von diesem Werk, das die (größtenteils schon bekannten) Verstrickungen kenianischer Politiker in Korruptionsskandale beschreibt .

Dieses Buch wird in Kenia zur Zeit wohl nur unterm Ladentisch verkauft und dürfte sich zu einem Beststeller entwickeln, denn – anders als der Verfall Kongos – handelt es sich bei Kenia um eines der reichsten Länder Afrikas. Freilich hat Kenia nicht die Bodenschätze, wie sie Botswana oder der Kongo (DRC) aufweisen können. Seinen Reichtum zieht es vielmehr aus der geopolitisch günstigen Lage am Indischen Ozean (Hafen, Tourismus), den vielen Exilkenianern im Ausland (die für einen informellen Geldfluss sorgen) und vielleicht auch noch aus der Agrarwirtschaft (Kaffee, Tee, Blumen). Und während viele Ministerien immer noch vom Geldsegen der EU abhängen, die gelegentlich ein paar Pickups als Projektautos finanzieren, verfügen viele kenianische Politiker über ein sehr gutes Einkommen, das im sehr krassen Verhältnis zu ihren eigenen Leistungen, aber vor allem dem Durchschnittseinkommen im Lande steht.

Korruption als solche mag für viele als Ausgleichssystem für die vielen Ungerechtigkeiten in der Volkswirtschaft verstanden werden. Tatsächlich jedoch ist sie wie ein Pilz, der ein gesundes System zerstört und unbrauchbar werden lässt.

Die wirkliche Kernaussage dieses Buches scheint aber zu sein, dass das korrupte System vom scheinbar eigenen Mann aufgedeckt worden ist, der als Vertreter einer neuen Generation mit anderen Werten und Idealen aufgewachsen ist. Was wir hier sehen, ist der ungerechte Kampf zwischen den alten Männern eines über die Jahre gewachsenen profitablen Systems und einzelnen Vertretern wie John Githongo, die über einen viel moderneren Erfahrungshorizont verfügen.

Wäre ich ein bißchen Deutscher und älter – vielleicht so wie Tilman Jens – würde ich es vielleicht mit den Identifikationsproblemenen der 1968/1978er Generation im Nachkriegsdeutschland vergleichen. Interessant dabei: die wirklichen Auswirkungen erkennen wir oft erst an der folgenden Generation.

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Dominic Johnson “Kongo: Kriege, Korruption und die Kunst des Überlebens”

Dominic Johnson ist mir als Afrika Korrespondent der taz bekannt, dessen Artikel seinerzeit mit einer der Gründe für mein taz-Abo waren.

Ich war noch nie im Kongo, jedoch steht die Region auf meiner Reiseliste ganz weit oben. Aufmerksame Leser meines Blogs wissen sicherlich, dass ich hier schon den einen oder anderen Artikel mit Inhalten zum Kongo (als Region, nicht nur DRC) veröffentlich habe. Kurzum: für mich ein überaus vielversprechendes Buch, in dem ich vielleicht auch meine Vermutung wiederfinden werde, dass sich die “Demokratische Republik Kongo” in den nächsten Jahren in Einzelstaaten aufteilen wird. Der Kongo ist die für mich zur Zeit spannendste Region Afrikas.

“Die Kunst des Überlebens” – ja. Trefflicher kann man es wohl nicht beschreiben.

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Dambisa Moyo: “Dead Aid – Destroying the biggest global myth of our time”

Ein Buch im Stil von Prof George Ayitteys “Africa Unchained – The Blueprint for Africa’s Future”, das die “Ablasszahlungen” des Westens an Afrika beschreibt und einen neuen Weg aufzeigen möchte, der wirkliche Entwicklung in Afrika ermöglichen soll.

Da ich auch in dieser aufgeklärten Zeit immer wieder auf Zeitgenossen stoße, die ein komplett falsches Bild vom afrikanischen Kontinent und dem riesigen Potential haben, ist es umso wichtiger, Vertreter neuer Theorien zu entdecken, die – wissenschaftlich fundiert – eine eigene Lösung aus der Misere beschreiben und idealerweise auch noch über die nötige berufliche Erfahrung verfügen, die ihre Glaubwürdigkeit untermauert.

In Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa today and unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth. (Quelle)

Dambisa wurde letztens auch von der BBC im HardTalk interviewt und ich habe sie vorhin via Twitter auf das Africa Gathering Ende April in London hingewiesen. Mal schauen was draus wird…Sie kann nicht, ist auf Lesereise in den USA.

The silver lining der hier vorgestellten Werke ist für mich ganz klar die Erkenntnis, dass es Veränderungen in Afrika nur durch eine neue Generation geben kann, die – aufgewachsen mit traditionellen Verhaltensmustern und typischen US-amerikanischen SitComs wie dem Fresh Prince of BelAir – ihren eigenen Weg finden muss.

UPDATE: Fünf Wochen nach VÖ dieses Beitrags ist in der FAZ ein Interview zu Dambisa Moyos Buch erschienen. Und jetzt hat sie sogar wohl noch im Vortrag bei der Weltbank überzeugt. Wer sich auch nur ein bißchen mit Afrika beschäftigt, sollte dieses Buch unbedingt lesen – kann es wärmstens empfehlen. Weniger um einen möglichen Lösungsweg aufgezeigt zu bekommen, als vielmehr die moderne Einstellung des neuen Afrikas zu verstehen.

CBD comfort

How much would you spend on having the ability to take a shower in the Central Business District?

I was just going through Ken Banks’ flickr stream when I stumbled upon these two mobile recharging stations which I had seen earlier (it’s up since ~2 years) but only now I just realized that SOMEONE urgently needs to convert this into an AfriGadget/-Biashara and combine it with lockers for e.g. shoes and other facilities.

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(source: Ken Banks, kiwanja.net)

Those of you who have been to cities like Nairobi know that a lot of people actually carry two pairs of shoes around – one for the road and one for the office. While working in Nbo, I often wondered why there are almost no public lockers available downtown that could be rented and used by commuters to deposit stuff they usually carry to the city on a daily basis for the lack of secure alternatives. Yes, there are some alternatives available, but these are(afaik) often only connected to supermarkets which means no 24h/7/365 availability of such services.

While these mobile recharging towers may work in the UK or the US in such secured places (like airports), I am wondering if this would also work in Nairobi if someone invests some money on a mobile charging cubicle with extra lockers for shoes and other office clothes, maybe also additionally secured by a watchman or someone running a kiosk.

What would it require? And how much would it cost? And what kind of licences would it require from the local institutions?

For some reasons, David Kuria’s ecotact.org website is unfortunately offline right now (so I can’t really show you what I am talking about), but it would be nice to have much more Ikotoilets all over Nairobi. While I believe that ecological sanitation projects always require a demand for fertilizers from farmers in semi-urban areas, the Ikotoilet as a 50% ecosan toilet could be one of those ideal locations for such storage facilities.

After all, it’s nice that consumers can buy airtime credit almost everywhere in the country, but there are hardly any places – even in cities – where one can take a shower after work, have a decent nature’s call or even use extra services like such lockers and mobile chargers.

There obviously is a great demand for such services / facilities – but how much would you be willing to spend on it as a customer and what’s the ROI rate for potential investors? I hope to find some answers to these questions one day…

Netbooks = AfriGadget

Over at AfriGadget, we usually call something an AfriGadget if it is a DIY solution to a problem or situation to which there just isn’t any ready-made solution available.

In places where you just can’t go to the next hardware store and buy a ready-made solution, an AfriGadget is such an attempt for a working alternative.

I would even go as far as saying that Germany, for instance, is a very modular country (with many regulations & technical norms) and consequently offers many ready-made solutions that can just be purchased and instantly used. Spare parts for cars, houses, technical equipment – you name it, there’s a norm on it and a place where you can buy it.

2888960873 91a4e7a7f4Erik of WhiteAfrican recently argued that “If it Works in Africa, It will Work Anywhere”.

