Dadamac

Sickle Cell Screening reaches 2,215 children and increasing! Read now

The UK and Nigeria teams were able to exchange information via their usual typed skype meeting.

John Dada, although unable to attend personally this week, emailed us with the following exciting update about Fantsuam Foundation’s real contribution in combating Sickle Cell Disease. As part of the Cohort Pilot Study he gave us the following latest statistics: So far he has successfully managed to screen 2,215 children for Sickle Cell disease. In addition to those screened on the UN Sickle Cell Awareness Day in June and those screened in Gwantu, an additional 630 children have recently been screened in Manchok and the team plans to be in Attakar on Thursday 15th and in Kagoro today. John’s target is to screen 6,000 children. Photos of these various screenings are hopefully ‘in the pipeline’ to the UK.

Wednesday meeting linking rural Nigeria, UK and Geneva! Read now

JAWS and Fantsuam Academy
Originally uploaded by Dadamac Community

Connectivity issues tried to ruin this week's online UK- Nigeria meeting but failed.
I had problems with my laptop, which was being repaired, so was watching the meeting over Pam's shoulder. And the UK were informed that Bala (Zitnett Manager) was continuing to work on the connectivity problem at Fantsuam Foundation.

Why our Wednesday meetings work! Read now

The weekly Wednesday online meetings are important to the UK and Nigerian teams, providing a quick and easy way to exchange and update information. And this week's proved no exception.

Despite many of the usual team members being absent due to other pressing commitments, the week's past and future business was successfully addressed.

Although it is not unusual for eight people to attend these sessions (sometimes many more!) we can invariably expect a successful outcome - as long as those online include a representative from both the UK and Nigeria who are in possession of the relevant information.

ZittNet – Fantsuam Foundation's Community Wireless Network Read now

The success of Zittnet, at our sister organisation Fantsuam Foundation, is a major reason that we are able to connect the UK with rural Nigeria so brilliantly at our weekly online meetings.

To really get a better picture of Zittnet I urge you to look at this excellent article written by Louise Berthilson in 2007. The information is current, although there have been further lightning strikes. This has resulted in a larger mast. I will also ask Bala, the manager of Zittnet and his team, to comment about any other changes that may have occured.

Last Mile Connectivity - the realities Read now

Today's online meeting illustrated perfectly the type of difficulties which can potentially beset our weekly Skype link-ups between Nigeria and the UK.

It first became apparent that all was not well after we were joined in the session by Bala, Manager of Zittnet and a regular team member. The Nigerian team quickly explained that they were experiencing problems with their network.

In fact, they had identified the presence of unusual traffic from an external client and - fearing this could mean a viral or hacking attack - had chosen to block the "intruder" for safety.

Wednesday Meeting Treats! Read now

Once again,Yesterday's online meeting between the UK and Nigeria did not fail to disappoint. As well as addressing the items on the agenda in an informal but business-like way, we had two welcomed treats.

The first treat

Phones and Fantsuam Read now

Yesterday's online UK/Nigeria meeting saw several exciting developments. First and foremost was the news that Fantsuam has reached agreement to broadcast its radio signal through the communication towers of Nigerian Telecoms company NITEL.

Because these towers are much bigger and higher than those currently used, Fantsuam will now be able to serve a far wider area! In fact ,Fantsuam will be able to mount it's equipment on masts in Kafanchan and Zonkwa which will enable them to reach distances of up to 70kms.

Africa Rural Connect – Results Read now

The results are out for the Africa Rural Connect competition and the winners are..... Zittnet! Many thanks to all who voted, and encouraged others to vote. We also understand and respect the views of those who have issues about these kind of competitions and will not vote in them. Some of these issues are discussed later.

Urgent Action - Zittnet Project needs Votes. Read now

We would very much like you to support our friends Zittnet in their efforts to win $3,000 for a project that enables farmers to work together to get better prices, as previously mentioned on our blog.

Zittnet project needs votes. Read now

You could help our friends at Zittenet to get $3,000 to kick start one of their projects  simply by voting for their idea  in Africa Rural Connect's search for good ideas. There are lots of interesting ideas competing with each other, at the ideas page of the ARC website. The Zittnet idea is in the communcation section.