Cambodian Village Schools To Get Internet Links
REUTERS Reuters, November 5, 1999
ROBIAB, Cambodia (Reuters) - Children in remote Cambodian villages will soon be surfing the Internet thanks to an aid project that aims to put the country's isolated communities on-line. Two charities, American Assistance for Cambodia and Japan Relief for Cambodia, hope to install solar-powered computers, hooked up via satellite, in 200 village schools country-wide. Thursday, curious children in the northern village of Robiab looked nonplussed as the high-tech equipment was hooked up in their school, but a project organizer said they would soon be reaping huge benefits from the Web.
"I'm sure in a few months these children will be like fish in the water... they will love to use the computer," said Bernard Krisher, who is also publisher of the English-language Cambodia Daily newspaper. "I got involved in the project because I felt that Cambodia has suffered so much that it was left behind for 10 or 15 years -- first (by) the political, civil strife and then the Pol Pot genocide," Krisher said. Krisher said the Internet could provide invaluable help with medical problems in the village, and it could also help generate some cyber commerce.
"I want these children first of all to make up for what they've lost and then get ahead by bringing them into the 21st century, teaching them how to use computers, reach the Internet and they can help their villages get medical care through telemedicine," he said. Villagers could also set up a homepage to do things such as sell their handicrafts on-line, he said. "It may sound a little crazy today but in three of four years from now I think nobody will laugh at what I say and we hope to make a start today," Krisher said.
Apple Computer Inc is donating computers to the project and Thailand's Shin Satellite Plc is helping to hook up schools. The World Bank is matching donations raised by the charity groups. Donations sufficient to fund more than 20 five-room schools have already been made by individuals in the United States, Japan and Hong Kong, the Cambodia Daily reported Friday. |
