{"id":1572,"date":"2012-07-23T20:29:24","date_gmt":"2012-07-23T20:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/php7.innershed.com:10000\/virtual-server\/link.cgi\/212.71.245.84\/http:\/\/www.connectafrica\/?p=1572"},"modified":"2012-11-03T13:00:10","modified_gmt":"2012-11-03T13:00:10","slug":"exhausted-smiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/?p=1572","title":{"rendered":"Exhausted smiles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re in full expedition mode.\u00a0 Boxes and bags all over the flat, the trailer packed and ready to go, and the film crew here to document the next week too.<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow we head off into more rural Zambia, and set up camp next to one of the Chief\u2019s palaces.\u00a0 Today though, we spent the day in Lusaka interviewing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-director-setup2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1573\" title=\"Filming of Director Soko | Connect Africa | Image\" src=\"http:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-director-setup2-300x179.jpg\" alt=\"film crew | Connect Africa | image\" width=\"300\" height=\"179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-director-setup2-300x179.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-director-setup2-1024x612.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-director-setup2-500x300.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-director-setup2.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>We started with meeting the Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication.\u00a0 Director Soko shared the views of the Government, and how they feel it is important to connect people to information.<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rKwytt26_lE\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We then spent a few hours chatting to Mark Bennett, Managing Director and Clare Stead, Education Director of <a title=\"our blog about iSchool\" href=\"http:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/?p=1538\" target=\"_blank\">iSchool<\/a>. Yet again, I am blown away by this social impact business.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/interview-Mark-live.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1574\" title=\"Interviewing Mark Bennett | Connect Africa | Image\" src=\"http:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/interview-Mark-live-179x300.jpg\" alt=\"Mark Bennett | Connect Africa | image\" width=\"179\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/interview-Mark-live-179x300.jpg 179w, https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/interview-Mark-live.jpg 539w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 179px) 100vw, 179px\" \/><\/a>They shared how their vision it not to create people who can pass an exam, but rather to empower people to become life-long learners and be able to contribute in the world.<\/p>\n<p>We also spoke to Ernst Paul, the Chief Technical Officer of <a title=\"MTN Zambia\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mtnzambia\" target=\"_blank\">MTN Zambia<\/a>, and heard more about their views on getting people in the rural areas connected through mobile phones.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone is onboard to make things happen, now that there is technology and the <a title=\"African undersea cables\" href=\"http:\/\/manypossibilities.net\/african-undersea-cables\/\" target=\"_blank\">fibre optic undersea cable<\/a> infrastructure in place around Africa, which makes it possible. \u00a0These different players echoed Connect Africa\u2019s own views, leaving us all very excited.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-Ernst-MTN-live.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1575\" title=\"Interviewing Ernst Paul, CTO MTN Zambia\" src=\"http:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-Ernst-MTN-live-300x179.jpg\" alt=\"Interview MTN Zambia | Connect Africa | image\" width=\"300\" height=\"179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-Ernst-MTN-live-300x179.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-Ernst-MTN-live-1024x612.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-Ernst-MTN-live-500x300.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Interview-Ernst-MTN-live.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>What we heard today is so promising and positive, we can\u2019t help but go to sleep exhausted, and with a smile on our faces.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>(PS- check out more photos on our <a title=\"Connect Africa Zambia Facebook page\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConnectAfricaZambia\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook page<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><em>Written by Telana Simpson<br \/>\n<em>Date of these interviews: \u00a0Monday 23 July 2012<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re in full expedition mode.\u00a0 Boxes and bags all over the flat, the trailer packed and ready to go, and the film crew here to document the next week too. Tomorrow we head off into more rural Zambia, and set &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/?p=1572\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[28],"tags":[48],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1572"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1577,"href":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572\/revisions\/1577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}