Paperless Society

The biggest culture shock during my first two weeks in Kenya has been not being able to access the internet easily. Cyber cafes are numerous and priced right at 1 Ksh/minute. But not being able to connect my laptop to the internet means I can’t upload photos to this blog and can’t write blogs ahead of time, unless I write them by hand—which is time-consuming to enter. Worst of all, when I’ve written in tiny letters across every blank space on every piece of paper I have at work, I’m told TICH does not have notepads. Nor pens. There is only one printer and we must notify the IT guys to get permission to print. All photocopies are made on the back of already-used copy paper. It’s hard enough not being on the internet—or even on my laptop until a three-prong adaptor was located—but most hard to bear is the lack of blank paper for simple note taking. At least we know TICH, a non-profit, isn’t spending money willy nilly on office supplies.