"Request for Help in Responding to Requests for Information from Students who have limited access to the Internet."

The title of this post might be reframed as "Here are some Requests for Help from teachers who are Responding to Requests for Information from Students in another country who have limited access to the Internet."   Some of my readers might recall that I worked in Kenya for 15 months (1981-82) and I've kept in touch with some people on the Continent.  Here's a curious situation that has arisen in a neighboring country...

Dear Steve,

I have to open your eyes.  Being a worker here in this nation is quite difficult from the USA, since the salary we earn is not enough to get real access to the Internet.  

We have internet access but we are able to download just a few MEGABYTES each month and the connection is terrible, brother, believe me...  A few of us have opened an account in facebook and in other social media networks, but we are not able to check these accounts everyday...sometimes it takes time downloading something and you have to search for something good, so at the end of the day we use up our allotment for that month.   Then we have to wait 29 days to have more internet connection.

In my work, I'm always looking for a good price for things my company needs to buy, but the company is controlling how much time I use the Internet because the government makes it so expensive to use the internet.

There are sites which are forbidden too

Please do not spread this information to others saying that I opened your eyes!

The same thing happens with the grants to go to conferences and seminars and workshops in other countries outside my country.  To travel abroad for seminars about purchasing (as you know, I'm a purchasing agent) we are not able to know what are the offers, so when we apply, it is too late.  There is a purchasing agent certification, but my boss does not allow me to go to any workshop for continuing education.  He did not go to university, so he is jealous, i think, of my degree.   The company tells us about the opportunity at the last moment, which I think is an strategy of the system to pretend that they give us opportunities but the time is not enough to plan a trip.

Please do not tell that to anyone.  -- Ikendu (last name withheld)  Joåo lives in an African nation...

So, how can teenagers (who have the time on their hands and the skill to use the Internet) help someone like Ikendu?

1.  download manuals about purchasing agents and put the manuals and trade magazine articles on DVD and send the DVD to Ikendu by postal system, labeling the DVD as "Instructional Videos."

2.  get permission of Ikendu to download items from his Facebook account, email the requests or replies, and then posting whatever he wants to post in reply to the reply.

3.  Who knows what else?  Teens are digital natives and I'm just an immigrant.  

Best wishes to Ikendu.  I'm looking for people who might help you.

If you want to help people connect to the Internet, contact me  TheEbookman@gmail.com.