The radio presenter: ‘A young man said I was his crush on Twitter. I just married him’
The Tech Continent: Africa's digital renaissance
A day in the digital life of Africa
From a Nigerian living in the shadow of Boko Haram to a 70-year-old farmer in Zimbabwe, technology is transforming what is possible in Africa
by Maeve Shearlaw
Saturday 30 July 2016 08.30 BST
Africa is in the throes of a technological revolution, leapfrogging computers in favour of internet connections through mobile phones. A fifth of the continent now have access to a broadband connection, a figure predicted to triple in the next five years.
But how are phones and the internet changing the lives of ordinary Africans? And what barriers do people still come up against when trying to connect?
From the 70-year-old farmer in Zimbabwe who can finally get an accurate weather forecast on her phone, to the Nigerian radio presenter who met her husband on Twitter, this is what a day in the digital life looks like for 10 people across the continent.
Toolz says she is online at least once every 15-30 minutes.
Every morning I check Instagram and Twitter to catch up on what happened when I was sleeping. People are incredibly quick to create and post memes in Nigeria these days – they might be silly and not entirely accurate but they give you the general gist.
Then I move on to international news sources including CNN and the BBC to get the actual facts. During political periods, I start with local news sites including Sahara Reporters and Punch NG before The Midday Show With Toolz, my daily show which airs on The Beat 99.9FM.
I own three phones, an iPad and an iPad mini, and I am online at least once every 15-30 minutes.
As a public figure in Nigeria, social media is essential for promoting your brand: to share good news, bad news, opinions, air grievances and connect with fans, I often host Q&A sessions on Twitter using the hashtag #AskToolz.
I have made friends from all over the world on social media and in 2009 a young man called Tunde Demuren declared on Twitter that I was “his crush”. I didn’t know him then, but we were introduced by a mutual friend and we just got married.
Toolz Oniru-Demuren, Lagos, Nigeria
The tech entrepreneur: ‘There’s astounding innovation but we need to own it’
I am online all day, Monday to Friday. First I check my emails then I read an online devotional, check my calendar, host standups with my team at Asoriba, respond to emails, work on the product and respond to more emails.
We founded the Asoriba app in 2015 to connect Christians with the word of God via the one thing most Africans own: a mobile phone, whether smart or dumb.
Every morning before getting out of bed, church members can read tailor-made devotions from their pastor, catch up on sermons they may have missed and scroll through the events being hosted at their church or others nearby.
The congregation, in turn, can support the church financially using mobile money, or credit cards. Churches can also use the app to store the details of their congregations.
We started in Ghana and are just about launch in Nigeria. The dream is to roll out to churches across Africa and Latin America.
The three Christian co-founders and I all live in Ghana where we were awarded the Seedstars award for the best African startup of 2016.
The amount of innovation in our country is astounding, but most of the investment has come from foreigners, not from Ghanaian investors or our government. Tech can be a major source for revenue for our country but we need to own it.
Nana Opoku Ware Ofori Agyeman-Prempeh, 28, Accra, Ghana
‘Mobile phones were invaluable the night Boko Haram kidnapped our girls’
Grace and her husband Danladi Saleh.
Mobile phones were invaluable the night 276 girls were kidnapped from our town by Boko Haram. As terrorists descended on Chibok’s secondary school our neighbours were frantically ringing us to warn that we were under attack.
We didn’t hear them at first because our generator was making too much noise, but my husband got up to switch it off and saw the missed calls: our neighbours had fled to a nearby mountain.
Sometimes the network is so poor that WhatsApp messages linger for hours without sending
We sent texts and Facebook messages to our family and friends asking them to pray with us as we planned our escape and my husband made calls to help navigate our path to safety.
The importance of technology in times of such emergency, especially mobile phones, can never be overemphasised. Our neighbours now make sure their phones are always charged and that they have adequate backup power supplies.
Technology, boosted by mobile connectivity, is spreading like wildfire through north-east Nigeria, a region still under siege from Boko Haram.
It’s popular with everyone, young and old, and now at least one home in every remote village has a mobile phone. Even if they can’t text [due to high illiteracy rates] they can make calls, very important for emergencies.
But we still have many challenges getting online, sometimes the network is so poor that WhatsApp messages linger for hours without sending and a shortage of power means that we can’t always charge our laptops.
Grace Danladi Saleh, 28, Chibok, Nigeria
The schoolgirl: ‘Most get their first mobile phone aged seven’
Most girls in my village get to use their first mobile phone at seven years old. We share two in my house but we don’t have access to the internet, I have to wait for code club, run by Theirworld, at school for that.
I have enjoyed learning about computers and all the ways in which they can help us. When we don’t understand our homework we can use Google to get the answer. I also like playing games online.
