Hello, I am grateful to SchoolNet Uganda for giving me an opportunity to share my personal testimony. My name is Allen Nansubuga. I work as the Technical Coordinator with SchoolNet Uganda.
I joined SchoolNet Uganda in July 2000 to work on the VSAT pilot to connect 15 rural Ugandan schools to the Internet – the first ever VSAT connectivity project on the Africa continent. Eleven(11) of the 15 schools were to be connected by VSATs and 4 (four) schools were to be connected via onward wireless links from one of the eleven VSATs. This VSAT pilot was being sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Schools Online and World Links for Development program of the World Bank. (A VSAT is a combination of satellite dish + wireless radio that is used to connect computer (s) direct to the Internet).

At the time I joined SchoolNet Uganda, a number of schools (about 10) around Kampala were participating in SchoolNet Uganda activities and were connecting to the Internet via ordinary telephone landlines and modems (radios) and 2 schools that didn’t have ordinary telephone landlines by Uganda Posts & Telecommunications Corporation (UP&TC) were being sponsored Celtel Uganda Ltd for cell phone airtime to dialup to the internet. I remember Mt. St. Mary’s Namagunga was one of them. I know this is common now but at that time in 2000, data-capable phones were scarce and expensive and so was the airtime. At this time also wireless connectivity was possible in the town schools. I found on SchoolNet Uganda’s table an offer for schools to subsidize wireless connectivity equipment by half – courtesy of World Links for Development. I remember schools like Makerere College, Namilyango College, Mengo SS and Nabisunsa Girls benefited from that offer. I am proud to have been part of the wireless connectivities for these schools. Some schools were in what the Telco’s call communication shadows and the time an Internet repeater station was installed by an ISP (Internet Service Provider) for Gayaza High School to benefit from wireless connectivity, the offer at SchoolNet Uganda had expired. So Gayaza looked for full funding to get connected. Even after connecting, Gayaza experienced a connectivity downtime for some months because one ISP decided to amply their Internet signal for better performance and ended up causing destructively interference with other ISP signals in the whole Kampala North Corridor and Gayaza went off!!!. Gayaza solved its connectivity problem only after AFSAT Communications brought their iWAY VSATs on the Ugandan market – in 2002.

I came into SchoolNet Uganda through a highly competitive interview that the World Links for Development officials (Mr. Anthony Bloome and Mr. Robert Hawkins) arranged at Mengo Secondary School. I remember on the interview panel there was Mr. Charles Musisi who was then Director of Uganda Online (now Computer Frontiers International). Uganda online was the official company that World Bank had contracted to give technical support to the schools that were participating in SchoolNet activities. I remember I was very confident at the interview. I had done research on the Internet about this VSAT pilot in the pipeline so I knew who was behind it – just like a brilliant candidate makes relevant research before an interview. Also I knew it was an opportunity to open up a whole world for me which would get me out of the little satellite earth station to work on an international project and become internationally known. This motivated me to do my best at the interview. I had fresh knowledge with VSATs and wireless links that I had gained while working with Sanyutel’s Satellite Earth Station at Naguru Hill which belonged to the late Mr. Thomas Katto. While at Sanyutel Ltd, as Systems Engineer, I led a team with which we set up the first Kampala metropolitan wireless connectivity network using Breezecom spread spectrum products. While on this Sanyutel’s metropolitan connectivity assignment, I with my technical team did all sorts of things from performing site inspections, determining line-of-sight installation points which meant climbing on top of buildings (remember I am an engineer-girl), climbing communication towers to install antennas, configuring the wireless modems, installing clients end  equipment, little did I know that this was preparing me for a great opportunity to lead the Ugandan side of implementing the VSAT pilot. Obviously I was happy to go through Uganda Online’s sieve and the rest of the panel as the most qualified for the pending VSAT pilot assignment.  That is how I got onboard SchoolNet Uganda. 

The VSAT pilot for SchoolNet Uganda ushered in a whole wealth of experiences and opportunities for me. First of all it put me at the forefront as the connectivity expert so I would talk and people would listen right from the World Bank, to Schools Online through the SchoolNet Uganda BOG to the schools, people would listen and consider my recommendations. This really boosted my self esteem and little did I know that it was the beginning. Secondly it was also a hands-on. The joy of taking brand new Pentium III Compaq computers to all this 15 schools and getting it installed on the networks, working with happy teachers and Headteachers is unforgettable. There were exclamations like “Can you imagine this young girl can make this computer in that corner print on that printer in the other room far away?” This was the power of Local Area Networks in rural Ugandan schools.

This VSAT project plus other SchoolNet Uganda projects that I have worked on and are still working on have made me travel through our beautiful country Uganda and reach districts that I probably would never have reached – the list is long — Moroto, Arua, Kabale, Hoima, Iganga, Lira, Soroti, Kumi, Bushenyi, Bugiri, Kiboga, Masindi, Masaka, Mbarara, Luwero, Mbale, Ntungamo, Sironko, not to mention the obvious ones near Kampala. This is one of the many things I value with my time at SchoolNet Uganda – I have traveled widely in Uganda and I have worked with people from many tribes/regions. There are some regions which I visit and want to prolong my stay because of the hospitality and there are regions where I don’t even want to stay but because I must work there, I get to go there).
Talking about work trotting, SchoolNet Uganda has not only given me opportunities for national trotting but I have also trotted on the African continent and other continents. You know it’s always good to do whatever you are doing to the best of your ability and with such diligence and that will be your springboard to higher levels. I always leave no stones unturned when I am working. Sometimes while I do this, I step on people’s toes (school administrations and teachers) but they appreciate me at the end of the day because I always do not want to compromise technical standards.

