Six Weeks in Rwanda

Part of Rwanda's Vision 2020 Plan is an initiative to establish a paperless government. They are setting up telecenters in every district that government employees can use to do their business.

How will these people be trained? Since many of these people have little or no prior computer experience, they have no bad habits. This means that they have a great chance to learn the right thing the first time. What an opportunity! Here in the US, most people learn to use computers through a process of trial-and-error. This means that they often learn the long way to perform tasks. They rely on menus because they don't know the keyboard shortcuts, or they develop carpal tunnel syndrome because they weren't taught how to type correctly. Rwandans are ready to learn, so the government should make sure they are taught, and taught the correct way.

A similar argument can be made about the platform they will be trained on. Most of us in America are stuck in a Microsoft rut. We use Windows and Office, and feel violently uncomfortable when Mac OS X or (gasp!) Linux. Microsoft makes great products and has earned its reputation, but I think that Linux would be the best option for Rwandan telecenters.

Why?

First of all, it's open source. This means that the government won't be locked into a proprietary cycle of upgrades. Companies in the US are resisting the switch to Windows Vista because it is so expensive. Of course, they'll have to make the change sooner or later if they want to keep current with new versions of Office, Visio, Project, etc. Upgrading Linux, on the other hand, is painless. For example, a new version of Ubuntu comes out every six months or so, and the update process is seamless.

The second reason the Rwandan government should focus on Linux is its flexibility. Windows is developed for the Western world. This means that it is appropriate for Western countries. It solves Western problems. Rwanda is unique and different from that world. It faces its own set of challenges and requirements, and deserves an operating system that it tailored to its needs. A distribution of Linux that is geared specifically to the Rwandan government would not be difficult, costly, or time consuming to develop, and could be customized to serve government officials better than any possible alternative.

Because all open source code is freely available to the public, developers can modify any Linux program to support Kinyarwanda. There are already versions of Firefox, an Internet browser, and OpenOffice, a Microsoft Office alternative, available in the Rwandan local language. Code accessibility might encourage more Rwandan students to pursue careers as programmers or engineers. Linux is known for its strong community of developers. As Rwandans work more and more with Linux, they will become an integral part of this community and develop relationships with professionals from all over the world. Choosing Linux could be a huge boost to the Rwandan economy, creating jobs and connecting the country to the global economy.

Moving toward Linux would encourage Rwandans to embrace technology because it would be openly available, totally customizable, and a jump-start for the Rwandan tech sector.

It is widely accepted that France played a huge part in allowing (if not blatantly assisting) the genocide to happen in Rwanda in '94. I think that the French government will never disclose the true nature of its involvement, because that would be too embarassing and implicate them in terrible crimes against humanity.

"Although France denies the allegations, a former French soldier last year alleged that French troops had trained the militia responsible for the killings in the two years leading up to the genocide."

Interesting article, explores the French role in the genocide.

The telecenter times is using some of the pictures we sent them as stock photos for other stories. As Jutta said in an email she sent me, "our pics are starting to be used as stock photos for the telecentre movement."

This is a strange article, but very typical of Rwandan newspapers.

We rode this road twice while in Rwanda, and it is definitely in need of repair. Apparently, the Chineese built the roads in Rwanda while it was still a Belgian colony. Federal funding has largely ignored the roads since then, so there are many potholes and rough patches.

"'Those who carried out the genocide should be executed in order to forever eradicate the culture of impunity that has always marred Rwanda. The only solution: sentencing them to a grave punishment, which their past actions merit,' said Francois Ngarambe, president of a genocide survivors group, Ibuka (Remember in Kinyarwanda, the national language)."

Rwanda just abolished its death penalty. This is a big step, one that will allow the country to receive many more genocide suspects from abroad. However, this is quite a sacrifice, and many of the citizens disagree with the change. Anyone who orchestrated such a terrible genocide deserves death, not life in prison.

On Thursday we gave a presentation of our trip/project to the Dean. It was fun to see everyone again, and I was surprised to find out how much I miss Rwanda. Sometimes I get nervous when I talk in front of people, but I wasn't at all nervous for this presentation because I knew the material so well and was very excited to tell others about our trip.

In the evening, we meet everyone for dinner at Sakura. Virgil couldn't make it, but Ashley, Jutta, Colleen, Frank, and Jerman were all there. We had fun telling stories and reminiscing together. We gave Frank his shoes and Jerman his funky thermometer. Colleen got some wine from Germany and a small peace basket.