[zdnet] This container being transported along a remote Zambian road holds one of three ZubaBox Internet cafes that technology charity Computer Aid International has set up in Kenya and Zambia.
The Internet cafes, the first of which was installed in early 2010, have brought Internet connectivity to communities in sub-Saharan Africa in an effort to boost IT skills, education and day-to-day communications in remote rural areas.
Shown above are local men carrying the satellite dish that provides the ZubaBox's Internet connectivity.
Housed in old shipping containers, the solar-powered Internet cafes use low-power thin-client devices linked to a Pentium 4 PC which acts as a hub and connects to the Internet via a satellite link.
The solar panels and satellite connectivity means the ZubaBox facilities can operate without the need for mains electricity or a wired Internet connection.
The first ZubaBox was installed in a mission hospital in the village of Macha, Zambia and is being used by Johns Hopkins University in Maryland to research malaria.
Located 70km from the nearest paved road, the Macha ZubaBox supports a mesh network allowing devices within 1.5km of the box to use its connection. There are plans to extend the mesh network to a 30km radius.
Macha uses a rota system which sees schools use the ZubaBox in the morning, teachers and nurses use it for professional training in the afternoon, followed by a general session for adults.
The ZubaBox allows locals to carry out tasks that would previously require them to travel many miles to towns, such as registering births and deaths and making tax arrangements.
Many workers who previously had to travel to towns to get their wages have also benefited as a bank kiosk has been attached to the ZubaBox. Bank employees come to the kiosk each month, where they can work out what wages people are owed.
The flying doctor service Amref is also making use of the facility to establish a video link with larger hospitals to help assess patients' conditions.
This is the most recently deployed ZubaBox, delivered to the village of Chikanta, about 60 miles from the first site in Macha.
According to Computer Aid International CEO David Barker, one of the main aims of the ZubaBox project is to close the digital divide between rural and urban areas in developing countries.
"Even if [young people] were lucky enough to progress into higher education and university, that would be no good to them in the modern world if they didn't have these IT skills," he told silicon.com.
Solar-powered Internet cafes connecting rural Africa
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