Internet and sms formation in Dioro village

Today, the 18th of June, the Ségou villages connection project members in a very old mammywagon went toward Dioro by a very bumpy road. We were 6 persons from Ségou, Cinzana  and Zambougou with our luggage because we will take much time there: about 8 days.

Dioro is a rural village far of 70 km from the town of Ségou. We arrived in Dioro at about 9. After getting contact with some villagers who conducted us to see the local authorities, we begin things in a cybercafé we found in that village and on Internet mobile we carried with us: a panel solar, a battery, two computers, four Internet connection keys USB and some digital camera devices.

After explaining the aims of segou villages connection through Ségouinfos, more people appreciated the initiative and took part to the formation. Some learners laready knew a little how to use computer but, didn’t know how to use internet for their needs.

Today’s formation has been to teach people how to write posts, how to take picture and videos and how to publish posts on blogs. You will find all these post written by leaners on Segouinfos tomorrow.

We also create a count mail for every learners and teach them how to do that.

Some other people joined us this afternoon to ask if they can participate to that formation they find very interesting. According to them, they like working on Internet but, they don’t know how and that will be an occasion for them to discover Internet a lot and share infos with other through sms.

We are very happy for having chosen that village because we have been very welcome by people.

SMS infos

Few days after the training in Internet and sending of information by SMS, the participants began to send us informations. Here are some of these informations which are different from those that we daily read on Web:

Seydou, a teacher of Ngakoro in the commune of Cinzana-Gare asks us this question:

“Can the solar energy replace the wood for the kitchen to avoid the deforestation?”

“L’énergie solaire peut-elle remplacer le bois pour la cuisine afin d’éviter la déforestation ? » (Seydou's SMS in french)

Issa, a teacher of Kolonkolona, in the commune of Cinzana-Gare telles us about  the collective hunting organized by the young people of Béléko, Region of Koulikoro, the May of every year:

“In Fougadougou, a village in the commune of Béléko, Region of Koulikoro, every midday in may, the young people of the village go to hunt with dogs. In the afternoon, they come back with more meat and share.   It’s a good moment in the village.”

“A Fougadougou, un village de la commune de Béléko, Région de Koulikoro, tous les mois de mai, les jeunes partent chaque jour à la chasse collective à partir de midi avec des chiens. Ils reviennent le soir avec beaucoup de viandes qu’ils se partagent. C’est un bon moment dans le village.” (Issa's SMS in french)

Hamidou, a teacher of Ngakoro, announces us here the difficulties of having the telephone network in that village:

“If you need to join us in Ngakoro by telephone, be patient, insist on the call because we haven’t our telephones with us everywhere. The difficulties of having the network in the village obliges us to suspend telephones on trees and on wild. When the telephone rings, we come to listen. We hope the phone operators help us to resolve this problem quickly.”

« Si vous avez besoin de nous joindre  à Ngakoro par téléphone, soyez patients, insistez sur l’appel parce que nous n’avons pas nos téléphones avec nous partout. Les difficultés d’avoir le réseau ici au village nous oblige à suspendre les téléphones sur les arbres et sur les hagards. Une fois que le téléphone sonne, nous venons à l’écoute. Nous espérons que les opérateurs téléphoniques nous viennent rapidement en aide pour résoudre ce problème.»

A question from France for the old men of the village is a message which is a part of the objectives of the project: open a space which allows people of various culture to ask questions and exchange on themes of culture:

” Today, I saw a wounded grass-snake on the road. I wondered if in the bambara culture, the snakes, or meeting a snake, had a meaning or was a forerunner “.

“Aujourd’hui, j’ai vu une couleuvre blessée sur la route. Je me demandais si dans la culture bambara, les serpents, ou rencontrer un serpent, avait une signification ou était un présage”. (The author's message in french).

You will follow more infos like that from the villages on a future blog soon.

The first Internet and SMS training in Cinzana-Gare

The lack of means of information and communication in the rural areas is one of the reasons that many events and good initiatives of development stay hidden. Villages abound in events, in traditions, in customs, in culture which deserve to be known by the others. To take up this challenge of information and communication in rural areas in Mali and for first time, in the Region of Segou is the main objective aimed by the Segou villages Connection Project.

Segou Villages Connection is a project of local site information to bind the Malian cities and the villages of Segou in the field of information and communication and in raising sensitization.

It is in this frame that took place in Cinzana-Gare on Sunday, May 1st, 2011, a session of information and relay training in certain villages of Segou. Certain relays were not able to be present this wedding day in Mali, especially the women, but the training will be continual and the group widens as we work continues.

The information concerned the necessity of the connection of cities and villages in the cases of information, communication and in raising awareness, the discovery of Internet in the village through the connection 3G, sites of information, social networks, immediate messaging systems.

The training concerned the modalities of sending news to the blog administrator and moderator by SMS and by mammy-wagons by the participants in the diferent villages and how to create a system of feedback between the readers and the villagers.

At the end of this training, a very courageous team has been made to send news by SMS before each of them have their own computer, solar panel, batteries and mobile Internet. This team won’t take will always connect you to rural news.