Today, July 27, 2009, was the penultimate day of our teaching experience at St. Andrews. Instead of lumbering through another day of teaching in a small, stuffy, ramshackle classroom, all the Blue Devils decided to bring the fifteen or so students to our apartments. We taught them vital internet skills such as using email and Google and checked up on their typing skills. More importantly, we were able to provide a fun, social environment for them, replete with purple Fanta grape soda and groovy Ethiopian music.
I began the day trying to teach my student Zakariye how to write an email. When it took him more than 30 seconds to find “y” on my keyboard, I realized the kid had seldom written anything on a computer. Zakariye is one of the weakest students of the group, which is surprising since, being 23-years old, he’s the oldest of them all and is a student majoring in history (at least that’s what he told me) at Cairo University. One would expect him to know some basic computer skills at the least. But Zakariye does not spend his time in front of the screen typing emails. While using a computer, he usually goes on YouTube or plays some kind of “shooting” game with friends. The only informatory website Zakariye uses (apart from YouTube, the biggest time-wasting phenomenon on earth) is calanka.com – a major Somali news website.
Zakariye’s compatriot from Somalia, Mohammad Ali, then shed light on the perplexing account of Zakariye’s dismal computer skills. According to him, many Somali refugees in Cairo did not have access to the internet back in their home country. Highlighting the lack of this basic facility, Mohammad Ali explained how he made his first email account in Cairo back in 2006 and subsequently lost it through typing in the wrong password over and over again. And the only way most refugees can access the internet in Cairo is through cheap internet cafés, which, in my experience, provide a rather unsatisfactory browsing experience due to the abominably slow internet connection at such places.
For me the highlight of the day was helping one of my Sudanese students, Abdallah, make a Gmail account. Seeing how I, Dan and Steve all use Gmail over Yahoo Mail or Hotmail, Abdallah wanted Gmail as well. His user name: bigboy.abdallah. Don’t ask me how he came up with “Big Boy,” but he sure was ecstatic when he was able to use his Gmail to send and receive emails from the Blue Devils. Google if you’re reading, we just provided you with another customer, so save an internship for me for next summer please.
Most Americans take the internet for granted. Back at Duke, I check my email at least five times a day. My work for my second NGO AWTAD revolves around constant Google searches for information, information, and yet more information. My first three weeks in Cairo were the most miserable of all mostly because we had no internet. Therefore, with my background of being incessantly in front of my laptop screen, I was absolutely shocked to find someone like Zakariye unable to write and send a simple email. It disheartens me to know that my time at Duke Engage will end very soon, and except for email, I have no means, NO means, of contact with Zakariye. He does not have a cell phone and I doubt letters would reach his address. The internet is my last and only hope of staying in touch with someone I’ve grown closer to in the past few weeks. If the worst comes to worst, I’ll probably have to email Big Boy Abdallah, who’s Sudanese, and ask him to first find Zakariye, a Somali living in a city of more than 15 million people, and then give him a review lesson in the fine art of staying connected online.
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