Kenyan techies unite

In this job, it can be easy to get depressed. Here's a sampling of my e-mail this week:

• CHAD: 100 toilets per 25,000 people spells health crisis in east
• KENYA: Schools closed as cattle raids force thousands to flee
• ZIMBABWE: As services collapse, corruption flourishes

Not all of Africa is burning, but you wouldn't know it from my inbox. So it was really nice to spend Friday evening with some young Kenyans who are busy with something completely different -- trying to bring the Internet and tech revolution to Kenya.

Nairobi isn't the most wired city in the world. At-home Internet connections are slow, unreliable and expensive -- and therefore rare. Most people who do go online do so at cybercafes, where they pay 2-3 cents a minute for connections not much faster than dialup. But blogging is growing in popularity, and there's a small but dedicated band of techies who are trying to promote change in the tech sector.

I met one of Nairobi's leading bloggers, Daudi Ware, earlier in the week and he invited me to join them Friday for drinks and nyama choma (roasted meat, the national dish) at a place weirdly named The New Alpenhof. It was a cool gathering of smart 20- and 30-somethings with disparate backgrounds but a shared interest in the wired world -- and a reminder, because sometimes we foreign correspondents need them, that there are a lot of reasons to be hopeful about Africa. Among the people I met were:

• Juliana, a Kenyan who's lived in my former home, Kansas City, for the past nine years. At Afromusing, she blogs about renewable energy, solar power and other green topics with an African focus.
• Steve, a Kenyan living in Toronto who blogs about old-school Kenyan music (we're talking pre-1980s). He spent much of Friday afternoon at music shops on River Road in downtown Nairobi buying tapes.
• Erik, an American who grew up in East Africa and blogs as White African. He lives in Orlando with his family but, through his blog, remains a strong voice for tech innovation on the continent. Another site he helps maintain, called AfriGadget, is an interesting compendium of stories from across the continent of people using simple technologies to solve everyday problems.
• Wesley, a programmer who created what's probably the first-ever Africa-themed computer game written completely from scratch. It's called "Adventures of Nyangi" -- think "Tomb Raider" on a savannah. (This is his description, not mine.) It features an African version Lara Croft and lots of guns.

Wesley spent two years writing the game, which he's now selling in a couple of local media stores for about $8, and it got him noticed by some Ghanaian developers. Now they're at work on another project -- an African version of FIFA World Cup Soccer for the PC, featuring African national teams. Their goal is to release it early next year, in time for the wildly popular African Cup of Nations soccer tournament.

Comments

[Ntwiga]

Shashank,

it was a pleasure meeting you as well and having a chance to talk to you about the challenges of writing about Africa for an audience that does not necessarily always think that there the continent is doing anything but burning - hopefully, we can have more interesting meetings and conversations in the future.

I look forward to reading the story you write when it does get carried.

- Steve

[Erik Hersman]

Shashank, great write up. It was really good to meet you in Nairobi, and I know you left a positive mark on all of us who got to talk to you.

Keep the African news flowing!

[Afromusing]

Had no idea you had a blog! (Duly subscribed now)

It was great meeting you, just moved to Chicago this weekend... will be visiting more often to dig through your archives :)

[Susta]

Nice web!!!
Get yourself adsense account. You might be able to make extra $$$
More info:
http://1stmoneymakingweb.blogspot.com/