One month is a long time, especially when each day is filled with action-packed Cybertigi activity. So what have we been up to? Well, to start, Cybertigi has officially opened its first site in Faraba.

The solar panels were installed on May 18^th with Ludovic performing some light acrobatics during the installation. The VIA computer and battery used for the kiosk was installed in a spare room in the Mayor’s office, while the solar panel was mounted on the rooftop. The kiosk was operational but there was still some work do finish before the Faraba kiosk could be considered fully prepared for business.

It was also during this visit we had the opportunity to interview our first candidate for the kiosk manager position, Mr. Morinuman Doumbia. We had previously expressed our interest in finding someone from the area who would manage the kiosk as if it was their own personal enterprise, sharing a portion of the receipts generated as their wage. Mr. Doumbia was the first candidate to express an interest in the position.

It was also during this visit that Frederic was able to test his newly reconstructed radio emitter using Faraba’s 50m tower. Terrific success! Frederic’s transmission was able to be captured very clearly from Ouelessebougou, a roughly 32km line-of-sight distance away from where he was transmitting from. Aside from having Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” play 17 consecutive times to the torment of all, the radio test was a raving success. Congratulations Frederic!

Shortly thereafter, on the 5^th of June Matt and I returned to Faraba to begin our first test of the system and also to prepare our activities for the coming week, including a community film night, making the final selection of an entrepreneur, the last kiosk adjustments, and preparations for the commercial opening of the kiosk.

It was also around this time when more intensive work began with the Ouelessebougou CLIC to resolve connectivity issues. The CLIC at that time did not have an internet connection established and could not meet its monthly subscription charges. Since Cybertigi demands a stable internet connection to be a viable operation Geekcorps will begin working more closely with the Ouelessebougou CLIC to attempt to improve the connectivity and revenue problems.

I spent Monday and Tuesday in Faraba with Mohamed to begin finalizing the kiosk, make arrangements for Friday’s community film, and other necessary details, and on Wednesday met up with Matt in Ouelessebougou to begin working on the CLIC side project – affectionately known around the GCM office as the SNAP. [briefly: we hope to launch a CLIC extension in the heart of downtown Ouelessebougou and have a mini cybercafé set up on a bench & worktable and run by a boutique owner] On Tuesday I also began the necessary protocols and site inspections for the second site, Niagadina, on the Ouelessebougou Cybertigi circuit.

On June 9^th the Cybertigi team minus Fred and Maimouna visited Faraba one more time to tie up the remaining details for the kiosk to be operational. We interviewed candidates and made our final decision for the entrepreneur, in the end finding Ms. Déneba Samaké clearly the candidate for the position. We installed 2 low power consumption / high yield lights which draw only 5W each at the kiosk at the Mayor’s office. We placed one inside for the kiosk to be able to be used at night (a necessity since most people work in the fields during the daylight hours) and one outside so the community would have at least one well light area for students or others to use after sunset.

The highlight of the trip was the community movie night. Using the InFocus projector we’ve previously mentioned we hosted a community movie night in the town’s open access courtyard. We began with Kirikou, an animated film based on an African folk tale suitable for both younger and older audiences. At the beginning of the film we had roughly 200 attendees; by the end clearly well over 500. We followed Kirikou with an action/martial arts film – very popular here. The goal for these films was twofold: to build awareness of Cybertigi and its services, and to thank the community for their assistance up to this point. No film had been shown in Faraba in more than 10 years.

Today Mohamed left Bamako to head back to Faraba for the next week and a half to begin training Jéneba Samaké on the system and Cybertigi as a whole. During this time they will also begin building awareness within the community about Cybertigi and its services. Within the next few days I will be heading down to Faraba to lend assistance and begin preparing Niagadina with Matt.

So, that’s the quick summation of the past few weeks. Believe me, there are plenty more details not mentioned, but that’s the outline. We’re running at a good pace right now and there is no indication that things will slow down at all in the near future. Niagadina is about to be opened, and if all goes very well we hope to have the Kangaba CLIC circuit up and running within another month as well, Inch Allah. Next week we begin preparing the Bancoumana and Naréna sites so we can launch at the earliest possible moment. We’re ready, the project elements are looking good (with a nice dose of “challenging” thrown in), and the ball is already moving – quickly. Looks like the next month and a half is going to be a great one!

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