Is Internet really useful for people living in Africa?

Question

I live in rural africa and I have Internet access at least six hours a day for the past six months. I the begin there was a lot of excitement because of the job/scholarship/volunteer opportunities that the internet offers. Sadly I have discovered that 98% of these opportunties do not cater for people in the southern part of africa (especially) Zambia, Malawi, Zimbambwe, Botswana. Firms or organisation that extend their services to this group are mostly scammers. On several occassions I have had no replies to my requests or responses like " Sorry we do not offer our services to that part of the world or "sorry the only payment accepted is through credit cards". The use of credit of credit cards is almost nil around here. Is there someone out there who can give genuine firms or organisations that offer real global services with regard to jobs, scholarships disadvantage but high achieving students or exchange service

Answer 1

Mate.. Mate.. Mate..The Internet is the best thing that has happened to Africa in a very long time. Ask yourself how much better off you would be if you lived in New York. The Internet is like a teleporter that opens you up to the whole world. However, if you treat it like some kind of free ride, and expect manna from heaven, you will be disappointed. Stick at it though, Internet skills will be in high demand in the future. Perhaps the next outsourcing wave will be getting Africans to find things on the Internet for rich Americans.

PS. Lets' talk business; email me, [e-mail] there is a lot of money to be made.

Answer 2

I'm probably one of the worst people to answer your question because I have a lot less expertise in this than a lot of the other people on this site. But, have you heard of 'pay pal' it is a way to pay on the net without using a normal credit card. There are also Internet credit card companies where you put in the amount of money that you need for that which you are paying for, you'll need to research them.
Be careful on the net with places that charge. It can be an easy scam. Check them out before you give any money. I would also advise to check that it's a secure site. Secure sites often have a little padlock picture at the end of their web address in the address bar.
Also, many of the things that charge for info you can get or research off the net for free. IE: There are sites that if you pay say $30 they will get you certain jobs , but if you type in the job you can get the same info yourself for free.
I think the net is a wonderful, incredible thing, you can find anything on it, but it does take some work and being careful. A different word or way of typing in a query can bring a whole different set of results. I would say continue asking questions on this site, there are many helpful people on Yahoo Answers and with all kinds of expertise. You might also want to type 'scholarships' into the 'search for questions ' in the top box of Yahoo Answers , and see what other answers people have gotten on this site for questions about scholarships
I have always thought it would be great to go to Africa or somewhere and sell local crafts or things from the area on the net so the people would get reasonable money for their work rather than exploited pay.

Answer 3

Wish I could help you pa but ti his is completely foreign to me
*** I see it the Internet is a great source of information and perhaps you should start from there.
If you can GOOGLE you can enter really general search terms and pull up a lot of info [information technology-great thing-knowledge-makes you a threat~-be careful/depending upon where you are]
There are possibly a lot of resource for study abroad just keep surfing usgov.com/differant agency's [you will get lost].
Set up a share plan and let others query at your option and help your neighbors who can't get access
The best use of the 'net' is not to do something that requires a credit card

Answer 4

The value of the internet is that it facilitates communication. The great potential is in what can be achieved by people communicating and working together.

Of course the internet could be a massively powerful tool for Africans just as for anyone else. However, you may need to actually do something for yourselves instead of waiting for the Western world to rescue you. Last I heard Africans are human beings like the rest of us -- Instead of waiting for manna from Heaven why don't you network yourselves to start creating wealth for yourself.

Answer 5

As part of a research paper I did about a year ago, I focused a lot on Africa--especially sub-saharan Africa--and changes that technology are bringing about in the region. I found it of interest that a simple cell phone could be such a force of change, allowing people who once spent days getting to market only to find no buyers to instead confirm prices and customers and increase profits to the point that it would be the difference between poverty and being able to escape it. The Internet offers similar opportunities, but as you are finding they are hard to find.

