Buhoma village gets communication centre
Jan 01, 2006
THE rattling sound of a generator lures many strangers entering Buhoma village into thinking that it is a maize mill. It all turns out to be the setting for a telecentre. This is part of the changing face of Buhoma, located on the fringes of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, in southwestern Uganda.
By Gerald Tenywa
THE rattling sound of a generator lures many strangers entering Buhoma village into thinking that it is a maize mill. It all turns out to be the setting for a telecentre. This is part of the changing face of Buhoma, located on the fringes of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, in southwestern Uganda.
The telecentre was recently opened for tourists going to Bwindi and the community. The tourists relish and share the rare experience of encountering mountain gorillas while they are still in the wilderness.
Other than bringing tourists closer to their people, the telecentre has also brightened the prospect of engaging in e-business.
“We no longer have to toil to get in touch with our clients who stay abroad,’’ says Alfred Twinomujuni, who offers guide services to bird watchers.
Local folks were previously starved of amenities. They used to brave the bumpy dusty roads to Kabale, 100km away, to get in touch with the outside world.
But with the advent of tourism, environmental bodies, including Conservation Through Public of Health (CTPH), have brought services nearer the villagers of Buhoma.
The telecentre also offers basic computer training, high-speed wireless internet access, satellite voice telephony and public health campaigns to improve primary health-care for people and animals in and around the protected areas.
“The telecentre was needed for our work in conservation. We needed to build capacity in computer use among the local communities,’’ says Lawrence Zikusoka, the in-charge of information communication technology under CTPH, which came into being about three years ago. CTPH is the brainchild of Zikusoka and his wife, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka.
Kalema, a veterinary doctor, says conservation is not only about wild animals. “We have had incidences where diseases spread from humans to wild animals and vice versa,’’ says Kalema-Zikusoka.
She came face to face with monitoring gorilla health at the Uganda Wildlife Authority, (UWA) where she worked about five years ago.
Companies including utl and Multi-Choice assisted them to set up the technology.
“It allows for revenue generation through e-business, the local people can send e-mails and market their crafts on the internet,’’ Zikusoka says.
The centre is assisted by Makerere University’s Department of Gender to run computer lessons and 30 students have so far graduated from the centre.
Two decades ago, there was little for the communities to show that they were living in one of the most precious gems of the world. They were living in seclusion partly brought about by the hostile mountainous terrain. But thanks to the money minting tourism activities, sturdy houses are fast replacing the huts. The local people are employed as guides, porters, and rangers.
Others have established handicraft shops that sell souvenirs to the tourist. Camps and several countryside tourism resorts were also built at the edge of the thick forest about a decade ago. There is also a supermarket that opened recently.
The telecentre is housed at one end of the village near a health centre. The health centre runs on a generator and also provides power to the telecentre. The telecentre is expected to become more eco-friendly by relying totally on solar energy to run. It is also expected to contribute towards poverty alleviation, address environmental degradation and improve public health.
“We should use the technology to overcome the problems afflicting the local people,’’ said Nabagereka Sylvia Nagginda while launching it recently.
THE rattling sound of a generator lures many strangers entering Buhoma village into thinking that it is a maize mill. It all turns out to be the setting for a telecentre. This is part of the changing face of Buhoma, located on the fringes of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, in southwestern Uganda.
The telecentre was recently opened for tourists going to Bwindi and the community. The tourists relish and share the rare experience of encountering mountain gorillas while they are still in the wilderness.
Other than bringing tourists closer to their people, the telecentre has also brightened the prospect of engaging in e-business.
“We no longer have to toil to get in touch with our clients who stay abroad,’’ says Alfred Twinomujuni, who offers guide services to bird watchers.
Local folks were previously starved of amenities. They used to brave the bumpy dusty roads to Kabale, 100km away, to get in touch with the outside world.
But with the advent of tourism, environmental bodies, including Conservation Through Public of Health (CTPH), have brought services nearer the villagers of Buhoma.
The telecentre also offers basic computer training, high-speed wireless internet access, satellite voice telephony and public health campaigns to improve primary health-care for people and animals in and around the protected areas.
“The telecentre was needed for our work in conservation. We needed to build capacity in computer use among the local communities,’’ says Lawrence Zikusoka, the in-charge of information communication technology under CTPH, which came into being about three years ago. CTPH is the brainchild of Zikusoka and his wife, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka.
Kalema, a veterinary doctor, says conservation is not only about wild animals. “We have had incidences where diseases spread from humans to wild animals and vice versa,’’ says Kalema-Zikusoka.
She came face to face with monitoring gorilla health at the Uganda Wildlife Authority, (UWA) where she worked about five years ago.
Companies including utl and Multi-Choice assisted them to set up the technology.
“It allows for revenue generation through e-business, the local people can send e-mails and market their crafts on the internet,’’ Zikusoka says.
The centre is assisted by Makerere University’s Department of Gender to run computer lessons and 30 students have so far graduated from the centre.
Two decades ago, there was little for the communities to show that they were living in one of the most precious gems of the world. They were living in seclusion partly brought about by the hostile mountainous terrain. But thanks to the money minting tourism activities, sturdy houses are fast replacing the huts. The local people are employed as guides, porters, and rangers.
Others have established handicraft shops that sell souvenirs to the tourist. Camps and several countryside tourism resorts were also built at the edge of the thick forest about a decade ago. There is also a supermarket that opened recently.
The telecentre is housed at one end of the village near a health centre. The health centre runs on a generator and also provides power to the telecentre. The telecentre is expected to become more eco-friendly by relying totally on solar energy to run. It is also expected to contribute towards poverty alleviation, address environmental degradation and improve public health.
“We should use the technology to overcome the problems afflicting the local people,’’ said Nabagereka Sylvia Nagginda while launching it recently.