Joachim Breitner

Bringing Free Software to Ghana

Published 2006-07-15 in sections English, Ghana.

In less than a month, I'll be flying for one year to Ghana, where I was offered a job as a teacher and network administrator at an International College in Tema. The school wants to get started using Free Software and so Ralph Amissah, a fellow Debian Developer, asked me if I'm interested. I was, so I got the job.

I don't know yet my exact tasks there, and I don't know yet if I can make a difference, but if I can, I'll try to spread the word about Free Software. In my opinion, Free Software can play a role in giving a country like Ghana technological independence and allows for their own developments in this area. My favourite Linux distribution will be Debian, of course, and I'll keep you, especially on planet.debian.org, updated on my progress.

I have orginially looked for a project in the developing world to work on after my Abitur (German Highschool Diploma), but I haven't found something in time, so I started my studies in mathematics and computer science. Last year at DebConf 5, I talked with a few people about things to do to fight the Digital Divide, including Kurt Gramlich, Mark Shuttleworth and Ralph, who contacted my in the winter. @Ralph: Thank you!

Note that the non-technical reports are blogged in German and won't appear on the planet, so if you're interested, see my blog directly. Pictures will appear at the usual place.

Comments

Congratulations and good luck with the job. May the Debian word spread around the world :)
#1 petteri am 2006-07-15

Have something to say? You can post a comment by sending an e-Mail to me at <mail@joachim-breitner.de>, and I will include it here.