Re: Will No One Speak For Africa?...
The posed a few interesting questions at his blog. Anyone with a trace of Africa in their blood will find it irresistible to attempt answering them. Here I would like to add my two kobo to the discussion.
Will Africans speak for themselves?
Here I will mostly speak for Nigerians, my knowledge of other African countries does not qualify me to speak on their behalf in this subject? I have asked this question many times before. Initially i thought it was because of the poor penetration of the internet, but I now tend to believe it runs deeper. Here is the most prominent answer I have received, when Nigerians get online, they are looking for an escape they are not looking to complicate or add to the days rigours. There is a disincentive which is not immediately obvious to Africans in diaspora to keep away from 'serious stuff' and tend towards entertainment and news of the lighter shade. Thanks to for crystallizing this idea.
Why give a laptop to kids dying of hunger and thirst?
As Hash pointed out, there are many who aren't dying of hunger and thirst. I would have used an OLPC as a child growing up in Nigeria, and I am sure it would have been quite useful too. I would have learned about online collaboration and work flow. These laptops could also help bridge the differences between great school for the select few and mediocre school where teacher are hmm mediocre. A lesson downloaded online is pretty the same and save for the individual skill of every teacher the lessons learned will be pretty much similar. The OLPC and a juiced up version of the OLPC has a place in secondary schools too.
My personal experience; in 1991 my dad brought home an IBM laptop those boxy types. I can say categorically that that gadget changed my life. There I learned basic word processing(word perfect), lotus(spread sheet) and almighty paradox. Once you had those down the almighty Office 2007 isn't that hard to grasp. That was a 1990 laptop with...(dunno the specs).
For me OLPC rocks until we get a cheaper and more powerful replacement.
There is an interesting question in the section about computers vs. laptops.
14Comment(s):
I will link to you and Hash when I put something up on my blog. This is very eye opening. Bloggers need to contribute more to the discuss.
Well said Omodudu. Escapism and entertainment is what most people in the world tend to use the web for in the West too. I think we fool ourselves when we claim it is otherwise.
I had pretty much the same experience as you did with computers. My father had a computer that I was able to play with in the late 80's. It started off with simple games (no internet/email/etc). From there I just kept going as the technology changed.
Since I am currently dicussing this matter, let me just come and put my 2 kobo in...
Yes, Omodudu, we are in agrrement thatNigerians come 'online' for entertainment and not to rehash the realities of the existence that they experience every single day.
That being said, OLPC is a good initiative, but it is a difficult one for me to blog or even talk about at length. Why? Whenever I see OLPC, it is discussed within the confines of a "poverty" project/help the poor Africans initiative. That approach turns me off.
Plus, the emerging complications around the scheme give me pause and hinder me from contributing adequately. I.E. OLPC is currently being sued for patent infringement; Nigeria will not be purchasing OLPC but will instead pick a competitor that is actually cheaper. Things, to me, simply fail to be clear enough for me to see the trees from the forest on this one.
Anyway, I appreciate the fact that African bloggers are talking about OLPC, and must stress that they have been for a while in one form or the other...Beauty's blog for example.
Let me end my sermon with that....
My 2 kobo on this? In Nigeria, the education system is a mess. Alot of people are attending private schools (Even the £5 per yr tuition fees). $100 computers? It will work for these people. It will even work for computer science undergraduate students in the universities; who, believe it or not, graduate with BSc with no daily access to computers. The government schools? It will give them hope, courage and a purpose. Even hungry stomachs need hope, purpose and a glimpse of the future.
People want African leaders to debate on this issue? Who are they? Definitely not the government, politicians or religious leaders! The African youths are the answer, but we need a medium to speak in one voice and authority.
As Hash pointed out, there are many who aren't dying of hunger and thirst. I would have used an OLPC as a child growing up in Nigeria, and I am sure it would have been quite useful too.
and you (or your parents) were also able to afford an IBM laptop.
Why should Nigeria spend its scare ressources on that (since countries and only countries can buy them) while millions of kids don't have access to primary school math books ?
