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The desert is alive…
Plock, Plock… "Uuuaaahhh! What's that noise? Shoot, and it is even Saturday morning!" I realize after staring at my alarm clock for a few minutes. "What's that sound??" Plock, Plock, Plock. "Hm, sounds like rain!" "But no, that cannot be. After all, I am in the desert." However, the noise does not stop and it REALLY sounds a lot like rain. So I half stand, half fall out of bed and lurch over to my door. I open it and stare into the vastness of the gravel plains with nothing to see except rocks and gravel up to the horizon. But today the desert looks indeed different because it rains. Yep, it rains in the desert. As I struggle with this realization the rain gets stronger and stronger. Soon, a burst of raindrops hails down on me and I wonder why no one had told me to take an umbrella with me. Laughing at the thought of someone carrying an umbrella and walking in the dunes, I stroll back to bed and go to sleep.
Rain does not occur very often in the desert and while I am writing this, it has rained twice already, which has not happened in more than ten years. One time we got about 5mm and the other 6mm. I was told that if we get about 11mm of rain the tiny patches of grass grow scattered across the gravel plain.
The digital world is ours…
"No, I don't believe you!" Every single person on the station replied with this answer as I triumphantly proclaimed, "I made Internet!" A tingling sensation comparable to the feeling of Tom Hanks' "Cast Away" character as he triumphantly shouted, "I made fire", rushed through my veins. Well, actually the triumph is shared among three people; Em Westergaard, Mark Lundgren and myself.
In order to understand why it is so remarkable that Gobabeb now has an open-line, I have to delve a little bit into the history of the Internet at Gobabeb. So, once upon a time, now barely remembered as ages swept past, continents changed, and races of men were born, blossomed and died again, there was an idea. This idea was called 24/7 open-line Internet connection at the Gobabeb Training and Research Centre. Em Westergaard initiated the process and inquired with the Namibian Telecom if it is possible to get an open-line. Gobabeb used to have a dial-up 9.8kbit (yes that is kbit not kbyte) connection. The rate was 1NA$ per minute, which is quite substantial given that currently 6NA$ are 1US$. Telecom has a monopoly on any kind of satellite connection so we are entirely dependent on their assistance. I am not quite sure what the answer was that Em got but my interaction with Telecom allow me to boldly state that it was something like this: "We will get back to you!" And I assume further, based again on my empi
rical "Telecom interaction" data, that they never called back and that Em desperately tried to get any information out of them. But the answer was probably always, "We will get back to you!" Days pass, weeks pass, years pass and now Mark, heir of Em's legacy, took up the challenge. He actually succeeded in getting Telecom to make a preliminary offer complete with technical specifications: a 32kbit open-line. However, even Mark was unable to have Telecom come down to Gobabeb to inspect the system and make appropriate suggestions. When I arrived, Mark asked me to try to get the Telecom to install the system. So decided to be persistent and called Telecom every Monday morning. Thus my usual conversation with Helen, the Gobabeb administrator were like this:
Me: I need the telephone.
Helen: Oh, Telecom again, heh?
Me: Yep, as usual.
Helen: You will get it this time.
Me (ironic): Oh, sure.
So after calling the Telecom more or less every week for about 4 months straight, a Telecom car finally arrived and they installed a beautiful 28.8kbit open line. After some further hassle with the system, Gobabebians now have the digital world at their feet (although it is still slow).
The story may go on, in which some future brave Grinnell IT fighter searches for a faster connection, but for now, the chapter is closed.
Gerald, could you please…
This sentence is more or less a daily phrase. Generally, the sentence takes one of two possible roads. Either it takes me a few seconds or minutes because it is an IT problem or it turns into a long-term project about writing something or fixing some major network problem. As I started in Gobabeb, I was wondering what exactly I am supposed to do there all the time. After six months, I am responsible for a lot of different kinds of things and I have learned to prioritize among my tasks. Unlike Grinnell, where all your work is strictly academic, you have to jump between different work modes in Gobabeb. You may have to write something, or go into the field or fix IT problems. Work varies a lot and it is mainly connected to the presence of the director, for whom I kind of act as a personal assistant; at least, I sometimes feel that way. One of the major problems with the job is a certain lack of support, which is either due to time-constraints or people simply cannot help you. I put this section into the quarterl
y report because I want to make future applicants aware of some of the difficulties that you will encounter in this job. Be aware that people in Namibia will try to use you in many ways. Sometimes you will have to do tasks, which you feel you are not qualified for or have absolutely no idea on how to do. This is the point when frustration sets in and you will experience the aforementioned lack of support.
For example, someone is given the job to make a scientific poster on fog harvesting. Ultimately, you can be sure that the job will be yours to do. You have no knowledge about fog harvesting and no one is available to help you or give you information. Slowly you discover that there are no data available because someone did not set up the equipment to collect data. On the other hand, you are expected to deliver a first class poster, which will be presented at an international symposium. Furthermore, more pressure will be put on you because you are told that the Gobabeb poster presented at the last meeting three years ago won the best poster prize. Now you are stuck with no data, no help but expected to do a miracle. If you now feel that this is crazy then you get a glimpse of how I felt. In the end everything was fine but if you consider applying for this position please be aware of these problems and challenges.
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