Netless

In the past I may have told some of you that I expected to have regular internet access at my post. Forget it. In the last three weeks I've only been able to get on line three or four times for a few minutes here and there. There were two main problems:

First, we had no power for ten days straight and then daily outages of a few hours here and there for several days after that. We have a generator, but since it's expensive to run it they only use it for a few hours in the day and maybe three or four hours at night. That problem was compounded by the fact then when the power goes the server is shut down and they do not necessarily restart it until the next morning. Only one guy has the key, so if he's not around we're out of luck.

Second, they somehow messed up the network cabling in the library, so the PC in the library I was using to get online was not connected to the network. As a result, my only other option was to try to use the computer lab, which is occupied by classes most of the day. For the 2 hours a day it's open, if there's internet access, it's usually full of students so it's pretty much impossible to find an open machine. They've fixed the cabling (for now - nothing is ever fixed permanently in Cameroon) so when we do have power and the server is up at the same time (an iffy proposition) I should be able to get online.

They started to wire the campus so we'd have access in our houses (again, when there's power and the server is up), but that project seems to have stalled. No word on if or when it will resume.

Since these and other problems keep recurring my net access will continue to be sporadic, but I will post here and respond to emails when I can. I will also do some posting on the occasional days when I go to Yaoundé.

On the bright side at least I will have occasional internet access. Many other volunteers have none at all. Funny how quickly we make ourselves dependent on technology huh? Not missing it as much as I thought I would though.