@Random as cheesy as that may sound right now...the 100 laptop would be at per with the IBM laptop i wrote about. I was talking about the processing power there, I need to be clearer sometimes i know.
Were we able to afford that laptop nope? Was given to pops as a grant from UW Madison. Argh argh gotcha.
trust me pops wouldn't have shelled 4500 bucks for a computer.
@ random african: resources are not scarce in Nigeria. The country just lacks an effective system of dispersing those resources to benefit as many as possible.
As to why computers are necessary/on par with math textbooks...you can use the computer to access math textbooks and info online, right? Besides, we, Nigeria, can have both - text books AND affordable computer technology that will allow Nigeria's children to be competitive with their peer mates across the world.
I found your blog through Hash's I think you have a cool blog. Keep it up. Like I said over at White African, the media needs a more balanced view of events.
I hate to agree with you but, you make some sense here.
@Random African, why are you such a contrarian? I am curious.
"resources are not scarce in Nigeria. The country just lacks an effective system of dispersing those resources to benefit as many as possible.
Besides, we, Nigeria, can have both - text books AND affordable computer technology"
why don't you do the math ?
$20 billions, give or take that's the federal budget (i wonder if that includes the states)
44% of the population is under 14. that's around 50 or 60 millions of people.
a $100 laptop for each ? that's 5 or 6 BILLIONS of dollar.
1/4 or more of the federal budget.
i guess you can reduce that by assuming some of the under 14 are too young to go to school and still get an awfully high figure
whats more interesting is that the litteracy rate for 15 y olds and over is 57% so there is a demand for adult education too.
and remember that same budget pays for roads, infrastructure, police, army, the public service, strategic food reserves but most importantly teachers and schools (the buildings) etc..
Are ressource really unlimited ?
What do you cut ?
@KM
because someone has to
@Omodudu
you got me, may be.
but the point remains. why spend government ressources to provide something to people who generally may be could afford it (a computer, any computer) while MILLIONS of kids don't even access to basic litteracy ?
plus why kind of effect would that have on the burgeoning nigerian computer assembly industry ?
@Random I do believe that the OLPC is in a class by itself, and it is rather premature to forecast what the impact may be on the local computer assembly industry. It just may be positive given the induced demand. Whatdya think
I don't see how it could have a positive impact on the burgeoning computer assembly industry..
By boosting the demand (people getting a taste of computers and wanting to buy a computer, any computer and ending up buying cheap local ones) ? How likely is that considering OLPC comps are not sold but rather distributed to their target ? Who wants to buy something when the neighbourg got it for free ?
but on OLPC as a whole, I think the idea was good. But by various bad decisions have made the "bad" aspect grow.
And at the end of the day, it's not that important. The impact, positive or negative won't be huge. And I suspect average africans don't care about the debate. That's why only computer geeks and devellopment experts debate it.
My impression of the OLPC idea is that its benefits are over-blown and the gains for capitalists behind the idea grossly understated.
Using my 38 year old self as an example, I never owned a computer until I got to the US in ’98. I have never work on a computer until ’97 even though I have a brilliant tutelage in a Nigerian university. I have no idea of what JPEG or PDF or mystery behind “hotmail” until 1998. I had my first break at using advanced statistical software (SAS) in 2000 during getting my masters thesis together.
Today, without sounding immodest, I think I’m far better off that some of those chaps that grew up literally using the computer right from their mother’s womb. [And I don't mean you 'Dudu :)]
In summary –technology is, and should never been seen a silver bullet. The impacts of technology will remain transient and shallow if its use is not well anchored to broader and well planned agenda.
Kid dies from preventable disease everyday in Africa. Classrooms are over crowded, dirty and many have no have no books. No go to school during the day to hawk goods on the street I the evening. Several homes have no electricity, and many students have to walk miles to get to school everyday – there are simply more immediate needs for the African kids and until those immediate needs are met, the OPLC initiative will remain a brilliant idea…just on paper.
Aside: How much cash will be accrued to Intel and Microsoft from the Classmate PC initiative?
I feel the children account on BBc was staged. Nigerian kids do not speak Englsh that way. Not worse or better, but just not that way.