Working

Today I am back in the Senior Secondary School computer lab, on day two of a project to install new computers. Six came in a shipment from the UK, coordinated and perhaps put together by an NGO called Schools for The Gambia. Five more – four for the lab and one that seems to have gone to one of the schools officers as a sign of respect, not that he can use it – were bought by the school out of funds that I am not sure I understand. One thing I do understand is that the principal here (who seems to be hard working and have the interests of the school at heart, if not necessarily the interests of the students) is more concerned with having a large number of computers than having a financially healthy lab. The biggest problem is electricity, and the fuel that the generator uses, and the solution is to buy a generator that is closer to the correct size to power the lab. However, the principal is more interested in adding computers, and inflating the lab beyond what it can realistically use or support. The reality is that this is one of the best labs in any school outside of Kombo, and adding a few older computers doesn’t really add much. However, a generator of the correct size would allow it to run profitably as an internet café, with only a few computers running and a reasonable fee to use them. Currently the generator is 125 kva, uses about three liters of diesel per hour, and requires that the lab be full of users to not run at a loss. And the internet connection is dial-up, and relies on a connection to Banjul, which is then painfully slow from there as well. So, it’s unrealistic to think that more than five or six people can use the net at once, even if they are used to the unbelievably slow connection here.
At any rate, it’s a bit of a mess, and it’s my work. Trying to get anything done is further complicated by having to operate with and through my counterparts, not having the authority to make any decisions on my own. I don’t really want that responsibility, I don’t want to be central here because then they will come to depend on me, and then what happens when I leave? So, it’s always a struggle of doing things sustainably and getting anything done. And on top of all that, there are plenty of egos to massage, because these people all think of themselves as experts – and they are locally expert in the technologies. But none of them are capable of doing more than the bare basics in the overall sense of computing. So, I have to treat them as experts even if they don’t know what they are doing. And then the language barrier, where I can’t use much technical language. I am lucky that everyone I am working with today has a high level of basic English, so we can at least communicate at some reasonable level.
I am going to try to post this and get out of here, the atmosphere is turning a bit toxic, and I don’t want to be responsible for causing any heartache.
Until next time, love to you all, Zac