Satellite ordered!
Posted by
The Stories Project
Posted on: 05/17/07
Satellite ordered!
Our first real project is underway. We are working with a wonderful group called ForgeNow.org. They have been working in Zambia for the past several years providing education and facilities to four refugee camps.In talking to them they expressed a desire to connect the camp with the world - some way of sharing the stories of the families, and of connecting them with their families left back in disrupted homelands miles away.
So, we are attempting to provide internet access to a place on earth that has no electricity, no cell phone coverage, and no money - but does have a lot of heart, and a lot of good people.
I spent about three weeks searching around the internet for companies that provided internet access to Africa - turns out that they are just getting going and access, particularly to remote areas is very expensive. What we in the U.S. pay $39.95 a month for they would pay nearly $1,000 a month, and have to install about $5,000 worth of satellite equipment.
Cell phone internet access is also just starting and also expensive, and the major problem is that cell phone coverage is not available in vast amounts of Africa.
After about three weeks of going on forums, using google, I cam up with about 5 companies that said they could do it. The prices were usually around $10,000 to $20,000 and $1200 a month! Most of the companies had to ship large (9 foot) diameter satellite dishes from outside the country.
I finally located a satellite company called Skytel, which has an office in Africa - and they quoted a price of $1370 for the equipment and $825 for three months of rather slow, but acceptible access -adding this all up, plus various hardware pieces came to about $3000. So, that's our goal.
I went ahead and ordered the equipment on May 9th! This was a bit of a leap of faith since I had to use western union to wire cash -and the web is rife with scams - I did my best to check them out and can only hope!
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The Stories Project
The Stories Project
The Stories Project is an idea aimed at using technology to bring the world a bit closer together. The Project would provide solar powered, satellite internet story booths to schools around the world, giving under served people and groups a voice and place to share their personal stories.Stories are very powerful, but most go untold, particularly in remote areas of the world. The goal of the Stories Project would be to provide the technology and platform for communication to any group that lacks the means or access.
We would put up solar powered wireless story booths in schools around the world, from rural USA to remote refugee camps in Zambia, Africa.
Teachers would be given video cameras, audio recording equipment and digital cameras to loan to the kids. Anyone in the community would be able to come in and share their stories. The stories would be put on PNN, and accessible from anywhere.
It's like putting up virtual story booths around the world, the calls are free, they are multimedia, and the booths are located anyywhere there's a story to tell.
Our first actual effort is to provide satellite internet access to a refugee camp in Zambia, Africa. We will be providing the technology to the ForgeNow.org group that works in these camps.
The refugees in these camps have come from long distances, from all across Africa to a safe, UN sanctioned, camp in Zambia. But, the camps have no electricity, are far from any towns, and cannot easily connect with their families or the rest of the world.
We would gratefully appreciate and help, in the form of donations or experience. Specifically we would like to contact companies that could make a difference, like Apple, or Microsoft or Google.
The organization itslef has applied for non-profit satus, but this can take several months. In the meantime we are charging ahead.
Lauren Elliott
founder
Refugee Camps in Zambia
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