Technological developments impacting societies define whether it sinks or swims. Any change, whether good or bad, is certain. It is said that nothing remains the same. Even what were once deep and sacred pools shall become sand bridges connecting different sides of the divide.
The intercourse between cultures results in a radical change in the way people do things. Changes in trade and commerce, community development and structure, as well as politics create an opportunity for society to move forward.
In Southern Sudan, ICT development is rising at an impressive rate, and presents the community’s capacity to make use of the same to define its own progression.
It has made inroads in the villages of Yei, Lanya, Tenj and Juba.
Thatch huts and squares don satellite dishes. Here, DSTV subscriptions go the full length because it is not just the subscriber and his family who watches programs. The whole community is tuned in, and spectacular shows are shared by communal groups.
You will also find satellite phones in the same huts. People are communicating with the outside world and sharing news with sons and daughters abroad.
I was speaking the other day to a man who tells me he grew up in Yei, “My family; they live here,” he told me with a smile,
“We left our homes some years ago in the height of the war, and I went with my family to Uganda. My two brothers went to America, and now they are permanent citizens there.”
He calls them ever so often. He tells them about his hoard of cattle not just by phone but also through email.
Organizations which have brought electricity to such towns are also bringing in Internet connectivity through high speed VSAT and radio links.
They are dotted all over the terrain, and they are bringing the world much closer to a community that would have otherwise been shrouded in mystery.
In the face of a constantly evolving world, opening up to outside development is not selling out, but it is facing the inevitable. The more the world assumes a similar face in development; the more we can get to know the full beauty of human ingenuity.