I think that computers may also be able to help me tell stories and sing songs, particularly gospel music. I want people to hear about life at the Kibera girls’ school and how I am unique in my own way.
It’s very important that we are given this level of education, in some communities they don’t even allow the girls to speak, only the boys and men.
Lensa Akello, 10, Kibera, Kenya
The farmer: ‘We used to rely on the breeze to predict the weather, now we use mobiles’
We used to rely on traditional knowledge to predict the weather. We’d feel the zephyr, the breeze, and know what the weather forecast would be the following day. We’d check the stars, and the size and colour of the moon and know whether the coming season would bring enough rains.
Some farmers still rely on this, but we also have our mobiles to read the weather forecasts from the national meteorology service. Almost every farmerhere in the Matabeleland region, south-west Zimbabwe, has a mobile phone but the network coverage can be patchy and expensive.
When we find signal we use a pin code, *130*1#, and download the most up-to-date forecast. It costs $0.20 a session.
Knowledge about the weather has never been more important. Last year we experienced terrible heatwaves that completely dried out the underground water table. We also need to be prepared for the cold, which can ruin crops too.
Moddie Msebele, 70, Matabeleland, Zimbabwe
The jailed blogger: ‘Facebook got Ethiopians excited about the internet, but the government is always watching’
We were jailed for 18 months for blogging about the government
In Ethiopia rates of internet connectivity are very low and crackdowns on freedom of speech are very common.
In April 2014 I was jailed for 18 months with eight of my friends for blogging about the government.
We had launched Zone 9 two years earlier to start a discussion about social and civic issues in our country, but we were arrested and charged with terrorism.
After a lengthy battle the charges were dropped and we were released, but I am now fighting accusations that I was “inciting violence” through my writing.
As well as a “Zoneniner”, I am an author and an editor of a bimonthly magazine called Weyeyet, meaning dialogue in Amharic, which focuses on political issues. I have no plans to stop being critical of the government.
I use Gmail, Facebook and Twitter daily, and other sites including Viber and Instagram occasionally. Facebook and Twitter help me promote my cause, democracy, and to campaign on the issues that are most important to me.
The arrival of Facebook has got people in Ethiopia interested in the internet. Maybe that’s a good thing, but the government is always watching.
Befeqadu Hailu, 36, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The political cartoonist: ‘We are embroiled in a rumour war, fuelled by the absence of free speech’
I live on social media because government censorship prevents me from being anywhere else.
My cartoons, or Khartoons as they are known, are political and often critical of the Sudanese government. I started sharing them on the social network Hi5 before the Arab spring but then migrated to Facebook when it found an audience in Sudan.
The concept of traditional media doesn’t exist in Sudan, it is so biased and politically driven. I was once thrown out of an editor’s office for suggesting an idea, but on Facebook I can upload something and reach thousands in seconds.
But there is no sense of copyright, my art is shared and reposted across Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp quickly. Sometimes my name is cropped out, but I don’t mind because I’m doing it for the message. I now live in Qatar where I feel relatively safe doing my work.
Sudan is one of the most oppressive countries in the world and while opposition groups, including the youth activists Girifna, are very active online the government has mobilised an online defence force whose sole purpose is to troll them and spread pro-government propaganda.
They call themselves the “electronic mujahideen”, we call them electronic chickens.
The majority of Sudanese people have bypassed computers completely, going from nothing to using the internet on their mobile phones. And there has been an explosion of information being pinged around on WhatsApp in the past year.
But with the deluge of comments, photos and articles it is become increasingly difficult to ascertain what is true and what is false.
If there are doubts raised about whether the president’s brother married a third wife, then how do we know that a report about a massacre in Darfur is true? We are embroiled in a rumour war, fuelled by the absence of free speech.
Khalid Albaih, 36, a Sudanese cartoonist living in Qatar
The refugee: ‘Facebook and SMS are very popular in the camp’
I fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2000 and now live in the Bwagiriza refugee camp in neighbouring Burundi.
My mobile phone is very useful to my daily life in the camp. It helps keep me informed with what’s happening in the outside world and communicate with my family and friends.
The people who run businesses use them to order in supplies from the nearby city of Ruyigi.
Most people use SMS messages and Facebook to communicate – I also like WhatsApp – but we don’t always have enough credit and the network coverage is patchy.
The only stable internet comes through the IdeasBox programme run by the International Rescue Committee and Bibliothèques Sans Frontières. It’s a portable station equipped with laptops, iPads and video cameras.
It is very popular with people in the camp, but when it goes, so does our connection to the outside world.
Furaha Nyanduhura, 21, Bwagiriza, Burundi
The campaigner: ‘Social media connects me with politicians instantly’
The first thing I do every morning is check my email, then Facebook followed by Twitter then WhatsApp. Twitter and Facebook are my favourite mainly because the audience is big – it’s very popular in Uganda and relatively cheap.
