The Last Lab!

Today (Thursday), the Tech For Africa team finished setting up our last lab at the Universite Catholique d’ Afrique Centrale in Yaounde. The lab consists of 11 computers, a digital camera and one laser printer.

The University was founded in 1989 and today has over 1,400 students. Many of the students are studying business administration, like our SIFE team. Before today, the campus had only four working computers with Internet. Now they have 15, more than tippling the previous number. The students said they would use the computers to research information for classes and to pursue their masters.

After we set up the lab, we had the official handing-over of the computers to the school, followed by a tour of the campus and lunch with some of the students. After lunch, we held a presentation about entrepreneurship and business ethics and how the students can use the computers to learn more about both.

The students were grateful for the computers and had many good questions about our presentations including how to get a loan for a business and what kind of interest rates there were as well as how faith affected business ethics.

After the end of our presentation, we left to meet with Ambassador Janet E. Garvey, the United States Ambassador to Cameroon. She welcomed us to the embassy and for the first time in almost a week, we were on U.S. soil and felt air conditioning, a welcome change to the local climate.

Our session with the Ambassador lasted over an hour, during which time we discussed our project, how it can help the country of Cameroon, what role the embassy has in the Cameroonian government and what opportunities would be available to students who wished to work with the embassy and foreign affairs. No outside cameras were allowed in the embassy but after our meeting we had a group picture with Ambassador Garvey, which should be posted on their website: http://yaounde.usembassy.gov/ in the next couple of days.

Although all the labs have been set up, and tonight is our last night in Cameroon, we are not yet done! Tomorrow morning we will pack and head back to the Universite Catholique d’ Afrique Centrale to meet one-on-one with some students and talk about how they can best use the computers and keep in touch with us in the U.S. Then we will leave for Douala and a 11:55 p.m. flight to Zurich and on to America!

Thank you to the U.S. Embassy in Yaounde for sending us this picture of the team with Ambassador Garvey.