You may or may not agree with this provocative thesis, but it also shows that we are still consuming many products in the “developed” countries which were actually made for our consumer behaviour. And these things are also exported to Africa.

Anyone in the diaspora who has ever exported his older laptop for members of the extended family back home also knows that it may probably be broken once he/she returns during the next holiday.

Most conventional laptops are just too fragile to withstand the heat, dust, unstable power supply, malware and other threats the relatively rough life on “the dark continent” has to offer. And battery runtime with an average of max. 2h is often below par.

Netbooks are different.

Netbooks are simple, often light-weight small computers with a simple (but modern) CPU, enough RAM, a harddisk, a small screen (7″-10″), 2-3 USB ports, a sound card, WLAN connection and a card reader. They sometimes even come with an internal Bluetooth adapter so you can connect your mobile or other Bluetooth-enabled equipment to such a little machine. Oh, and it also has a webcam which is neat.

Most importantly though, many current netbooks are quite durable and even survive rough conditions.

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Take my netbook, for example. I’ve purchased this used Asus eee PC 901 a month ago – and while I am still struggling with it’s tiny keyboard layout – I just can’t stop thinking that it could or should actually be THE killer device for use in many developing countries.

My netbook doesn’t have a conventional magnetic (rotating) hard disk, but instead comes with (slow) SSD flash memory. Like the one found on USB memory keys. 12 GB for the operating system, programs and some private data. Battery runtime is beyond 5h on this little baby – which means that it’ll even survive the next power failure. And since the tiny CPU inside doesn’t consume too much power, it could also work from the electricity generated via solar panels (a technology that’s already quite popular in many rural areas).

And here’s the bonus: most future netbooks will be sold with an internal UMTS modem, so you just insert your SIM card and go online. From anywhere where there’s network coverage. (I am actually saving on an Asus eee 1000H Go which has a 10,2″ screen, a better keyboard and an internal 3G modem).

The term “netbook” may be a bit irritating though (besides of this legal battle) as we all know that Internet broadband connectivity is still very limited and expensive in many developing countries. Instead, these little computers are much more than just very mobile computers with very good battery runtime: they are sufficient for most needs.

I’d say that at least 90% of your average tasks can be done on such a machine. Surfing the www, checking your e-mails, writing texts, spreadsheets, games – you name it, it does it. The only thing it doesn’t have is an internal DVD player, so your illegal DVDs purchased at that junction downtown probably won’t play – unless of course you connect an external DVD player via USB.

As long as the iPhone or maybe also some new Google Android phones are the only mobiles with a decent web browser (@Nokia: the S60 browser is NOT a decent solution), netbooks may be the perfect alternative platform and substitute the missing alternative.

“If it works in Africa….”….no, if it works anywhere else, it will also work in Africa.

70% of Netbook sales so far have been in Europe – where they are often only used as second computers or desktop alternatives to those who just want to surf the net from their couch.

In many developing countries though, Netbooks could imho be the entry platform and substitute the otherwise missing or broken (older) computer system. Why? Because they are cheaper, more durable, come with their own power supply and are mobile enough to be shared by many different members of a family or local community.

And that’s why I consider netbooks to be real AfriGadgets. A solution to a problem we have in the past often tried to cure with mobile phones and their still ailing browser software.

Africa Gathering

“Have you blogged about it?”, he asked. – “Yes, I microblogged it.”

Fellow blogger CG just reminded me to mention the upcoming Africa Gathering on Saturday, 25th April 2009 (@ Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck College, Torrington Square, London, WC1 7HX, United Kingdom) which I had only briefly mentioned on the Afritwit Twitter account the other day.

“…a day for thinkers, supporters, sponsors, doers, geeks, dreamers – and everybody else to come and share, promote, highlight, progress and evolve issues related to ICT, social networking and technology in Africa.” (src)

I btw consider this gathering a follow-up to the other two AfricaCamps which took place in Vienna, Austria and MountainView, Goolge HQ, USA some time ago.

