Uganda - A Diversion

It's less than two weeks before the laptops arrive in Uganda. In the meantime we are taking a small diversion with this blog post. We want to share a few images as well as some words, taken from two popular guide books to the region, to entice further exploration of Uganda - virtually or in real-time.

Images sourced from traveladventures.org

"Uganda has changed. And how!" - BG

"Uganda is Africa condensed, with the best of everything the continent has to offer packed into one small but stunning destination." - LP

"Ugandans... genuinely do come across as the most warm, friendly and relaxed hosts imaginable." - BG

"[Ugandans] are smiling and friendly, with an openness absent in other places - truly some of the finest folk in Africa." - LP

"Uganda is widely and rightly regarded as one of the most crime-free countries in Africa." - BG

"Uganda is home to the highest mountain range in Africa... It is the source of the mighty river Nile... offering the best white-water rafting in the world. It has the highest concentration of primates in the world, including the majestic mountain gorillas..." - LP

"the scenery is so striking that it looks like a watercolour" - LP

If you are not already in Uganda, we hope that you pay us a visit sometime in Sironko and leave enough time to explore the rest of the country too.

If you are a virtual explorer: more pictures here and country information here.

The Software Question

Will it be open source or proprietary?

Both. We are constrained by resources to solely depend on proprietary software, and don't feel that it is up to us to dictate what software platform or applications individuals should have access to.

Based on this premise, a typical laptop at the center is likely to have open source applications, such as GIMP, running on top of a Windows XP platform.

Duty Free

Since this is the first time we are taking laptops to Uganda, we weren't sure about customs duties and other related issues.

So we contacted UgaBYTES, in Kampala, Uganda, and they have been very helpful in offering their advice and support.

And the advice provided by UgaBYTES, as well as our online research, suggests that the Ugandan government has scrapped customs duties on computer hardware and software in order to promote their import into the country. Super.

A Collective Experience

A clone of this projector has just started its journey to Sironko from New York City.

The story starts with a friend suggesting that a projector would be a good addition to the center as it would help provide a collective experience (in contrast to the single person experience that a computer offers) and thus possibly bringing people closer.

We thought it was a "beautiful" idea, to quote one of our initial responses. (We liked it especially since very few households have a television set in Budadiri - our base in Sironko district.)

So, our friend sent an email to his friends at the university sharing this idea. They responded, rather generously, and within weeks we had a few hundred dollars. We must admit that we were quite pleasantly surprised by all of this.

Now, we had to get creative to find a way to send the projector to Uganda. We got lucky and received an enthusiastic response from an Airline Ambassadors volunteer, Patriece, willing to take it with her on an upcoming trip to Uganda. The catch - we had just one day, today, to purchase and deliver the projector to her in New York City.

Hoping against hope, we called a friend in NYC and she totally amazed us with her willingness to put in the time and effort to find the model we wanted and to hand deliver it to Patriece, all on last minute's notice.

So, after many phone calls, IMs and emails between four people in three different states, not to mention negotiating with the salesperson to get the same great deal we saw at an online store, the projector is now on its way across the Atlantic.

It all happened so quickly that we still can't quite believe it. A very big thank you to everyone who lent a helping hand!

Our Home?

We are excited to share what is likely to be our home in Budadiri, Sironko. There is still some work left to do before we finalise, but we hope to move into this building in just over a month!

Talking with a Camera

A greeting package put together by children in Florida, USA, will be travelling to Sironko along with the hardware.

The package mostly contains pictures of about a dozen children, around ten years old. They took pictures of themselves playing, goofing around, doing crafts and even cooking. The message is simple. Hi, this is us, and we'd like to find out about you.

One doesn't normally think of the digital camera as a communications tool. But, they do say that a picture is worth a thousand words, don't they? And where language barriers exist, it is even more useful.

The plan is to deliver the package to similar aged children in Sironko and have them put together a digital package to share something about themselves. Through this the children will also be introduced to the digital camera as well as the computer and relevant software.

How the communication evolves will largely be determined by the children and their interests. But, we'll be sure to encourage and enable collaboration between them.