One of the mains objectives of Segou Villages Connection Project is to connect the villages of the Segou region with Bamako, the capital of Mali. The partnership with the Niger/ Loire project of UNESCO provided an opportunity to bring Internet in 8 villages near the river Niger: Sékoro, Segou, Markala, Kokiribozo, Macina, Ouromodi, Diafarabé and Mopti.
The schools pupils of these areas have been lucky, to discover the first notions of the Internet in their classrooms. Beyond the discovery of the role that Internet can play in the school life of children, we also realized that, in these isolated parts of Mali that the Internet can be a mean of information and allow the populations to express themselves, to share their lifestyles and to exchange experiences with others on-line.
As in other villages, during a warm welcome ceremony organized by the local authorities, the mayor, a teacher and the chief of the village of Ouromodi – a retired experienced teacher – did not hide their enjoyment and stressed the necessity to have at their disposal tools allowing them to be connected to the rest of the country and the world, like Internet.
“We do not know it, but we heard about the Internet and its roles in various domains. We find it a convenient tool to open up our villages along the river “, said the village chief
With the Mobile Internet solution, the training session in the different villages (see pictures here) went very well.
For more information, please read these posts published during this tour of villages: