The communication and electricity problems in Kenya still surprise me at times. Several normal days and weeks may go by and then "wham" there seems to be a flurry of problems that don't make sense. And all you can do is laugh to keep from crying.
Wednesday I was able to connect to the internet without difficulty. Wednesday night I could not. Maybe the server is down. Thursday morning, the same problem. Oh, well, I will check later this afternoon. Nope, still not working. I will go to the cybercafe down the street. As I arrive, they are closing. Why? The server is down. Hmmm, I know, I will go to a friends house. Hey, no problem, c'mon in. Let me fire up the computer and put in my 21 digit prepaid code for access. Blink! Oh, the power just went out. Well, no problem I will go home.
I call the internet/phone company. Oh, your service has been disconnected. Why, I paid the bill in full two weeks ago? Sorry, call back in the morning.
Hey, my phone and internet don't work why? We are switching the username and passwords. Why didn't anyone call or notify me of this big piece of news. I don't know, call this number.
Hello, my internet doesn't work. Use this password and username, click!
Well, at least I am connected again. Oh, wait, it is connected but it isn't sending and receiving data. I will go to that cybercafe again. Sign on. BLINK - the power goes out!
And such are the woes. It seems I should be used to this comedy by now. But somehow, I don't think I will ever get used to this sort of thing.
Sorry-O.Pretty frustrating. But then a few years ago there _was_ no Internet, we had to make international phone calls to send email via a 9600 bps modem and kept losing the connection, then print out emails to carry to users houses (yup, and walked 9 km to school barefoot in the burning sand, too). It still amazes me that I in Nigeria can read your posting from Kenya, which is stored in the US, within minutes of your writing it. -- Mike in Jos
Posted by: Mike Blyth | October 14, 2005 at 07:10 PM