One of the most important factors in making use of the Net in Africa will be building the infrastructure needed for people to use it regularly. In South Africa, with only Telkom as the major telecommunications company, that will be particularly hard, as a lack of competition may mean things happen more slowly and their services will likely cost more than if they had some competition. A good article voicing similar concerns to your can be found here:

http://archive.salon.com/21st/feature/1998/11/cov_16feature.html


Now, there is an orgnization out there that is trying to bring change to developing countries. Geekcorps is a high-tech version of the Peace Corps, helping to train people to build infrastructure and learn busines/eBusiness principles so they can take advantage of the Internet as you would like to do. You can find their site here:

http://www.geekcorps.com/

Here's an excellent article on their site that gives a great example of a young man who created his own company as result of training he received from them after a project in Mali.

http://www.geekcorps.org/2006/12/bottlenet-how-skills-transfer/


A really good source for seeing what companies, websites, initiatives and for finding general information about technology and the Internet in Africa is the Stanford University Internet Directory, which lists resources for each country. It can be found here:

http://www-sul.stanford.edu/africa/guide3.html


Now, let's discuss some things. One of those is the situation in Africa. It is a developing/emerging one with respect to technology and the Internet. It is going to be hard to find work-at-home type jobs and solutions if someone in Africa is an unskilled technology worker. That's the hard truth. However, such telecommuting positions like data entry are available. One thing that may be an obvious choice is to set up shop as an online etailer, selling products and goods as an affiliate or distributor/wholesaler.

With the Internet being global, one can register a domain, setup an eCommerce enabled site with a shopping cart and compete with people in America, Europe, Japan or India on an equal playing field. You might even set prices lower for the same product sold on an American website...which means you take less commission on a sale, but when you consider the scale of economies, smaller or fewer sales/commissions that would be unacceptable to someone elsewhere in the world may be more than enough to provide a positive income for someone in your part of the world.

One thing to keep in mind is the need for infrastructure. A way for you to secure your future is to go into business for yourself. There's an old saying: "Do what no one else wants to do. Do it well." or another less glamorous version that goes "Be the garbageman. Take out the trash, not just yours, but everyone's. Soon, you find people depend on you, and you get to decide how much it costs to have trash removed." They're used to illustrate a business principle for entrepreneurs, and that is that you should find a need that no one else is fulfilling, figure out how to fill it, and then do it well.

Where you live, is there more than one Internet Service Provider (company that you can buy access from) and what services do people not have? Are there no computers? Do they need repairing? Is there a need for networks? Is there a need for a website for the local area that can serve as a clearinghouse for services, companies, and information? Start a portal site if there is a need. These are the things you can do.

Now, I'm speaking in terms that may not be very applicable. I don't know you're particular country and the economics of it. I don't know your infrastructure there for supporting the Internet. There's little I can truly do to advise you on how to procede, except to say that make use of the Internet as best you can to research what you need, and learn, and then pursue relentlessly your dreams and goals.

What I can say is this. I have a marketing degree with a major in eBusiness. I'm struggling to get by myself and I also have a background as a PC tech and have been building websites for 8 years. It's hard even here in America sometimes to make it in the tech industry, especially if you're trying to work for yourself. However, I am an advocate for the power of Open Source software and the power of change inherent in the Internet. I am genuinely interested in your situation. So, with that in mind, I have a proposal to make.

While I can't offer any financial help (as I said, struggling to make it myself), what I can do is offer experience and knowledge. If you're interested in contacting me, I will be glad to correspond with you, offer thoughts and advice, and help you in what ways I can. I have experience training people in software and computers (and as a military instructor though that's hardly applicable) and can teach someone how to build sites, manage them, and how to conduct eMarketing. I know how to troubleshoot and repair hardware and operating systems. And most importantly, I have a desire to help others.

If you can't effectively search for and find the information you need, I would be glad to make use of what I have access to by doing research, compiling it into a zip file or even writing a summary and sending it to you so that you need not use what limited access you have to the Internet for finding information, so you will have more time to make use of it instead. If you're interested, contact me, and let me know what your situation is in your country. The currency, what Internet access costs, what services are available in your area, what your goals are, what your interests are, and I would be glad to help you find a solution to your ideas, goals and needs.

I know it's not the best offer in the world, but it's the one I can make, and so I am. Check out my profile and it should have my email address (hover your mouse over the text next to the little envelope icon). Or, my Yahoo username is:

ishouldbewriting

You can just add @yahoo.com to that and send me an email.

...or contact me at: seanforhire @ lycos.com

(but remove the spaces...they are there to prevent spambots from harvesting my email address)

I wish you the best of luck, whatever you choose to do. I hope my post has been helpful and that the links I included prove useful to you.