OK fellow volunteers, this comes up a lot in conversation, so I thought I’d mention it. Safaricom now offers an unlimited Internet package, which everyone’s been waiting for. It’s 200 shillings… per day. That’s a lot if you do it every day, but it’s not so bad if you just use it every now and then for Internet splurging with downloads and video Skyping. Just send a blank SMS to 555 to activate. For some reason this info isn’t on their website, but they spammed me with an SMS ad telling me so. Enjoy!
Tag Archive for 'Phone'
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As much as you love my lengthy prose, I figure I owe you a few photos with simple captions. Also, I’m avoiding having to study for tomorrow’s exam, so reviewing photos seemed really appealing. So without further ado…
This is where I sit at home in the evening and respond to blog comments on my phone. I took this photo today. There is always hot milk for me in that thermos.
This is a very accurate drawing of me. I received this during the Secret Santa gift exchange.
And here is the gift I gave to my Secret Santa. Businesses and homes in Loitokitok usually have at least one positive-message baby sign.
This is my homestay brother. He is five years old and he is holding the electric Christmas Tree that I received in a care package on Christmas Eve (great timing!). This picture was taken in the kitchen. In the background: my homestay sister and auntie (the house helper).
On the left is the front gate of my home. In the distance is Mount Kilimanjaro.
And here are all the Deaf Education trainees. The guy on the bottom right is always asking too many questions in class.
3 Responses to “Loitokitok Photos”
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Nice photos Paul. We enjoy reading your blog. You mentioned that you ate goat meat in a previous entry, I’ve eaten goat (Mexican style) several times and find it quite tasty. I’ll have to try termites some day. Take care and Happy New Year!
Uncle Joe -
O no !!!!!!!!!!!!!! No high definition pictures on your blog, what are you going to do that is sooooooo terrible! Even worse than the slaughterd goat which I could not help but to read about.,,,Hmmm lets see i had alot of comments while reading but I have probably forgotten most of them by now. But I do remember that I really want those green couches!!!!!!!! They are awesome! Mount Kilimanjaro looks really pretty, and your brother is really cute with the Christmas tree
I also like the picture of you!!! Its almost as good as the one you drew for mom and I. I cant believe you got our package on New Years Eve as well. Could not have been more perfect! Well love you! O and your second project can always be learning that magic trick!!!
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What am I worried about these days? Well, let’s see:
- Language: I am likely to test as "Intermediate" in KSL on the 31st. I am regularly dreaming in sign language, but because training is in Loitokitok, where there is one deaf man in the whole town, our entire group is lagging compared to previous years. I hope that when I go to my final site sometime around Jan 6, there will be a supportive deaf community to help me out. I also know zero Swahili… basically only what’s on the inside cover of the Lonely Planet quick reference book.
- Secondary project: The Peace Corps recommends that in my down time, rather than sitting around doing nothing, I should pursue a "Secondary Project." Before coming here I anticipated that this might involve further development of the Adobe Flash sign language tutorials that I saw online, but…
I do not yet have access to original source files.
I am not sure what else might have been done already on this front.
…so when I go to Nairobi for the swearing-in, I am going to scour the Peace Corps office to see what I can find. There is an overall sense here that things got lost when everything shut down during the election violence, but there is another, most systemic, problem with "memory loss," that is, the lack of a structured year-by-year progress tracking for the overall deaf education project. I worry that any progress I make might be forgotten in a few years— how can I help this organization to make sure my own work builds effectively on progress already made? "Sustainability" is a key part of the Peace Corps’ mission! Ken, the Country Director, seems keenly aware of the problem and has already taken some steps in organizing some of what’s out there, and he also mentioned some initiatives that I hope I can be a part of. - Connectivity: I’m getting pretty good at surfing the Internet on my phone, but I’m still seeking a better solution. The fact that I got Skype Video to work with ErinRose makes me want a better laptop solution, because the pay-by-the-megabyte model would be painful for video chatting (and it’s also the reason you never see high-res photos on my blog). There are now four mobile operators in Kenya and their data plans are shrouded in mystery and hearsay. Ultimately I will wait until I move to my site to determine which carrier(s) are even viable, but it’s nonetheless frustrating to try to do research in advance.