SchoolNet Uganda has made fly in the skies to various places in-country (to Arua) and out of Uganda to different countries either to short-term work with its partners projects or to participate in conferences. Some of the countries I’ve been to in Africa courtesy of SchoolNet Uganda include Kenya, Rwanda, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zanzibar and Tanzania. The non-African countries I have been to include Washington DC, India, Thailand and Netherlands. Each of my experience in the different countries was unique but the Rwandan one was the most unique one. My first time there, I was in 2002 on a Technology Feasibility tour in Kigali with the then Executive Director of World Links Mr. Sam Carlson, the CEO Mr. Cheik Kante and the National Coordinator or World Links Zimbabwe Mr. Eliada Gudza. I was the connectivity specilalist on the team. While there, I toured  a number of schools including Kigali Institute of Technology for which I designed and costed a campus-wide wireless connectivity solution plus onward connectivity to 10 distance learning centers through out the country Rwanda which was fitted into the overall proposal that World Links submitted as a bid to the donors and won the bid. At first I didn’t know the gravity of the work I was expected to do on this team. It was my first time. But there I was – the connectivity specialist on the team. There was no time for foolery. Mr. Carlson told me “Allen, you must do your best, you make us win or lose the bid, I got your airticket and hotel bills on credit, you now know what it means ….” You can guess that I did not enjoy the subsequent continental breakfasts, the glamorous hotel environment and the beautiful scenery in Kigali city.”  I am proud to have been a useful and effective part of that team. World Links won the bid.

Shortly after I had left Kigali, World Links contacted me again in October 2002 to go back to Rwanda for 3 weeks to carry out a pre-feasibility study for educational technology readiness in all the country’s primary schools in the country Rwanda. There I was, the study was sponsored by USAID-Rwanda. That was another opportunity and an exciting experience again, but very different in nature though on familiar ground. This time I did not need anybody to tell me Allen you do your best. I had to, and I had an opportunity to polish my conversational French language. My special hire driver knew only Kinyarwanda (Rwandan local dialect) and French and no English at all.  The commonest language among us was French. This was to bring in an extra income for me and I thanked SchoolNet Uganda for allowing me to grab that opportunity. The pre-feasibility report was meaningful a tool to World Links and USAID and the government of Rwanda and later, World Links worked to develop computer literacy in Rwanda’s primary schools by providing hardware and training to more than half of all primary schools in Rwanda.  World Links also provided each school with at least one computer equipped with Birchfield Interactive software and Microsoft Office. 

Shortly after that USAID – Rwanda pre – feasibility, in December 2002 World Links contacted me with a request to represent World Bank and SchoolNet Uganda the SATELLITE AND WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY FOR RURAL SCHOOLS AND DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE in Windhoek, Namibia. It was thrilling! This was different from the previous travels and assignments. I had to sign a World Bank Short Term Consultancy contract for 1 week. Part of the deal was that I carry myself as one representing the World Bank. This influenced the clothes that I packed in the travel bag I went with as the dress code had to match the capacity I was in.

SchoolNet Uganda has implemented other successful projects which I am proud to have been part of. These include the VSAT pilot I have already told you about, the Microsoft Unlimited potential (MS-UP) project which was sponsored by again by World Links organization former World Links for Development program of the World Bank) in Washington DC and Microsoft. The MS-UP project was another an exciting one for me which gave me opportunities of interacting with participating schools and their communities setting up Telecenter Management Committees which committees would work towards sustainability of the school computer labs by developing user services for the school communities for offer at a fee basis. There were 15 schools in this MS-UP project. If you wish to know more about it contact the SchoolNet Uganda website at www.schoolnetuganda.sc.ug The project ended 2 year ago and I still know by name all the Telecenter Managers in the participating schools by name (actually on a sad note one of them passed away just a month ago – the late Ogono Dradria of NTC Muni). This project widened my pool of friends that I am passionate about. Yes the funding ended but the MS-UP continued on individual school-level. MS-UP project came with management training for Telecenter managers who were teachers. It also came with Technical capacity building training for telecenter support staff (teachers and students) and a good number of the beneficiaries have moved on to greener pastures courtesy of SchoolNet Uganda. I am proud to be part of their moving to greener pastures.

Other SchoolNet Uganda projects that I am very passionate about are the World Starts With Me (WSWM) project, the Inspiring Science Education for Girls using ICT project, The Refurbished Computers project, the Content Creation project and the UCC sponsored School Based Telecenters project. The common things with all these projects is that they make me work, work, work; they have gotten me many friends, they have made me shake hands and sit at high tables with the big shots in the country, they have taken me to the media in form of news clips and they have generally added value to my status. People have given me all sorts of names – some call me Ms SchoolNet; some call me Ms World Starts with Me; many do not even bother to know my real names but they have my mobile phone number stored in their phonebooks, I guess some store it as “Refurbs” which points to the successful SchoolNet Uganda’s refurbished computers project which is also ongoing.
My best moments in SchoolNet Uganda is when I have designed projects and the suggested equipment with the exact technical specifications in my design makes sense and works perfectly and pulls through well beyond the equipment warranty period.  One of such is when I bought the Infocus 2600 LCD projectors for SchoolNet Uganda’s VSAT pilot activities in 2000 and they worked till the very end of their lamp life in 2004.

My worst moments are when I get buried into SchoolNet Uganda’s administration tasks and I fail to get my hands onto technology innovations. But still it has the good side that I continue to build administrative skills and SchoolNet Uganda has continued to give me the opportunity.

Thank you SchoolNet Uganda for all the opportunities and learning experiences that I have benefited from.
One area that I would like SchoolNet Uganda to continue engaging in is to create internship opportunities that are win-win i.e. the intern wins and SchoolNet Uganda wins especially in research and developing practical ICT solutions for the rural schools which SchoolNet Uganda would work with the Intern even after the internship has expired to further the development.