VILLAGE EARTH
PEACE CORPS FRIENDS OF,
PEACE CORPS ONLINE,
RESOURCE DIRECTORY
-
Compiled by Cliff Thompson,
Member, Friends of African Outlet
VISION
Use
of Internet Community resources such as Newsgroups, Cyber Cafés,
Videoconferencing and "Friends Of..." organizations
unlock hidden resources of the global community and truly enable us to
"think globally, act locally".
Note:
Examples below of the forgoing resources were written-up for the first country
selected, which was for the the FOAO Project "Horgan's Village Water,
Power, Hospital, School Needs Letter" in Nigeria. The information
presented is essentially the same for any given African Country and can be
pointed to a different country by means of the note at the end of each section
below that reads, "(Note: To get to the [resource] for other African
Countries…").
Besides the Website
resources provided by the Yahoo! Geocities service, which hosts the FOAO
Website, is an Internet Newsgroup facility provided by Yahoo! Groups, which
hosts the FOAO Newsgroup. The idea behind a Newsgroup is "to enable
communities to happen". Yahoo! Groups' "Cultural And
Community\Countries and Cultures" Newsgroups are groups of people from
various countries that share a common interest in something from that country,
for example "all Nigerian's interested in Nigerian Drumming". The
group members communicate by a shared e-mail address book; group size may range
from a few people to several thousand, and there may be multiple
"interest" groups per country (Nigerian cooking, Nigerian dancing,
etc.), with membership typically numbering from a few people to several hundred.
While a group's membership may span the globe, there may be any numbers of
members that are local to Nigeria; sending a single e-mail to the group
automatically goes to everyone in the group. Currently, accessing the Yahoo!
Groups for all Nigerian Newsgroups turns up, as of the time of this writing, 331
general Nigerian Newsgroups, including specialized groups focusing on areas
including Schools & Education (38 groups), Government & Politics (109
groups) and Yoruba (33 groups). Emailing these Nigerian Newsgroups of our
FOAO organization and Projects like the Horgan Village Letter project may turn
up any number of Nigerians in Nigeria interested in helping with our efforts,
ranging from scoping out local Nigerian resources for Appropriate Technology
("AT") projects (for example, materials from bicycle shops for
wheelchair assembly) to helping out in the village with the assembly of various
Horgan Village List items (for example a water pump to be assembled from Peace
Corps Appropriate Technology Library water pump plans). Yahoo! Groups Nigeria
lists a wide range of Nigerian
Newsgroups, all of which have a structure that's essentially the same as our
own FOAO
Newsgroup.
(Note: To get to the Newsgroups for other African Countries, click on the link for Yahoo Groups Cultures & Community Countries and Cultures. The list of links provided includes all the current African Countries Newsgroups links, clicking on any of which will go to the list of Newsgroups for that country - the number in parenthesis by the country name tells how many Newsgroups there are for that country). The list of African countries Newsgroups includes the following: Black (273) Algerian@ (143) Bruneian@ (58) Cameroonian@ (185) Central African@ (8) Congolese@ (43) Ethiopian@ (133) Gambian@ (22) Ghanaian@ (76) Ivoiran@ (16) Kenyan@ (121) Libyan@ (98) Malawian@ (21) Mauritian@ (50) Moroccan@ (188) Mozambican@ (29) Nigerian@ (404) Rwandan@ (30) Senegalese@ (22) Sierra Leonean@ (35) Somali@ (149) Sudanese@ (91) Tunisian@ (56) Zambian@ (20) Zimbabwean@ (67)).
A cyber café is typically
a coffee shop or community center offering computers with high-speed Internet
Web access for low hourly rental rates. A common resource available is live,
interactive, 2-way internet text chat (typically using Yahoo
Chat or Microsoft MSN
Messenger), while some cafés further offer basic
videoconferencing services using off-the-shelf technology involving a low-cost
monitor-top-mounted video camera with built-in microphone (typically a Logitech
QuickCam) and free or inexpensive videoconferencing software (typically Microsoft
NetMeeting or CUSeeMe). Besides
videoconferencing, this software typically includes support for a number of additional
videoconferencing features, such as a "Shared
Whiteboard" that enables conference attendees to upload files to a
window on the computer screen that they can both see and markup together. Such
facilities could come in very handy, prove quite useful and become quite
valuable to both the Nigerian villagers and FOAO in any number of situations,
while executing the Horgan Village Letter project, such as in the following
scenarios:
FOAO
Website and Peace Corps Online Library Access: A villager needs to access
the FOAO website "Resource Directory - Peace Corps" webpage to
find out which Peace Corps files explain how to assess and implement a
project, then go to the Peace Corps
Online Library Community Development page to download and print the
file(s) at the cyber café
Peace Corps Appropriate Technology Library CD
Access: The Village Council,
having decided on a water pump design inspired by construction plans for a
"Hydraulic Ram Pump" in the Peace Corps Appropriate Technology
Library (AT Lib) on CD, sends the "village water pump construction
project team leader" villager named Olakuotu to the cyber café.
