Field Trip: Virtual Africa

An overview of the continent

Meeting up at the landing point

Miriam Makeba memorial

Lady Jeanette and Lady Medussa on drums

Our hostesses Lady Aayia and Lady Alanagh at the theatre area

Yesterday we had our first field trip and I think I suprised everyone by taking them to Virtual Africa. There are a few different African sims in SL but this one is special. Virtual Africa is a project under http://www.uthango.org/ with a goal towards increasing online accessibility for Africans. This project is suffering under some financial strain and the following information about the program has been distributed. If you are able to support this great project, please donate what you can.

From the Virtual Africa info card:

In November 2009, we were invited to Egypt to the United Nations Internet Governance Forum via the Virtual Policy Network in the UK (http://www.virtualpolicy.net/) to talk about our project and learning in virtual worlds since 2007. Being there, I realised again that it is indeed the COMMUNITY that makes or breaks an initiative. With a donation of 40 minutes of your time we will be able to strengthen our community considerably:

Firstly,

OUR GROUP(s)

We would like to invite you to subscribe to our "Africa in Virtual Worlds" SUBSCRIBOMATIC group if you have not done so already. For the first time, we now have more members in THIS group, than in 'Second Life Africa' itself. You can, of course, remain in both but we highly recommend taking the TP below and clicking.

Where? Visit our Orientation Hut at VIRTUAL AFRICA and click the orange poster to check if you are subscribed. Be careful not to UNsubscribe if that is not the intention:

Needed: 4 minutes of your time.

Also follow us in Twitter: http://twitter.com/virtualafrica

Needed: 2 minute of your time.

Secondly,

UPCOMING DECEMBER EVENTS

We have been asked to consider a benefit towards our project and organisation (uthango.org) in Second Life during middle December. It will entail live MUSIC at some beautiful regions in SL with the aim to introduce you to some other African organisations, and raise funds for our virtual worlds' project. We will keep you posted, but would like to request your support in attending. Please join us? We will notify you via the groups, but if you want to get more involved, feel free to contact lynsey Fleury or Debs Regent inSL.

Needed: 30 minutes of your time.

Thirdly,

SURVEY on UTHANGO's African Bicycle Project in Second Life

We are in the process of evaluating our bicycle project which was started late 2007. It was such interesting experience. We request your assistance with evaluating its influence and impact to date. Even if you did not participate, but vaguely know about the project, or the bicycle, or Uthango, we request that you tick some boxes. Of course, the project is not concluded yet. We will keep you updated if anything changes from the beneficiary's side. Read more about it via the online form, here:

http://uthango.wufoo.com/forms/uthango-african-bicycle-insl-survey/

Needed: 4 minutes of your time.

And Finally,

CURRENT STATUS (HEALTH CHECK OF VIRTUAL AFRICA REGION)

It has been VERY difficult for land owners to hang onto property and communities in these times. Transparency is always more important than pretending (often nothing other than ego) that all is good and well. We know, if we trust our community, they will trust us. This is what we strongly believe. So, let us share with you that our Linden Lab account is NOT 100% up to date and it is worrying that we are currently behind with payment of tiers due to not having raised all the necessary funds yet. Understandably, we are not allowed to use finance from another project for our virtual worlds' initiative. It is serious and we may have to close down or scale down drastically for a while unless we are able to fund the initiative via SL for the next 6 months' cycle. Of course, we will find a way to pay all accounts as soon as possible, and the benefit events planned for December will go towards our account. So, please join us at these events if you can.

We find it tough to maintain our presence consistantly in Second Life - despite almost 3000 visitors a month now. One of the main challenges is the financial implication for an African-based nonprofit and its staff to be here. We also need more volunteers at our region to receive visitors and take them around. Please drop Alanagh Recreant (me) a notecard if interested.

For your Information - and because we were asked recently to share more details about this specific challenge that we face. Some anecdotal reports maintain that internet accessibility for an individual in Africa costs about 300 times compared to that in most European countries. We consider it a luxury to play a YouTube video or use Skype, for instance. The DIRECT cost (excluding human resources, e.g my time) for our participation in Second Life can be broken down as follows PER MONTH as per invoices received:

Connectivity: ADSL Line (telephone company) > R650,00 (87 USD)

Bandwidth: Data Down/Upload via Satelite > minimum R2100,00 (280 USD) or (9.33 USD a day!)

Tier for the 4 Sims: R3210,00 (428 USD) or (2568 USD over 6 months)

Estate Management: R0,00 (Pro Bono)

TOTAL MONTHLY Direct Costs (minimum): R5 960,00 or 795 USD or 214 560 Linden Dollar

Note: This is the equivalent of salaries for two junior staff members each month - working directly in pro-poor community projects. So, as a public benefit company registered in South Africa, we have to justify the value of our virtual worlds project every so often to ourselves and to our beneficiaries. To date, we have been able to do so based on the enormous advocacy value. We will never just 'up and leave' Second Life, but will always evaluate the level and scope of our project here.

We thank you for all your support to date. Your linden dollars (donations) dropped into the small hippo here 􀀁 or directly onto WILBERFORCE RAU really DO make a difference, because it all adds up.

In November, we had donations to the total of L$ 52 687 (195 USD) covering 24.5% of our direct expenses as mentioned above. A large portion of this was due to an event hosted by Pipsqueak Albatros, so we know that events benefiting Virtual Africa could be part of the solution. We invite you to be in touch if you have something like this in mind, or want to convert an existing performance into a benefit.

We wish you a good Christmas Season and Peaceful Holiday.

We will remain in touch. We also believe in permission-based information-sharing. Kindly let us know if you want to be removed from our groups, and we do so with immediate effect. We hope you decide to remain with us on our journey. We are ALWAYS open to your feedback and comments.

Feel Free to Pass on this Notecard.

Warm Regards

Alanagh Recreant in SLUthango Social Investments
Project: http://www.meta-africa.com/

Organisation: http://www.uthango.org/

FaceBook Group: UTHANGO
~ any Donations to WILBERFORCE RAU only; please consider a notecard or IM accompanying any contributions
Ps: Why not rent a stall or a shop at the African MarketPlace for as little as 200 Linden Dollars a week (36 prims)? Contact Aayia Jun via notecard for all rentals.