For some reason, as my time in Africa is drawing to an end, I am remembering the end of the book, The Little Prince. At the end, the narrator, the Pilot who had crash-landed in the Sahara Desert and encountered the Little Prince, is left wondering . The Little Prince has returned to his planet (via the fox, who has killed him) – and the Pilot realizes that when he drew a muzzle for the Little Prince’s sheep, he didn’t include a buckle or something. So he wonders if the sheep will get loose, eat the Little Prince’s Rose, or if The Little Prince will remember to take care of the Baobab trees etc. (This is the best I can draw from my memory.)
Anyhow, I am similarly having these thoughts – once I leave Africa:
Will Saul the Accountant manage to migrate his Excel Accounting spreadsheet into QuickBooks when his fiscal year begins, in July?
Will Mr. Chitete and the ladies be able to do their own computer work, freeing up Anold so he doesn`t have to work so hard?
Will the MCP Supervisors continue to work on their websites?
Will the CRWRC staff remember how to compress pictures so they can upload them faster?
It is strange to be in a place that I never expected to be in, and to meet people, who, logic tells me, I should never have met, and to now be leaving, and all these students, whom I likely will never see again –their lives will continue, and the things I have taught them – what difference will these lessons have made? I will leave but what am I leaving behind – is there any permanence in what I have done here? Have I made a material difference here – change, even if on a small scale? And how does computer literacy help Africa, anyway?
Wondering, I am.
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