Olakuotu gets online around 4pm, accesses the FOAO website "Resource
Directory - Peace Corps" webpage to get to the section "Resource:
Peace Corps Appropriate Technology Library", clicks on the link
"Complete list of books in the AT Library", then pops down the
Browser Edit menu, selects "Find (on This Page)…", then in the
"Find\What search box enters "Hydraulic Ram Pump" and after
clicking the "Find Next" button a few times, discovers that the
construction plans he is searching for is one of the "Books on (CD)
Disk 12" in the section "Water Supply: Pumps", titled
"The Construction of a Hydraulic Ram Pump". Olakuotu next
checks the World Time Zones Map
to determine San Francisco Time is 9am, looks up in a FOAO Website Member
Roster list that Cliff is online from 9-11am, launches MSN Messenger, sees
that FOAO member Cliff is in the MSN Messenger "Buddies List" and
currently online, sends an instant message to Cliff to initiate a Chat session
with him, which pops up an Alert Message Box on Cliff's computer screen, to
which Cliff replies by typing "Yo, Olakuotu! Wassup?" Olakuotu
types a reply that he is looking for a Peace Corps AT Lib construction plan
in the "Books on (CD) Disk 12" section "Water Supply: Pumps"
titled "The Construction of a Hydraulic Ram Pump". Cliff
types the reply...
"
Olakuotu, I'll grab the file off the FOAO copy of the AT Lib CD and put it
in the Friends of African Outlet (FOAO) Public Newsgroup Files Area "Peace_Corps_AT_Lib"
folder, inside the "CD_Disk_12_Water_Supply_and_Sanit" folder,
within the "Book_Water_Supply-Pumps" folder, the file named "The_Construction_Of_A_Hydraulic_Ram_Pump.pdf"
- here's a direct link to the "Book_Water_Supply-Pumps"
folder containing the file - if case our Chat session doesn't support embedded links, here's the
full URL to the folder containing the file:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FriendsOfAfricanOutletPublicNewsgroup/files/Peace_Corps_AT_Lib/CD_Disk_12_Water_Supply_and_Sanitation/Book_Water_Supply-Pumps/
"
At this
point, Olakuotu, looking at the file in the FOAO Public Newsgroup Files Area,
to read the file online, can
right-click the filename, or to save the file, can left-click the
filename, (and on the context menu that pops up, select "Save Target
As…"), then from there can print the file at the cyber café
FOAO/Nigeria Video
Conference: A ways into the Horgan Village Letter project
one of the Nigerian-side teams handling the Power Generating project,
led by a villager named Aderonke, has some questions for the FOAO Power
Generating team regarding cabling between the generator and building block
wiring. The situation is a little difficult to describe using text chat and
the instructional diagram is a bit confusing. At the same time
Aderonke is going to be called away on family business and so another
villager named Kehinde is going to take over temporarily and would like to
meet the FOAO team. It is decided a videoconference between the
village team members at the cyber café and FOAO team members would be a
good way to handle all these issues. At a pre-agreed time, Kehinde and his
team show-up at the cyber café and set-up at the café's computer, while
the FOAO team assemble in front of their computer. On each computer,
the monitor-top-mounted QuickCam video camera with built-in
microphone is switched on, the Microsoft NetMeeting videoconferencing
software is run, the appropriate Internet addresses entered and in a few
moments a window appears on both computers showing video images of the 2
groups, while the QuickCam's microphones and the computers speakers handle
the audio. Both Kehinde's team and FOAO's team can see, hear and speak
to each other in real-time, in a manner similar to a "videophone"
conversation. After Kehinde introduces himself, a member of his team
named Ewegbemi holds up the end of the generator with the terminals on it
in front of the camera, so the FOAO team member can see and advise on where
to hook up the cables. To be absolutely sure, the FOAO team member
asks Ewegbemi to insert the Generator Installation Manual diskette into the
café computer and upload the manual to the videoconferencing software's
"Shared Whiteboard" window - in a few moments the Manual document
appears in a window on both computers screens, the FOAO team member locates
a Terminal Hookup instructional diagram, and starts to draw a circle around one of
the diagram's terminals, then a line connecting the circle to another
part of the diagram depicting the building block wiring - meanwhile
Ewegbemi can see the drawing on his café computer, and do his own drawing
to explore alternative hookups, which the FOAO team member can also see, until
both settle on the best solution
A number of Nigerian Cyber Cafés are listed on such websites as the UKNigeria
Internet Cybercafe In Nigeria Directory, including some with basic
videoconferencing facilities such as "Cafepointe"
(for Webcam & Video conferencing offerings, click on the
"Services" link)
(Note:
To get to the Cyber Cafés for other African Countries, a complete list is
maintained at the website "Internet
Cafés Africa").
