Posts Tagged Africa
Emmanuel Jal – Lose to Win
Emmanuel Jal is an incredibly gifted man with an unforgettable story. From the biography on his nonprofit website:
Emmanuel Jal was born in Southern Sudan, and spent the early years of his childhood in the midst of its longrunning civil war. At the age of 7, after the death of his mother, he was recruited as a child soldier for the Rebel army (SPLA).
Amazingly, he survived front line action and eventually managed to escape with 300 other “lost boys”, enduring a 3 month trek on foot without any supplies to reach safety. One of only a handful to survive the journey, Emmanuel was rescued by Emma McCune, a British Aid Worker, who smuggled him to freedom in Kenya and enrolled him in school for the first time.
Tragically, Emma died shortly afterwards in a car accident. Gradually, after so much sadness and trauma in his life Emmanuel began to find healing through the church and through music.
Emmanual is now raising funds to build a school in South Sudan in tribute to Emma McCune. You can download is latest single for free via his music website.
This is a guy that I would really like to meet.
20 years of mobile phones
Wallet, keys, phone. The way we leave our homes has changed in the last 20 years. It’s a global phenomenon that is still in infancy. Originally pitched as a luxury item, the mobile phone is radically improving quality of life for the world’s poor.
1990
2010
2030?
The culture of handouts vs. the assembly line of the future
You can try it out by ordering greeting cards from Samasource.
TXTEAGLE – Crowdsourcing tasks to the developing world
15 Million Africans are ready for work. Got tasks?
From the TXTEAGLE website:
The impact of mobile phones throughout the world has been widely documented.
These devices now function as fundamental tools instrumental to billions of economic livelihoods. The transformative impact of what is now the fastest technology adoption in human history has had the most dramatic ramifications within some of our most underserved societies. Indeed, while mobile phones were originally designed for Western business executives, the vast majority of mobile phone subscribers today live in the developing world. Africa, with East Africa at the forefront, is currently the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world.
As the price of unlocked GSM phones (complete with sim card and airtime) falls below US$20 in many of these markets, the mobile phone has become many people’s single technology purchase. As such, the expectations for this technology far exceed simply two-way communication. In East Africa, where over 90% of the population live in an area with GSM reception, mobile phones are also expected to serve as flashlights, as music players, and now, even as digital wallets.
The reduction in the price of handsets has allowed a dramatic increase in the number of individuals relying on this technology to do their jobs. Day laborers repairing roads throughout Nairobi no longer need to congregate in the morning in central areas throughout the city waiting for prospective employers to collect them for the day’s work. Instead, in many of these regions, daily labor is now organized via text message.
However, with unemployment levels rising to almost fifty percent in countries such as Kenya, there are still hundreds of millions of mobile phone subscribers who are unable to find consistent work. Given high rates of unemployment and marginal income sources, many of the more than 2 billion mobile phone subscribers currently living in the developing world would greatly benefit from even an extra dollar per day. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk has successfully introduced “human intelligence tasks” that can be completed by individuals with a personal computer connected to the internet for small amounts of money. We apply the same principle to “txteagle”, a mobile phone-based system that untethers these tasks from the PC and offers them to the world’s billions of mobile phone users – providing an additional source of supplementary income to rural and low income populations.
YouTube – eTech txteagle short.
Plus, this report on how wireless networks are developing in emerging markets.
Moving Windmills: a short film about a big idea
William will be at Barnes and Nobel in Tribecca, NYC this Tuesday. See his full US schedule at his website: WilliamKamkwamba.com
Mobile marvels | The Economist
Mobile phones: Is that a ticket out of poverty in your pants or are you just happy to see me?
A special report on telecoms in emerging markets: : Mobile marvels | The Economist.
The third trend is the development of new phone-based services, beyond voice calls and basic text messages, which are now becoming feasible because mobile phones are relatively widely available. In rich countries most such services have revolved around trivial things like music downloads and mobile gaming. In poor countries data services such as mobile-phone-based agricultural advice, health care and money transfer could provide enormous economic and developmental benefits. Beyond that, mobile networks and low-cost computing devices are poised to offer the benefits of full internet access to people in the developing world in the coming years.
Telecoms in emerging markets: Audio report
Along with increased access to mobile phone hardware, Kenya is about to experience a major surplus (read “cheapening”) of internet access: Kenya on the brink of internet breakthrough
Years of planning and work culminated in the activation this past summer of the Seacom and TEAMS cables, two high-powered, undersea communication lines. When a third one goes live next year, Kenya will be deluged with far more Internet capacity than anyone expects it will use for the foreseeable future.
“These cables are going to bring to Kenya and East Africa, over a pretty short period of time, an experience of using the Internet that is comparable to the United States and Europe,” said Euan Fannell, chief executive of Wananchi, another top Internet company.
Throw me an idea at:
What kind of mobile phone apps would be useful in emerging markets? – Google Moderator.
Condom Use in Africa – For Soccer Balls
This is a nice little video of a kid using a condom to make a soccer ball. AKA football.
3 Points – Tracy McGrady in Darfur
Tracy McGrady traveled to Chad to visit refugees from the genocide in Darfur. Upon arriving, McGrady knew very little about the situation there. This video shows how his eyes were opened and he was inspired to start Darfur Dream Team.
Hulu – 3 Points – Watch the full feature film now..
Check out this amazing end of game performance by T-Mac:
