Sacred Heart Parish at Broadway and Ashford Avenue, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522 US - Support SIGNIS Campaign for Internet in Africa!
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“Bandwidth availability in Africa varies tremendously, but is generally very low compared to developed countries…” “…there are few intra-African links…” “… In most cases, fixed lines are concentrated in the capital city, leaving the vast majority of villages unconnected for Internet access…” “Cost is still the key issue.”E-mail. Online research. Message forums. Instant access to people and information all over the world. These are all things which, with our easy access to the Internet, we take for granted. They are also almost entirely unavailable in Africa. The above quotes, taken from research done by the Acacia Group (http://www.idrc.ca/acacia) on teleaccess in Africa in 2002, reflect the dearth of Internet availability on the African continent. Hidden beneath the physical poverty in Africa evident from newspaper, radio, and television coverage throughout the world, there is another severe poverty: a poverty of information and communication. This poverty pervades every aspect of life, from education, to medicine, to agriculture, to the development of communities. In order for Africa to solve its internal problems and claim full membership in the international community, this poverty must be stopped. African communities must gain access to the information readily available in more developed parts of the world, and they must be able to communicate with each other and with the world community. The best, quickest, and easiest way to do this is to bring the Internet to Africa. While this may sound like an impossible dream, it is a dream that is already coming true. Since 2002, when the Acacia Group’s research was published, SIGNIS, the world Catholic association for communication (www.signis.net), has brought over 100 additional high-speed Internet links to radio stations, universities, hospitals, communities, and non-governmental organizations throughout Africa. This service has become so popular that requests are coming in constantly for additional links. However, each of these Internet links is very expensive, which is why we need your help!
THE PROBLEM: ACCESS TO THE INTERNET IN AFRICA
The Internet is not simply a means to find directions more easily, send quick messages to friends, and order movie tickets in advance. When fully utilized, the Internet can provide incredible and critical avenues of communication. Universities can share their findings with the wider research community around the world. Hospitals can consult one another over data, scanners, and radiographies, thus aiding in their research and increasing their likelihood of correctly diagnosing and treating diseases. And people can come into contact with cultures thousands of miles away. The Internet opens up individuals and communities to new people, new lifestyles, and new ways of thinking, and allows them to represent themselves in this international forum as well. Sadly, because of the absence of Internet connectivity, none of these possibilities exists throughout most of the African continent. As of 2002, the majority of African countries transmitted less than one bit of outgoing bandwidth per capita. This is a stunningly small amount, considering that a single short e-mail contains, at the very least, 3 or 4 kilobytes of information. Furthermore, this bandwidth is not spread evenly over the population, but is concentrated in the hands of those few wealthy individuals and organizations that can afford the necessary computer equipment. In many countries in Africa, only a few towns have Internet points of presence (POPs). In some of these countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Sudan, large populations have no Internet access at all. By comparison, 54% of adult Americans used the Internet as of September 2001 (data collected by Esther Hargittai, www.princeton.edu/~eszter/netuse.html) and since then this percentage has continued to grow steadily. Truly, Africa is isolated from the worldwide information community. In addition, Internet connections between countries within Africa are stunningly sparse. As of 2001, there were only nine countries in Africa that were linked by Internet to other African countries. This shortage of intra-African communication is a significant impediment to the formation of an African sense of community, a process that is crucial if Africa is to establish its own identity in the international world. African cultures in general place a very high value on communication. That is why community radio has become so popular in Africa. If radio, a unidirectional audio media, has done so much to help build communities in Africa, it follows that the Internet, which is a substantially more powerful tool of communication, would do even more. Africa is an isolated continent, both within itself, and from the wider world. This isolation means that African universities must conduct research without the aid of the wider research community, African medical institutions must attempt to diagnose and cure without outside consultation, and African communities continue to live in isolation from one another. It is an unacceptable situation, and we as an international community should not stand by and watch it worsen. We must do what we can to help. For more information, see the following websites: Internet use in the United States: http://www.princeton.edu/~eszter/netuse.html Internet use in Africa -- teleaccess inside Africa: http://web.idrc.ca/uploads/user-S/10692580793IDRC_Teleaccess_Inside_AfricaGIF1.gif Internet us in Africa -- outgoing connections from Africa: http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-6568-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
THE SOLUTION: SIGNIS AND HIGH-SPEED INTERNET
What can be done to improve this state of affairs in Africa? While our work there is just beginning, we at SIGNIS have taken a number of steps to introduce Africa to the Internet. Who and what is SIGNIS? SIGNIS is the world Catholic association for communication, and the official organization of the Roman Catholic Church in the field of media. We are a non-governmental organization that includes members from 140 countries, and brings together professionals from around the world involved in radio, television, cinema, video, media education, Internet, and new technology. Our diverse programs cover fields such as the promotion of films and television programs, the creation of radio, video, and television studios, and the production and distribution of programs. We also supply specialized equipment and train professionals in media fields. For more information, please visit our website at www.signis.net. SIGNIS has already done a great deal to improve the communication situation in Africa. In the last ten years, we have helped 152 dioceses in Africa to start and maintain their own Catholic radio stations. We provide equipment, train personal, and link the stations together via satellite, thus allowing them to exchange programs on a wide variety of topics including health, education, civic issues, human values, and faith experiences. Recently, SIGNIS has begun a new project in Africa: the installation of high-speed Internet stations. In the last two years, we have been able to provide high-speed Internet connections via satellite to over 100 radio stations, universities, hospitals, communities, and non-governmental organizations. For each of these, we provide the equipment, including a small satellite dish and configured computers. We also offer services as an Internet access provider, including SIGNIS e-mail addresses, telephone calls via the Internet, and access to the web. In addition, we train the personnel that run and maintain these stations. Most of these stations have been installed in countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Benin, Angola, Uganda, and Chad, that have the least access to the Internet among the countries in Africa. These Internet connections have opened up African dioceses to a new world of information and communication that many would never have thought possible. Eliseo Ariotti, the Papal Nuncio in Cameroon, writes of the new SIGNIS Internet service: “All is working wonderfully. Let’s hope it lasts, because our normal communication lines are very painful. I cannot believe that we can now have a good normal service!” With this new Internet access, hospitals, such as the Hospital de Kalongo in Uganda and Hospital Cottolengo in Kenya, can now share their findings with each other and have access to research and doctors at other hospitals around the world. Students and professors at the Universidade Católica de Luanda in Angola, and the Université de Uele-Isiro and the Université de Kasai in the Congo, can tap in to the wide variety of information and research that the Internet has to offer. And radio stations such as Lusaka-Radio Yatsani in Zambia can access news from all over the world and share their own stories with the global community.THE REAL STORY: RESPONSES FROM SIGNIS INTERNET USERS IN AFRICA
“For us missionaries, this system is a real blessing from the Lord” Is SIGNIS Internet technology really as good as it sounds? Does it make a difference in the lives of the people and organizations that are using it? Does it help them to better serve and strengthen their communities as priests, doctors and teachers? Recently, SIGNIS asked a number of users of SIGNIS Internet in Africa how well this new Internet technology was serving them, and in what ways they were using their Internet access. Click here to read the responses we received.NOW, WE NEED YOUR HELP!
These first 100 Internet links are just the beginning of Africa’s connection to the world information community. After all, 100 Internet links is very little when one considers that the continent of Africa contains 1/10 of the world’s population! Africa must be integrated into the world of information, or it will be cast off as the rest of the world grows stronger and closer through digital communication. There is a clear desire in Africa for this kind of Internet access, as demonstrated by the numerous requests we have received for additional Internet connections. For example, Rev. Fr. Godfrey Nzamujo, from the Songhai Integrated Centers in Benin (http://www.songhai.org/) sent us the following e-mail just a month ago requesting Internet connections for four training centers. Songhai Center is dedicated to research and training in sustainable agricultural techniques, and the Reverend hopes to use our Internet services to develop and share Songhai’s programs with a wider community that can be reached only through the Internet:“My name is Rev. Father Nzamujo. I just spoke to you on the phone a few minutes ago. I am a Dominican priest running the Songhai Integrated Centers in Benin. These are training centers for West African youths. We reach out to other groups like Protestants and Muslims. Communication is one of the key elements in our programs. We want to establish Internet links in our four centers – Porto Novo, Parakou, Savalou and Lokossa. We have a distance learning program within the centers and we want to share our programs with other organizations. Ours is an ecologically sensitive center. We develop what we call a ZERO EMISSION RESEARCH INITIATIVE (ZERI). This is a no waste concept. We recycle most of the by-products. Young Catholics and other youths are trained in development issues. They become socio-economic entrepreneurs afterwards. Animal husbandry, fish farms, and crop production constitute the primary production sector. Food processing and related activities constitute the secondary production sector, and then communication, marketing, and other social services make up the tertiary sector. Songhai is one of the largest NGOs in Africa today. We are trying to link up all the sites through the Internet. We would be delighted to work with you. Our Library at the Fraternité Saint Dominique in Cotonou is using your services. I made a test run at the center last week and I was impressed with the quality and simplicity of your system. We are presently using a local service provider but we are not satisfied. We have some equipment like dishes (three 1.2 meter antenna dishes, two 1.8 meter antenna dishes). We have a lot of switches and strong technical teaching staff. Our network at the Porto Novo site has more than 82 computers and six servers. Could you help us to establish connections in at least three or four of our sites? We need: 256 kb/sec in Porto Novo 128 kb/sec in Savalou 128 kb/sec in Parakou 128 kb/sec in Lokossa As I said, we have five antennas already and a bunch of other communications equipment. We are looking forward to hearing from you. Rev. Father Godfrey Nzamujo, O.P. Director, Songhai Center”We at SIGNIS intend to help Godfrey’s organization, and other organizations like his, in every way that we can, by continuing to answer as many requests for Internet connection as possible. Of course, creating these Internet stations costs money. Each station that is installed requires $6,000 in hardware and $800 in transportation costs, as well as $250 per month for upkeep and maintenance. And this is why we need your help today! Every donation—large or small—will help Africa break through the “digital divide” that separates it from the rest of the world of communication. Please consider how much you can give to help Africa claim its proper place as a partner with the rest of the world in this new age of information and communication.