"
Village Earth...The Consortium for Sustainable Village Based Development......Your partner in community development projects around the world...Our partners have produced successful results in...Nigeria...The national government of Nigeria has invited Village Earth to assist the National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC) in implementing the Integrated rural Development (IRD) program throughout the entire nation. Village Earth staff has trained over 20 NYSC officers in 'Participatory Practices for Sustainable Development' over the past five years...
...A New Approach to Old Problems...In the 50’s there was the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Europe. In the 60’s, The Peace Corps touched lives across the globe. These programs showed what dedicated external resources can do. Now is the time to empower people to meet their own needs, a time that calls for suitable access to the information resources of a new era...Village Earth is a program for the new millennium. It is based on evidence that lack of access to proper resources is the block to building a better life and that poverty is a symptom rather than the cause...Village Earth joins the forces of individuals and organizations, using the unique gifts of each to provide access to essential resources and to provide training to villages across the globe...Village Earth empowers people to achieve and sustain their hopes and dreams through their own efforts and actions.
The Village Earth Approach...Begins and Ends with Participation...Participation is the secret to human motivation. With the Village Earth approach, men, women, youth and elders are encouraged to play significant roles in improving their lives in partnership with both local and foreign organizations. This is enabled through...Training residents of all ages to assume responsible positions in their communities...Using scientific and local knowledge to generate environmentally responsible, socially sustainable technologies appropriate for the particular infrastructure and geography of each village project.
Working with public agencies to adapt resources to local needs...Encouraging private sector involvement in generating jobs, and creating lending market investment opportunity...Providing a global communication network to access sustainable resources...
Our Mission...To carry on sustainable human resource development around the globe in harmony with the local environment and culture...To help eliminate the erosive despair of poverty...To end the need for non sustainable dependant aid, through self reliant access to sustainable resources...To implement an entrepreneurial approach to sustainable village-based development...To ensure the environmentally safe & responsible development of the third and fourth world...To help realize that the basic resources required to create and sustain our lives belong to all human beings.
Members involved in the Village Earth program draw on over 40 years of development experience. Their contributions include: Assistance in establishing The Peace Corps...International commercial transactions and legal analysis National and international governmental relations assignments based in...Africa...
Village Earth
The Appropriate Technology Library
FRIENDS
OF... PEACE CORPS ALUMNI
As noted on their website,
Friends Of Nigeria (FON) is "…an affiliate of the National
Peace Corps Association…a community of almost 2000 Returned Peace Corps
Volunteers (RCPVs) and staff who served in Nigeria…FON welcomes as a member
anyone with an interest in Nigeria and the work of the Peace Corps…Mission
Statement: To be a national network of Nigeria Peace Corps alumni and other
friends of Nigeria, to promote the interests of the Nigerian people and to
educate Americans…". FON's website
maintains a number of Directories, including a "Directory
of Nigeria PCVs and Staff" (which lists contact information including
email addresses), as well as a handy "Links" page of "Peace
Corps or Nigeria Related Web Sites". We may be well advised to
contact FON regarding our FOAO organization and Projects like the Horgan Village
Letter project as FON members may have US and Nigerian contacts interested in
helping/advising/guiding our efforts.
(Note: To get to the "Friends Of…" organizations for other African Countries, a fairly complete list is maintained at the website "Chicago Area Peace Corps Association" section "4. RPCV Country of Service Groups").
As noted on their Peace
Corps Online Directory Nigeria website, "Peace Corps Online is an
Independent News Forum...not affiliated with the US Peace Corps...serving
Returned Peace Corps Volunteers...". The Website offers a "Directory
of Nigeria RPCVs" which includes email addresses and may be a
further resource to FOAO in a way similar to Friends of Nigeria (FON)
(Note: To get to the "Peace Corps Online Directory" listings for other African Countries, the website offers a complete list on their webpage "Peace Corps Online: Directory").