The best thing about social media is that it helps me reach a lot of people from all walks of life in one go.
Aside from keeping in touch with friends, I mainly use social media to share information about health services for women and girls: reporting on what is happening in rural Uganda and sharing their reality back with the politicians who sit in the capital, Kampala.
In Uganda 16 women die every day from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, almost always because they can’t access the care they need. So, almost every weekend I make a trip to a village somewhere across the country, record videos at clinics – some which still have no electricity or running water – and tweet them at the politicians who are responsible for their upkeep.
We have seen improvements in some districts, but my highlight was in the regions of Lira and Apac where we managed to get the health centre restocked with mosquito nets.
This wouldn’t have been possible a couple of years ago but now most politicians have embraced social media. My approach is quite unique and at first I was worried that I would be regarded as too aggressive, putting the politicians off, but they say they appreciate it – at least in public anyway.
Winfred Ongom, 24, Kampala, Uganda
The safari guide: ‘It can be hard to find good signal deep in the African wilderness’
Timothy Leperes Laur live streams the migration of animals.
Before social media we had to rely on word of mouth or phone calls to let people know what was happening with the animals we look after. Now, we have lots of options at our fingertips.
Twice a year we [a team of rangers and safari guides] live stream the migration of wildebeest across Kenya’s Maasai Mara using Twitter, Periscope and Facebook.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
We record the footage on our mobile phones, which is then beamed to the world by our colleagues from their office in South Africa.
We can only do this a couple of times a year, when the herds cross the river so we can estimate where they are going to be.
The most challenging thing is the distance we need to cover to keep up with the animals, but at least we can update people in real time, rather than waiting until after the event.
Unless, of course, the reception fails us. It can be hard to find good signal deep in the African wilderness.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/why-do-refugees-have-smartphones-syrian-woman-explains-perfectly-refugee-crisis-a7025356.html
Twice a year we [a team of rangers and safari guides] live stream the migration of wildebeest across Kenya’s Maasai Mara using Twitter, Periscope and Facebook.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
We record the footage on our mobile phones, which is then beamed to the world by our colleagues from their office in South Africa.
We can only do this a couple of times a year, when the herds cross the river so we can estimate where they are going to be.
The most challenging thing is the distance we need to cover to keep up with the animals, but at least we can update people in real time, rather than waiting until after the event.
Unless, of course, the reception fails us. It can be hard to find good signal deep in the African wilderness.
Timothy Leperes Laur, 35, the Maasai Mara, Kenya
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/why-do-refugees-have-smartphones-syrian-woman-explains-perfectly-refugee-crisis-a7025356.html
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NewsWorldEurope
Syrian woman explains why refugees need smartphones
For refugees, smartphones are for more than just Snapchat and Instagram
Will Worley @willrworley Thursday 12 May 2016
For many refugees, the smartphone is the most precious possession they own.
It can provide a link to an old life or help make sense of a new one. But some have criticised the widespread use of smartphones among refugees, ignoring the very practical uses the devices have.
“See why this phone is so dear?” Hala, a refugee from Aleppo, Syria, told a Channel 4 film crew for the documentary Children on the Frontline.
“It has everything. All my family, all my world is here.”
Hala left her home after her husband was kidnapped by Isis. With her daughters, she travelled through Turkey to Europe. She is now settled in Germany, though she lives in fear of never being able to see her home again. Now, the only way she can see her husband is through the screen of her phone.
“That’s why I’m always holding it. I’m holding on to it like I’m holding on to an address of my own, my family. This metal device has become my whole world.”
Smartphones can provide solace to migrants who have lost loved ones and been forced from their homes.
However, they also serve numerous practical purposes, leading them to be one of the most important objects in the possession of a displaced person. Such is their significance in refugee camps across the Middle East, NGOs now give out chargers for people to use as standard.
“Our phones and power banks are more important for our journey than anything, even more important than food,” a refugee from Syria, Wael, told AFP news agency.
The devices have a variety of important uses for refugees, including on the perilous journey from Turkey to Greece.
“We were sailing for 20 minutes when we could hear the engine was having problems,” said Firas, another Syrian refugee. “After around half an hour the engine completely died. We were exactly between Turkey and Greece. I know because I checked the GPS on my phone.”
As the weather worsened, the boat began to sink, and Firas contacted the coastguard on his smartphone and also sent them his location through GPS. He swam for seven hours, using his GPS to guide him to Lesbos. Many refugees taking the dangerous journey by boat through the Aegean will activate the GPS on their phones to update relatives and the authorities on the course and progress of their journey.
The map function on phones is vital on land too, being used for anything from making the long journey across Europe to simply finding a place to sleep.
“Every time I go to a new country, I buy a SIM card and activate the internet and download the map to locate myself,” Syrian refugee Osama Aljasem told the New York Times. “I would never have been able to arrive at my destination without my smartphone.”