Here is your reward for reading this post, a picture I took when walking home today from town, thinking about all this stuff. You can see it raining on my home in the distance.
And here is a picture I took in Ohio not long before I left for Kenya, at the 102nd Annual Circleville Pumpkin Show. The goal is to grow the biggest pumpkin, but clearly this farmer had a secondary project of his own. Perhaps there is a lesson for me here somewhere?
5 Responses to “The Challenges Ahead”
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Hello PAUL!!! Merry Xmas a little late – sorry! But I am thinking of you and so honored to know you. This is Joelle BTW – Erinrose’s girrrrrl and I am giving you a shot out here from Hollywood CA! I love that necklace you got her- so pretty. I can also see you in her eyes when we talk about you and she smiles. It’s like I get to see you when I see her. – I don’t know you very well but I think you are doing something really special.
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Some choices for connectivity:
1. BGAN is by far the most powerful SAT solution with highest reliability, and likely highest cost, but you get up to 240/384kbps (send/receive) and telephone. Connections are USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet so it’s supper cool, esp for those real outback moments.
2. Wikipedia in English only shows:
Kenya having 12.75 million subscribers in total, or a 34% penetration rate as of December 2007
A. Safaricom [74] GSM
B. Zain – Part of One Network GSM
C. Telkom Wireless CdmaOne
Could not find a fourth.Also very interesting from wikipedia.com is:
Flashback service
As a result of the limited income of most of Safaricom’s customers, network congestion emerges from a practice called ‘flashing’. Flashing is the practice of calling another mobile user, but disconnecting before the connected call is answered. It provides a method for mobile users to alert someone that they wish to be called, but either can’t, or won’t, pay for the call. The method is cost-free for the users; but costly in network bandwidth.
That is why Safaricom sometime ago introduced a flashback service that gave every subscriber 5 free SMS messages with a single pre-defined message stating “Please call me. Thank you”. Although the messages can be annoying when sent just for fun they are very useful when one is in trouble and has no airtime. It also gives parents more of a reason to get mobile phone for their children without the real need for getting them airtime. Unfortanately, at this time, the flashbacks can only be sent to Safaricom subscribers due to some feuds with Zain, Safaricom’s main competitor.
Electronic cash service
Safaricom has developed and launched nationwide an mobile banking service called M-PESA, that allows Kenyans to transfer money via SMS.[1] The service does not require users to have bank accounts, an important aspect in a country like Kenya, where many people do not have bank accounts. With M-PESA, the user can buy digital funds at any M-PESA agent and send that electric cash to any other mobile phone user in Kenya, who can then redeem it for conventional cash at any agent. This system is remotely comparable to hawala banking or services like Western Union. An M-PESA enabled mobile phone can also function as an electronic wallet and can hold up to 50,000 Kenyan shilling.[2] Safaricom stakeholder Vodafone, which partnered in the development of M-PESA, has announced that it intends to roll out M-PESA internationally as well.
One of the more interesting problems is non-necessary traffic, and “noise” from just connecting your laptop to the internet. You need finer control over this issue, your going to need some kind of outbound IP traffic filter.
How is the shortwave radio working out?
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woo. pretty picture =D
And that’s a big chunk of change if you do use the Internet everyday. I think it’s still cheaper for me to pay 2500 for a GB and use it over a few months. (Actually, I know — I did the math: 2500 < 6000)
Is it possible to turn it on and off by the day?
I think so – it just withdraws a single day’s amount each time you activate it, so maybe you could buy a smaller 90-day bundle and use the unlimited on days you want to go crazy with Windows/antivirus/Linux updates.
hallo karibu kenya at least you will learn swahili in mombaz
Just tried for the first time and it seems to me that it’s throttled. In other words, if you actually want to make serious use of it the were gonna make sure everything gets real slow (64k right now).
So here I am looking to have a nice Sunday using lots of internet. Go to safaricom’s website to learn how to use this new unlimited one day plan…No luck go to google search “safaricom unlimited internet” and here I am thanks Paul!
Yeah, but the bad news is that it was a limited time offer (apparently). I tried it from Lamu and it said thanks but no thanks. Not sure what they’re up to…
Whichever way, safaricon is still very expensive to use. I will never recommend it to any1.