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I secured my ticket for this fine event three weeks ago, but am yet to organize transport to & accomodation in London for the weekend 24-26th April. Flights from Frankfurt-Hahn via Ryanair seem to be quite affordable, but the rest is still open end – also because there are like a hundred other urgent tasks for me right now so that I am just doing it the hakuna shida / mungu akipenda way which means less planning (the German in me) and more believing in that everything will just work out fine.

The list of proposed talks is already quite impressive, so it will be particularly interesting to connect with other likeminded Afriactivists.

On a personal agenda, I am also still looking for a way to combine my three topics – sanitation, Africa and ICT – into a worthwile business because I am sure there’s a way to connect all of these three.

Oh, and if I get an opportunity to present some slides on AfriGadget, I will try to speak slowly, loud and clear :-)

Twestival, or why Twitter is the better alternative

Today is Twestival day and I am also attending the local gathering of Twitter users – which also happens to take place in my favourite pub here in Frankfurt (aptly named “the place to be“).

Twestival is a world-wide, almost simultaneous event (live streaming) and attendees are encouraged to donate some money to Charity Water, an NGO active in Ethiopia.

Somehow in a Prof. George Ayittey-way and having previously gained some experience on NGOs, the water business and having a different perspective (of an African/European intellectual) on it, I do of course feel a bit discomforted with such mass-donation events that a) promote water as a sexy (and innocent) cause and b) provide absolution to some Westeners who “want to do good”. Sorry, but sustainable approaches just don’t work that way. I would rather prefer institutional changes than the drilling of wells for areas on which we do not even have groundwater maps. But maybe that’s just me and my scepticism.

On the other hand, I somehow adore how they are making use of social media tools to mobilize the masses. Maybe this is what it takes to reach the masses. And this is also very cool:

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Tweet some facts” via Twitter.

I think we should also use this for ecological sanitation projects. Using social media to mobilize the masses. Kudos to CharityWater for this really smart approach!

One of the reaons for the success of Twitter and other micro-blogging services, I think, is also the lack of alternatives.

Yes. Even in 2009, there’s still no decent mobile blogging client except for Twitter & Co.

What I am looking for is an application designed for a smartphone that enables me to quickly post an update to my website, with annotated images, maybe also video content and the ability to edit all of this as well as moderate comments. All of the previously mentioned apps for Symbian S60 phones and plugins for WordPress.org installations just don’t do the job for me. And I don’t know about this on the iPhone. Is it any better? Would be a reason to switch phones.

So, even though Twitter is just a micro-blogging service with a limitation to 140 characters / message, it helps to serve the basic idea behind blogging: connecting people through conversations. And besides, with this character limit it is also compatible with another popular service: SMS.

I really like the idea of combining social media tools with the sector I am active in: sustainable sanitation.? Maybe that’s just the way forward for me.

liveblogging from AfrikaCamp in Vienna, Austria

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Fellow blogger Mzeecedric and I are today attending AfrikaCamp which just started a few minutes ago.
Please stay tuned for more as I will try to update this post throughout the day (see updates below). Oh and btw, there’s no ustream from the event (no videos). Sorry!

First of all: Africa = continent = many different countries, cultures, etc. (just to be clear on that).

AfrikaCamp is some sort of follow-up to the BarCampAfrica , which recently took place @ Mountain View/Google HQ in the US.

It’s my first ever vísit to Vienna btw and I am already quite surprised how great this city is!

10:00 am:
We arrived at W@lz, the location for the AfrikaCamp.

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The whole of Austria is covered in snow.

11:00 am:
Sessions planning started, Cedric and I will be talking about AfriGadget.com and some blogs we’ve created for dev aid sector / German NGOs.

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There’s free WiFi. Yaay!

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Free chocolate provided by FairTrade. Nice!

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Christoph Chorherr giving an introduction to the different session to some of the ~ 40-50 attendants.

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BarCamp-styled sessions.

11:30 am:
Attending the first session by Helge Fahrnberger of helge.at about laafi.at and OpenStreetMap project they are doing on Ouaggadougou.
Helge is one of the organisers of the AfrikaCamp.

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Helge Fahrnberger talking about laafi.at and OpenSourceMap.

12:00 am
Christoph Chorherr talking about two schooling projects in SouthAfrica: “social sustainable architecture” and “Ithuba Skills College“. Interesting quote from a school headmaster in SA: “We provide schooling but no education”.

[pic to follow asap]

They are also using dry toilets as the sanitation system. GREAT!

12:47 am
Yours truly presenting Erik’s slides on AfriagadgetP1010348
Mwalimu JKE :-)

Had to recharge my netbook after 6hrs in use. Lovely little live-blogging device (despite of its tiny keyboard).

01:20 pm
Having lunch with a guy called Kavindra who works in Vienna as a consultant at a Indo-European Developemnt Agency. Nice vegetarian stew followed by free drinks – thanks to the organisers of this fine event!

02:00 pm
Attending a session on ICT4D.at by Martin Konzett, Karola Riegler, Florian Sturm and Anders Bolin

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Audience clearly dominated by MacBooks. Hmm… ;-)

Martin and Anders showing a preview of their upcoming documentary on mobile phone uses in East Africa. Martin says there’s a 90% penetration of Nokia phones in Africa. Very promising documentary btw which will be released soon. Martin and Florian shot it with a Nikon D90 with different lenses

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Says this guy is a famous athlete who’s constantly on the phone.

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A pouch / CD sleeve made of a Kanga as alternative cover for the upcoming DVD.

Martin also talks about empowerement and mobile financing. Someone from Togo in the audience mentions that we need to have a better infrastructure in many African countries. Debatte started about technology and how it is used in many places.

03:00 pm
Attending a session by Andrea Zefferer & Andrea Ben Lassoued who are presenting their projects @ http://www.clean-it.at and http://www.kinderpate.at

Clean-IT is a project that focusses on an improvement of working conditions among IT-manufacturers (in China) by setting some social standards on the demand side…

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Kinderpate.at focusses on finding sponsors who are willing to support disabled kids.

03:30 pm
coffee break

04:00 pm
Giving a short video interview to Martin Konzett and Anders Bolin, both of ICT4D. Talked about AfriGadget and that we’re are currently looking for a French speaking editor who could cover parts of the francophone Africa on AG. I hate being in front of a camera, my first ever interview/pitch. Camera goes on (fisheye lens) and you’ll have to talk about your agenda for 4 minutes.

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But I wasn’t the only one – seen here: Florian Sturm, Anders Bolin and Martin Konzett playing the same game with Andrea Zefferer.

04:30 pm
AfrikaCamp continues, two or three more sessions – but without us. We had to leave a bit earlier for downtown Vienna. Met an old friend of mine with whom I’d been schooling back in the days in Nbo and whom I hadn’t seen in ages.

Soo….AfrikaCamp imho was a great success, met many interesting people who are doing interesting projects, having the right visions on what works in the African context and what doesnt (NGOs tend to be more realistic then the bigger donor orgs). ICT4D.at guys are quite ambitioned, doing a good job on a tight budget. Make sure to check out their awesome documentary once it’s released on DVD (see comment below)

Else: Vienna is a GREAT city, will def. be back for more. Even my new netbook proved to be portable enough and was a great live-blogging device.

Kudos to Helge, Christoph and Karola who organised this BarCamp + Africa event!

Cheers from Vienna :-)

[UPDATE]
Florian of ICT4D also compiled a very interesting summary of the sessions I couldn’t attend. It’s a pitty that you can’t follow all sessions at once as everyone has interesting ideas to present.

A list of all sessions + list of ICT4D.at interviews are also available.

l’Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste

(Le compositeur DIANGIENDA WABASOLELE Armand) “DWA, en autodidacte, étudie le solfège jusqu’? maîtriser la composition en musique classique. Il a hissé l’Orchestre au niveau d’une grande formation dont la renommée dépasse largement les frontières d’Afrique. De plus en plus il établit les ponts entre son orchestre et d’autres orchestres du genre ? l’étranger.” (source)

Pretty amazing!

Or as one member of the orchestra says in this short clip: “When I am sick and I listen to the music, it gives me strength.”

[via]