The social media and messaging enabled by smartphones also play critical roles in connecting and re-connecting people. This is vital to stay in touch with worried relatives and for fellow travellers to pass on advice, giving them greater autonomy over their journeys.
In some cases, using a smartphone decreases the reliance on traffickers. However, these criminal groups also take advantage of smartphones. Many advertise their services on Facebook, creating pages such as ‘Smuggling into the EU’ to find customers and even promote special offers.
REUTERS
Technology | Tue Jun 14, 2016 12:55pm EDT Related: WORLD, TECH
Want to save migrants in the Mediterranean? There's an app for that
BY MAGDALENA MIS
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A smartphone application that allows users to scan the Mediterranean for boats in distress is being tested by a migrant rescue service, which hopes that crowdsourced information will help it save more people.
The I SEA App, available on iTunes, divides a satellite image of the sea route migrants are taking into millions of small plots which are, in turn, assigned to registered users.
Each user then monitors their plot through the app and can send an alert to the Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) and the authorities if they spot potential trouble.
After receiving an alert, the authorities analyze the image and launch a rescue mission if necessary.
"The idea is that with more people getting interested you can cover bigger areas of the sea," Ian Ruggier, MOAS head of operations, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"It allows people to see that they are contributing towards saving lives. (The success) will depend on the popularity of the app," he said by phone from Malta.
Migrants hoping to reach Italy from Libya pay hundreds of dollars to traffickers for a place in a boat. The vessels are often flimsy and ill-equipped for the journey across the Mediterranean.
The crossing is far more dangerous than that between Turkey and Greece, which was the busiest sea route until a deal to curb flows between the European Union and Turkey came into force in March.
So far this year more than 40,000 migrants have arrived in Italy after crossing the central Mediterranean, many fleeing poverty, repression and conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 2,000 have died trying to make the crossing.
Launched in 2014, MOAS is the first privately funded migrant rescue service. It is already using drones in its rescue missions in the Mediterranean.
According to its website, MOAS rescued nearly 12,000 people in the first two years of becoming operational.
(Reporting by Magdalena Mis; Editing by Katie Nguyen; Please credit Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
On this day in 762 Baghdad was founded by caliph Al-Mansur.
After the fall of the Umayyads, the first Muslim dynasty, the victorious Abbasid rulers wanted their own capital to rule from. Choosing a site north of the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon (and also just north of where ancient Babylon once stood), on 30 July 762,[1] the caliph Al-Mansur commissioned the construction of the city, and it was built under the supervision of the Barmakids.[2] Mansur believed that Baghdad was the perfect city to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids. Mansur loved the site so much he is quoted saying, "This is indeed the city that I am to found, where I am to live, and where my descendants will reign afterward".[3]
In its early years, the city was known as a deliberate reminder of an expression in the Qur'an, when it refers to Paradise.[4] It took four years to build (764-768). Mansur assembled engineers, surveyors, and art constructionists from around the world to come together and draw up plans for the city. Over 100,000 construction workers came to survey the plans; many were distributed salaries to start the building of the city.[5] July was chosen as the starting time because two Astrologers, Naubakht Ahvazi and Mashallah, believed that the city should be built under the sign of the lion, Leo.[6] Leo is associated with fire and symbolises productivity, pride, and expansion.
The basic framework of the city consists of two large semicircles about 19 km (12 mi) in diameter. The city was designed as a circle about 2 km (1.2 mi) in diameter, leading it to be known as the "Round City". The original design shows as single ring of residential and commercial structures along the inside of the city walls, but the final construction added another ring inside the first.[7] Within the city there were many parks, gardens, villas, and promenades.[8] In the center of the city lay the mosque, as well as headquarters for guards. The purpose or use of the remaining space in the center is unknown. The circular design of the city was a direct reflection of the traditional Persian Sasanian urban design. The Sasanian city of Fîrûzâbâd, is nearly identical in its general circular design, radiating avenues, and the government buildings and temples at the centre of the city. This style of urban planning contrasted with Ancient Greek and Roman urban planning, in which cities are designed as squares or rectangles with streets intersecting each other at right angles.
Aerial View of Fîrûzâbâd
- Corzine, Phyllis (2005). The Islamic Empire. Thomson Gale. pp. 68–69.
- Times History of the World. London: Times Books. 2000.
- Wiet, Gastron (1971). Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate. Univ. of Oklahoma Press.
- Wiet, pg. 13
- Corzine, Phyllis (2005). The Islamic Empire. Thomson Gale. p. 69.
- Wiet, pg. 12
- "Abbasid Ceramics: Plan of Baghdad". web.archive.org. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
- "Yakut: Baghdad under the Abbasids, c. 1000CE"
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