Hello, World!
Hello, Medium world! My name is Josephine and I want to make the world a better place. Cliche as it sounds, this has been my driving force from a very young age. I grew up in rural Kenya, like many rural areas in developing countries access to services was quite a challenge. We grew up dreaming of moving to the city, where we could FINALLY start living. Today, I live in the city but now I dream of helping communities in rural Kenya have better access to services and opportunities. This is big, and it requires different people, organizations and even government bodies to achieve it. I believe it’s possible. Like Wangari Maathai, I will be a hummingbird, start doing my little thing and hope to inspire and motivate others to join me. My little thing is and hopes to connect the unconnected living in rural and low-income areas.
The Internet has transformed the way we live, learn, work and play. Readers from different parts of the world will read my post. To some, it’s no big deal but for most countries in the developing world, reading this post is a luxury. 53% of the global population is offline, 75% live in Africa. Barriers such as high internet costs, language barrier and limited local digital content and services hinder many from accessing and using the Internet.
In 2015, I began my journey on providing affordable access solutions to rural and low-income communities. I joined Tunapanda Institute, who was working on a wireless mesh network called TunapandaNET, to provide free access to digital educational content to residents in Kibera (the largest slum in Africa), Nairobi, Kenya. The past two years have been amazing. I have learned from and networked with individuals and organizations working on connecting the unconnected. I have joined the community networks movement who are advocating for networks built by communities for communities. These networks exist in different parts of the world such as Latin America where we have the largest community network called Guifi.net. Africa also has such networks, although still new or undocumented. The United Nations have highlighted the critical role that Information and Communication Technologies(ICTs) will play in the achievement of the sustainable development goals. And community networks offer the solution to promoting access and use of ICTs, especially in Africa.
I look forward to sharing my journey and telling my story and hope to inspire you to action.
