12 Years Ago

Cyber Café

Almost twelve years ago I signed-up for my first email account—hotmail. I use the same account today as I did then (in addition to several others). In those days, I received friendship quizzes, jokes and horoscopes, spam mail, and every once in a while an actual message. So pretty much like today. Nevertheless, I check my accounts daily, not to mention the amount of time I spend on G-chat, Facebook, and Skype. Why do I share this story with you?

One of my responsibilities in Aru is to assist Sr. Alba at the Cyber Café. A few days ago, a 24-year old guy came to sign-up for an email account. As he and a friend walked through the door and politely, quietly requested help to create an account, it immediately occurred to me that this was going to be his first email. I was overcome with excitement and in my broken French, which translated into something like: “You important learn sit now please here” showed him to a computer.

It was also obvious to me that he had never before used a computer; I was even more intrigued and excitedly began to teach. He registered through Yahoo, which is what most everybody here uses. As we sat down, I explained what the mouse was and how it transfers onto the screen. We went through the process of answering questions for an account, with me giving more than enough information on everything about email and the internet. We reached the submit button on the screen, he clicked and we lost connection.

I would like to say that this unappreciated and rather untimely loss of connection isn’t typical, but unfortunately, it happens ALL THE TIME. Oftentimes, we have no connection at all and the electricity is a story in itself. For example:

Photocopies can only be made in the morning, between 9-12:30pm because those are the hours when we have an electric current. The rest of the time we run on solar energy, which isn’t that powerful. We spend a great deal of time rotating all the plug-ins for our four laptops, two photocopy machines, and two printers (not too much energy can be used at once). We also can’t have the lights on; except in the evening, and only if we are using fewer than three computers and nothing else.

In any case, helping Jean register for his first email (which took almost an hour) has made for one of my favorite days! Sr. Alba printed the page: “Felicitations et Bienvenue à Yahoo” (Congratulations & Welcome to Yahoo) for him to keep. I could tell he was very happy and also grateful that he registered himself. He returned the following day to write his resume!

Here’s how I see it: It’s awesome that he has an email account to connect, but it’s essential that he learn how to use the computer. It’s discouraging sometimes for me, the number of adults that I have to assist in scanning, saving documents to flash drives, and even sending emails. I try to explain and insist (which takes a lot of encouragement on my part) to have them sit in front of the computer themselves, and learn. Computers are still a very new technology, especially in Aru, and its taking time to learn the basics.

Compared to most people in Aru, I’m a genius at the computer and that isn’t saying much. I share what I know and as for the rest: all in good time. Why? Because that is our only option; Aru (like many small, developing villages) is desperately in need of people who actually know what they’re doing. This can be seen not only at the Cyber Café, but in many situations. (I will be writing more detail on this topic throughout the year.)

I really enjoy my time at the Cyber Café. Sr. Alba and all our customers are very helpful in my learning French. Some other things I’ve done at include: transcribing English, French & Lingala documents and typing project proposals for various organizations. One organization is raising awareness in surrounding villages about the Lord’s Resistance Army (Ugandan rebels). Nearby villages have been attacked and many people have fled to safety in Aru. This has caused a scarcity of resources and rising tensions between both the local population and the refugees or internally displaced persons. The organization is hoping to receive a grant to pay for seminars and Radio programs in the area. Hopefully, they will receive the funds!