The past week respected accountant Mr. Kalambo and colleague audited LinkNet's book over the first year, April 2007 to March 2008. The auditors determined that the accounting records were accurate and up-to-date; that internal controls were sufficient; both administrative officers and here deputy prepare bank reconciliations and verify the reconciliations prepared by each other. And Mr. Kalambo and colleague tested all receipts and disbursements transactions for twelve months during the audit period and noted no recording errors or irregularities.

The collaborative paper of LinkNet and TNO on "Internet in rural areas of Zambia: a user study" was presented at the IST-Africa 2008 conference today. Presenters were Paul van Hoorik, TNO, and Fred Mweetwa, Secretary Board of LinkNet. The audience responded being encouraged that implementation of ICT was taking place in rural areas, and lots of interest on progress was shown. New contacts emerged, resulting in growth of the number of stakeholders involved in Zambia and abroad.

This was one of those days.. At the Ark three power supplies burned of three new and recently installed PCs. One puff, and they were gone. Otzbert Kasokola saw it happening and reported sparks and smoke coming out of the PCs. The computer repair team started their work right away and within a couple of hours the computers were in use again.

Gregory Mweemba witnesses the disaster of the day in the Macha IT room, LinkNet's main computer center. Heavy smoke was bellowing from the IT room when entering. A bundle of cabling had just burned away and everything was covered by a gulf of blackness. We are grateful fire only caught one part of the set up, and did not spread. The actual cause might have been a UPS blowing up, or a power socket going haywire, or a combination of the two. After taking of pictures the equipment was put outside and a cleaning team went in. Then the task of restoring service commenced. Within the day Internet service was restored!

Communications Authority of Zambia's associates Elly Longwe with his team visited Macha to familiarize themselves with LinkNet today. The Communications Authority of Zambia (CAZ) supervises and regulates the provisions of the telecommunications services and products, promotes competition and ensures that the benefits of the ICT sector accrue to the Citizens of Zambia and its economy. Hearing about the Macha story, as to review its content, they honored LinkNet to see the actual work on the ground. CAZ would like to ensure that as much of rural Zambia is connected to the rest of the world through ICTs. The team commented positively on what they saw and experienced. Even new ideas as to using a helicopter was welcomed, saying that it would really make enhance transportation of ICT equipment to very remote sites.

Today the District Commissioner of Kasempa District officially opened the internet service provisioning network at Mukinge Hill Mission. Dignitaries from the district, the North Western Province, Lusaka, and from other countries witnessed the proceedings.
 
Before the official opening took place, the District Commissioner was the first to experience the wireless mesh distribution network on the lap top computer of the Executive Director in his office. Upon arrival, he was able to check his e-mails from within the hospital.

To solidify arrangements governing the fruitful and long term relationship of applied research institute TNO from the Netherlands, and LinkNet from Zambia, Prof. Dr. Gerard van Oortmerssen and Gertjan van Stam signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the organizations. Ceremony was at the Residence of the Netherlands' Ambassador in Lusaka today.  ICT entrepreneur Mr. Paul Baan, member of LinkNet's Board of Advisors, witnessed the proceedings. LinkNet is one of the four partners of TNO in their activities in development cooperation.

Mr. Middeldorp, the Netherlands' Ambassador in Zambia, commented on that relationships were already ongoing and he congratulated both parties with the agreement and flying start of the work.

Brenda Zulu, eLearning Africa correspondent in Zambia, did followed up on an open letter of LinkNet to the previous e-Learning Africa, to see what communications have done for the rural community and how many local people have benefited from the new technologies. This interview is published on the newsportal of e-Learning Africa.

With pleasure I read the article "Third World first" in the Boston Globe newspaper. It shows an insight that research and development can bring mutual advantage, which is one of the motivators for excitement about cooperation between us in the rural African context and established institutes world wide. This goes with the notion that in in the aims for Corporate Responsibility, companies expect, among other things, to empower people in Africa to have productive and rewarding lives. High-impact projects are sought to improve global conditions, with wide range of proposed interventions from technology applications to societal change. Building relationships to innovate in the Third World can also bring this improvement.

Macha is one of the chiefdoms in Zambia's Southern province in Choma district. It is 72 kilometers away from the main town, which takes more then two hours driving on dirty, bumpy roads. Roads can become impassable, especially during the rainy season. The area around Macha is mainly occupied by the Tonga people. These people practice both arable and pastoral farming on small scale basis.

Up to 2004, basically Macha was regarded as an inferior place where nothing was expected to happen. Major activities only took place in the first part of the 20th century, at which time the Brethren In Christ Church established its mission station at Macha. In that period the church, the hospital, and a few schools were built. Also houses were build to house – mainly international – personnel at that time. After this initial period developments and consecutive progress scaled down to a mere trickle. Hope dwindled, and no further development was anticipated, although the community kept on longing for access to new facilities which could enhance their standard of living, fueled by information about developments in towns or world wide.

This all changed around 2004; then the face of Macha started changing drastically with lots of new developments started to be implemented. Apart from exiting developments at the hospital also fueled by the implementation of the Malaria Institute at Macha (MIAM), a number of wonderful community interventions have been planted since 2004, and they are flourishing! ICT has played the pivotal role as enabler and part of a holistic community empowerment approach. The huge impact can be deducted from these descriptions of activities and events.