Syrians 'click' via a rolling Internet cafe
At the edge of this tiny western village, where newspapers aren't delivered, 15 Syrians are stuck for two hours on a parked bus. To their left are brown hills with rows of olive, apple, and date trees. On their right sit a few modest cement homes.
And directly in front of each villager is a sleek wooden desk, a flat screen computer, and an ergonomic mouse. Here by choice, these mothers, high school students, teachers, and farmers are the recent beneficiaries of a Syrian initiative to bring information technology to the country's remotest parts.
The Mobile Information Centre, or MIC, is a former long-haul passenger bus refitted with 18 computer stations and a server. It hops between remote villages offering basic computer training and Internet access for $3 per course. Today is Day 2 of the intermediate class, and the lesson is Excel.
The program is run by the Fund for Integrated Rural Development of Syria (Firdos), the country's first homegrown nongovernmental organization. First lady Asmaa Al Assad founded the group in July 2001. In addition to the bus in Marrane, a second unit is stationed 75 miles north of Aleppo.
When it comes to information and computer technology, Syria lags behind its neighbors - despite a surge in Internet subscriptions and a spike in Internet cafes here. But the MIC places this Arab country among nations on the cutting edge of bridging the gap between the e-haves and have-nots.
To experts, the MIC is not only a cost-effective way of covering rural ground, but it also reflects a shift in strategy over the past decade. In the early days of the IT revolution, according to Inas Sarraj of the Poverty Alleviation Association at the UN Development Program in Damascus, technological aid arrived in the form of computer gifts to governments, that failed to pass on the benefits.
Today, the emphasis is on bringing training and information directly to local communities. "We've definitely learned that we shouldn't just fund equipment. It could easily be sunk," Ms. Sarraj says.
Community leaders in Marrane, a farming village with a population of 700, say they've been overwhelmed by residents who want to hop on the MIC. They had to turn away at least seven people for the current course, and the next two courses have already filled up.
"We never imagined computers would come here," says Waheeb Elias, a farmer and Arabic language teacher enrolled in the intermediate class. Before the MIC, he says, the only option was to travel 25 miles to Homs, a trip that costs about $1.10 - more than most villagers can afford for numerous trips.
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