News: Hub Rwanda

Since the firs comment i recive was in english, i'm going to post in English too...and for the first, i choose a BBC Article.
Hub Rwanda
July 7th 2005

Dan Simmons and the President of Rwanda Eleven years ago the world watched as around a million Rwandans were killed in the 1994 genocide. It was hardly the sort of place you might expect to lead Africa into a new IT age, but that's exactly what it's aiming to do: promising to be a technology hub within five years. From the capital, Kigali, Dan Simmons investigates whether Rwanda's technology dream could come true.

Kigali Genocide Memorial In Kigali entrepreneurs sit by the road offering to type up letters for a small fee. For many reasons, this former Belgian colony has, like most of Africa, been slow to start using modern technology.

Outside the cities many rely on subsistence farming. Historically there's been little need for high-tech, but in recent years this country has been harbouring a great ambition.

While villagers dig to sow the seeds for the next crop, other workers use similar tools to dig towards a longer-term goal. High speed data links are beginning to span the country, because Rwanda dreams of leading Africa into the information age.

The laying of fibre optic cables is considered too expensive to cover the vast tracts of land between the cites of most African nations. Rwanda, however, is small and densely populated.

Laying cableAlready this year the capital has been connected to the next main town, Gitarama. The plan is to link up all the five main population centres by the end of this year, reaching more than half the population.

Base stations along the way will allow wireless connections to the cable from several kilometres away. Anyone patched in benefits from data transfer speeds of upt o 2MBPS - offering phone, Internet, and television services.

Manholes mean the network can be expanded in the future. It will be quicker, more reliable, and cheaper to run than the satellite links used in neighbouring countries.

The company in charge believes it will change lives.

Sandra Rwamushaija Sandra Rwamushaija, Finance Director, Terracom: "Lots of Rwandans haven't even left Kigali or Rwanda, so this will be able to make them aware of what's going on outside Rwanda, out of their little area.

It will be able to give them more vision of what else they can do rather than what they used to. They'll be able to think of new [ways] of bringing in money other than just agriculture."

The government, schools and businesses are coming online first, but at $125 a month the network is far too expensive for most individuals.

So, like in most of Africa, it's at Internet cafes where ordinary people may notice the change.

Last year the owner of one cafe told me he'd been plagued by connection problems when using the phone network to get online. Now, on fibre optics, he can offer his customers a reliable link at more than twice the speed.

However, Rwanda's high tech dream is still haunted by its worst nightmare. Up to a million people were killed here during the genocide in 1994, and the murderers targeted the educated.

KIST The fighting ended with a new government determined to change the nation's fortunes.

While most African nations talked about a digital divide, Rwanda was busy bridging it. It offered tax breaks to IT investors and attracted foreign aid.

One building, which used to be army barracks, now plays a key role in filling Rwanda's skills gap; The Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management (KIST) now trains more than 3,000 students.

Rwanda's secondary school teachers come here to learn how best to pass on computer skills to the next generation. In another classroom the lesson is how different parts of a PC work.

Gaston Rangira Gaston Rangira, ICT Instructor, KIST: "They can install different devices to computers and configure them. They can repair programs that have got a problem, and diagnose a problem with the computer."

As well as offering three-year degree courses the Institute also has shorter, fast-track schemes which are more affordable.

Prof. Eliphis Bisanda, Registrar, KIST: "After four months somebody is ready to go and work. This is actually what the country need now, because the demand for ICT professionals and technicians is very high."

At the moment there are more jobs in IT than skilled labour, fuelling an enthusiasm here to learn.

Yves Kimenyi Gatsinzi, Graduate, KIST: "I'm now in a good position, managing now around 200 PCs and 7 servers and 4 subnets."

President Paul Kagame Rwanda's President, Paul Kagame, is credited with being the driving force behind the changes. He told me of his hopes for the country.

Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda: "We want to move faster, we want to move beyond where we are. The only constraint is limited resources, but I think resources are coming and we have to move fast in terms of training our people. I think the progress is quite good.

The aim is to make Rwanda the hub of the region."

In Kigali itself even Wi-Fi is now available in a few places. To Western eyes these advances aren't anything new, but in Africa they're significant steps.

At the same time Rwanda has some much more basic mountains to climb before its dream can come true.

Most people here live in poverty, without electricity. Most children don't make it to Secondary School. The government and corporate sectors will certainly benefit from the strides this small African nation is making, and the hope is that, through getting more schools online and specific IT training, Rwanda's people will too.