We traveled to Kibuye for Christmas with our friends Randy and Alice Matthewson, who in their retirement serve as volunteer missionaries to the Congo for six or more months per year. (Randy is an engineer, and oversees a lot of construction projects.) Alice had recently purchased a modem for internet access, which she reported worked well on the HAU campus, and surprisingly, also at Kibuye in Burundi and Nundu in the Congo (both located in remote areas).
On our return to Bujumbura after Christmas, we stopped en route back to campus and I purchased two modems from LEO, the major internet provider here, for our own use and for other visiting faculty.
I paid $30 for each modem which, on a holiday promotion, also includes 7 days of unlimited internet access. Thereafter, one adds time/units using the same scratch cards used by all LEO cell phones here. These are (comparatively) very low cost: I do not expect to use more than $10 worth over the next three weeks.
We have used such modems previously, before HAU acquired internet access (which, as reported in an earlier blog, is no longer functional). Around here, they are lovingly referred to by the ex-pats as “gizmos.” The current one is made in China: it is very simple to install, and works VERY well.
My plan is for these two modems to be passed along to other visiting faculty. Five visitors are arriving this week, to teach in the January interterm; others will follow in February and March, etc.
The modem (“gizmo”) is an excellent solution to the problem of internet access because it allows for access from anywhere on campus 24/7. I am very pleased with this solution!
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