The world is blessed with many countries filled with professionals who see it as part of their responsibility as a professional in their field (engineering, medicine, law) to help those disadvantaged in that field. We have Doctors without Borders, Engineers without Borders, pro bono work, the examples of which are numerous beyond belief. We have teachers who come abroad and share their experience. We have community development workers; public health volunteers. This list could continue for ever due to the sheer number of volunteers that work in the world.

Yet I have a feeling that even if the list were to continue ad infinitum, there would be a sector of the modern global economy that is vastly under represented by professionals sharing their experience. It has been the long held belief that the ICT sector of the global economy is to be a market-driven sector with minimal influence from pro bono volunteer work. Such is how it developed in the West, so why should it be any different here in Africa? All I can say to that, is like all other sectors of development, from medicine to education to law to the sciences, there are disparities in the ability of African Market to drive ICT change compared to the Western Market of thirty and forty years ago that fostered ICT growth in those nations.

Some would argue that recent ICT developments in the region would contradict what I have just stated. After all, Mombasa has just been the site of landing for the new Fibre-Optic Sea Cable, and what about mobile phones. There are more mobiles per capita here in Kenya then in other parts of the world easily. These two arguments represent two different problems surrounding ICT in Kenya, and I will respond to each separately.

First the Fibre-Optic Cable (FOC). The FOC certainly represents the dawn of a new age of connectivity in East Africa. This is without a doubt. However, it is also the epitome of the Trickle-Down Theory which has not been working here. In short, my understanding of the Trickle-Down Theory is that if you grant enough benefit to the top of the socio-economic sphere, then they will use their capital and goodwill to create beneficial development situations for the rest of the nation. I hate to break it to everyone, but that theory doesn't seem to be working too well. Sure, Kenya has a very well-off economic elite. They seem to be a bit lacking in goodwill and the only trickling I am noticing is the tears they shed on public television for those dying of famine while they go home to their mansions and servants and steaks. We all know the scene, I will not harp on it.

I will not deny that the FOC will bring about lower access fees for everyone who is able to overcome the initial hurdle of getting a machine to access the internet in the first place. This brings up the second fallacy of the trickle-down theory. It does not work when the personal computer industry of the world is geared towards a Western Middle Class, where spending $500 on a laptop is seen as a necessity. This is not the case here in Kenya. That is food money for months for the farmers and fundis who will benefit most from e-commerce and access to Internet resources on a regular basis.

The West's solution to this has been to ship us the has been computers of yesteryear. I will actually defend the resurrection of used computers, especially since many of them were built to higher quality standards than modern machines. However, the current ICT mantra for personal computer use in Kenya seems solidly built around Microsoft Windows. The versions of Windows that will run on relic machines is unsuitable for a modern, Internet-connected personal computer. Yet where is the call for teaching Linux, a far more malleable operating system kernel for running on older hardware? Where is the demand for functionality over form? Where are the home-grown, appropriate chip solutions? Where is the education that clone machines can be just as good as branded, and in fact more appropriate. Where are the Intel Atom and Mini-ITX low-power, low-cost solutions? There is trickle down that could work! Why is it not happening. Why must we bring the masses up to the level of being able to pay 45,000 /- to access the Internet and engage in a world community when solutions could exist for fractions of the cost. Most importantly, where is the evangelism in the rural communities to phase out Windows before it even gets there. These solutions could have even existed before the FOC, yet they didn't. The FOC is the ultimate representation of a failed theory.

As for Mobile Phones. The market penetration of mobile phones is simply astounding. Yet this is not a shock. The mobile phone industry has succeeded where the personal computer industry has failed. It has applied the principals of the trickle down theory admirably. Handset manufacturers re-purposed old hardware designs from Western models and re-branded them to great success. They maintained older operating systems with minimal updates to keep abreast of current network technologies. And most importantly they created a gradated system of hardware where one can still remind others of their socio-economic superiority without denying the masses access to the same basic services and dignity. We cannot escape our own humanity, but that does not mean we need to deny anothers'. In general, phones are also much simpler beasts than personal computers. Almost all Kenyans are able to phone and SMS, yet as soon as one starts talking about connecting to data networks and using apps such as GMail and Opera Mini, how much of the culture is participating now?

Where am I going with all of this? Well, the same place everyone else has gone before me (at least amongst the circle of individuals most likely to read this). I put out a call for volunteers in the Tech Industry to step up. I call for professionals to get out of their cubicles and teach people how to click a mouse. Or if that is not for you, prove the viability of low cost personal computer technology. Evangelize Linux. Promote open standards so that the fledgling Kenya artist is distributing in Ogg or FLAC and not MP3. Design web sites pro bono. Set up low cost, in country, hosting solutions. Enable data connections on people's mobile phones and teach them the benefits and low-cost solutions to accessing the internet. Develop a rural e-economy pro bono. Do all of this now, so that later, we may experience the Trickle-Up Theory: nobody can guess the potentials of each unique human mind, but by fostering a pro bono ICT volunteer community, we can at least enable more individuals to reach that potential, whatever it may be.