SchoolNet @ WSIS !

While the world has seen contrasting pictures of the UN World Summit on the Information Society held in Tunisia this week - Nicholas Negroponte's US$100 laptop on the one hand, and the repression of Tunisia's civil society on the other - SchoolNet Namibia has been in the global news with its award-winning Hai Ti! comic and OpenLab, the African home-grown open source software and content SchoolNet uses to provide affordable computers and internet access to schools in Namibia.

SchoolNet is part of the official 17-member Namibian delegation to WSIS, headed by the Rt Hon. Deputy Prime Minister Dr Libertine Amathila, accompanied by the Hon. N. Nandi-Ndaitwah, Minister of Information and Broadcasting and other high-ranking government officials.

SchoolNet has drawn enormous attention with its colorful stand, handing out free OpenLab software and Hai Ti! comics to the thousands of delegates who poured into the ICT4ALL exhibition running in parallel to the formal UN plenaries and debates held behind tightly secured doors at the Parc des Expositions du Kram in Tunis.

Situated among corporate giants Microsoft, Sun, Nokia, Alcatel and Symantec, the SchoolNet Namibia exhibition stand served as a cool haven for Namibian delegates needing to check up on the Namibian news, send and receive email and track various bits of lost luggage with international airlines. High-powered visitors to the SchoolNet stand included Mark Shuttleworth, software billionaire and Africa's first astronaut, who was enthralled by Hai Ti! and the great team of SchoolNet staff at the stand.

As of 18 November, 19,401 participants had passed through the ICT4All exhibition, including some 5,857 government officials from 174 countries, 6,241 delegates representing 606 Civil Society Organisations, and 4,816 representatives from 226 private sector entities! There were also 979 members of the international media.

Some memorable pictures bring home the value of having SchoolNet represented at this UN world summit ...

Dr Amathila checking the Namibian news online at the SchoolNet stand. (larger 760pixel-wide image)

Mark Shuttleworth with Ebben Hatuikulipi, SchoolNet technical coordinator.(larger 760pixel-wide image)


Hustle and bustle at the exhibition stand.(larger 760pixel-wide image)


Proudly Namibian! (larger 760pixel-wide image)


More hustle and bustle! (larger 760pixel-wide image)


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