FUNNY PAGES

The not-for-profit group SchoolNet Namibia [1] learned the hard way that narrowing the digital divide is not done simply by providing schools in developing countries with computers running open source software and some basic training. When trainers left the schools after the two-month training period, most of the computers collected dust, mainly because the teachers – mostly women – would not use them. To remedy the situation, SchoolNet Namibia, in cooperation with the comic artists of Strika Entertainment [2], The Namibian newspaper [3], and the Johannesburg-based South African Linux distributor OpenLab International [4], launched “Hai Ti!”, a comic strip that recently turned two years old. The comic strip title means “Listen up!” in the Namibian language Oshiwambo.