A huge batch of 300 computers donated by eastern Iowans is being prepared for shipment to Nigeria through the University of Iowa. Cliff Missen is director of the U-of-I’s non-profit WiderNet Project, which collected and refurbished the computers. He took 26 donated computers to universities in the West African nation in 1998 when he taught there.He was back there two months ago and 20 of the 26 computers are still running. At each of the 20 stations, three students were working, “one operating the mouse and two looking over their shoulders. It’s their window to a much, much broader world.” Missen says Nigeria is moving slowly toward technological advancement. Electricity and a phone line are vital for computing. He said it wasn’t long ago there were only four telephone lines for 13-thousand students at the university. Also, the power would sometimes go out for two weeks at a time.They’ve gotten a satellite dish for the Internet connection and they have a solar-powered battery back-up system for power outages. The computers are being shipped to the Nigerian universities of Jos and Ibadan. Missen says in the United States, we think nothing of being able to send instantaneous messages thousands of miles away to friends or even to our senators. He says that’s just not the case in Nigeria and in many other developing nations, “Two thirds of the world’s population has yet to make a phone call. They just don’t have the technology. This is a way to connect people, to allow them to communicate and most importantly, to allow them to participate.” This shipment of 300 Iowa-donated computers will -double- the number of computers at the Nigerian universities. More computers are needed for the effort. Contact Missen at “[email protected]” or via “www.widernet.org.”
