Sunday in Dar
Water, Lunch and a New View
Today, we started by getting water. I didn’t
know why everyone here had their own tanks everywhere...until now. The water
supply is often a bit unstable in Dar and many people even the supply out with
their own buffer. Hanif’s supply has been syphoned off by a neighbor and
he’s trying to get it back. In the meantime, he has 5000 liters of storage
that he fills every 2-3 weeks for about 25,000 Tshillings ($25). It’s
funny, when I think of an unending supply of water, I don’t think about
the usage but when the tanks are sitting outside and need to be filled manually,
I try to use as little as
possible.
That's a lot of water!
From there, we went to work. I had a commercial to rough out, Todd had DVD interfaces to work on, and Chantal was editing. We put Harvey to taking pictures and working on Voice Over copy. We collected in Hanif’s air conditioned office and worked away. We got the Airport Extreme up and running which made it almost feel like San Francisco :)
The crew at work
In the afternoon, we had lunch at Shafiq’s with his family and one of the community leaders. It was really great to discuss how the US is seen by the rest of the world, and more importantly, by moderate Muslims. It becomes very clear here that our news agencies are failing us. As Americans, we have no idea what’s going on in the rest of the world. We are inundated but the mundane and shielded from reality. I guess it sells but at what cost?
Lunch at Shafiq's
It won’t matter for much longer...the idea of centralized news coverage is not going to persist. The idea of centralized media will be a challenge by itself. There will be so many outlets (through Broadband and other methods) that getting one singular message out will become nearly impossible. It is the Tower of Babel all over again. Just when we think we have the technology to bring everyone together...they will use it to go the other way.
I think part of this is due to the myoptic view that tends to emerge anytime one entity has great leverage. CNN was a challenger to the status quo in the 80’s but it has since become established and, like the other channels, mesmerised with titilating news that makes little difference.
Of course, this provides an opportunity for the people left out to squeeze into the gaps of a fragmenting market...that’s why we’re here. The technology is easier available. Training and organization is the only thing missing to create a true revolution.
So...I have some bad news and good news. The Bad news is I will be away from a connection until Sunday, the 27th. The good news is that I should have some amazing photos...We're on our way to one of the most dense wildlife populations in Africa...
That's a lot of water!
From there, we went to work. I had a commercial to rough out, Todd had DVD interfaces to work on, and Chantal was editing. We put Harvey to taking pictures and working on Voice Over copy. We collected in Hanif’s air conditioned office and worked away. We got the Airport Extreme up and running which made it almost feel like San Francisco :)
The crew at work
In the afternoon, we had lunch at Shafiq’s with his family and one of the community leaders. It was really great to discuss how the US is seen by the rest of the world, and more importantly, by moderate Muslims. It becomes very clear here that our news agencies are failing us. As Americans, we have no idea what’s going on in the rest of the world. We are inundated but the mundane and shielded from reality. I guess it sells but at what cost?
Lunch at Shafiq's
It won’t matter for much longer...the idea of centralized news coverage is not going to persist. The idea of centralized media will be a challenge by itself. There will be so many outlets (through Broadband and other methods) that getting one singular message out will become nearly impossible. It is the Tower of Babel all over again. Just when we think we have the technology to bring everyone together...they will use it to go the other way.
I think part of this is due to the myoptic view that tends to emerge anytime one entity has great leverage. CNN was a challenger to the status quo in the 80’s but it has since become established and, like the other channels, mesmerised with titilating news that makes little difference.
Of course, this provides an opportunity for the people left out to squeeze into the gaps of a fragmenting market...that’s why we’re here. The technology is easier available. Training and organization is the only thing missing to create a true revolution.
So...I have some bad news and good news. The Bad news is I will be away from a connection until Sunday, the 27th. The good news is that I should have some amazing photos...We're on our way to one of the most dense wildlife populations in Africa...
Posted: Sun - July 20, 2003 at 08:49 PM Africa, Summer (Winter) 2003 Email Comments
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Total entries in this blog: 31
Total entries in this category: 31
Published On: Aug 05, 2003 10:45 AM
Total entries in this category: 31
Published On: Aug 05, 2003 10:45 AM