Survey: 42% of Africans Think the Internet is a Place
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Tamale – Abass Haruna is a 57 year old father of three. He has made a meager living buying and selling African artifacts for the last 20 plus years, earning enough money to send his kids to school and afford basic amenities. This year, he wants to expand his business using the power of the internet.
“My oldest boy won a football scholarship to attend a UK university about three years ago”, he tells us. “After university, he used to call us regularly and keep in touch with friends using the internet. I thought to myself ‘Whoa! This internet must be a powerful thing, for him to be making phone calls and sending pictures and things. I can use it to reach more customers.’”
And that’s exactly what Abass set out to do. He sent a letter to his eldest son, telling him to “go into the internet, and ask if anyone wants to do some business in Tamale”. At first, the request puzzled Haruna’s young scholar, until the boy figured out that his father believed the internet was a physical location…like a post office or a ‘comm center.’
After fruitless attempts to explain to the elder Haruna the mechanical workings of high speed communication, the young man finally gave up and built a website for his father’s business. As proof that he had ‘gone to the internet’, he printed the home page showing a beaming Mr. Haruna surrounded by his wares.
Astonishingly, Abass Haruna is not alone in his believe that the Internet is a place that you can physically visit. Just un 50% of Africans are of the same assumption, because of all that the internet can do: Banking transactions, phone calls on VoIP, sending/receiving pictures. All these are activities that are traditionally done in person on the continent.
At the moment, neither NGOs nor any governments have made/announced plans to educate the masses on this new global technology. With all the needs the continent is facing, such as war and famine, there is a broader belief among those in charge that the masses deserve a fairy tale place where all their dreams can come true to take their mind off their daily struggles.
