High Speed Internet Comes to Africa

Internet in Africa (Click Map to See Larger Image)

The headlines shout: “East Africa Gets High Speed Internet Access” and “Africa: High Speed Internet in Key to Economic Development.” These headlines herald the potential of Africa finally being able to truly connect to the internet on a broad basis.  Historically, everyday access to to the internet has been spotty and expensive at best, and non-existent at worst.  According to statistics from Internet World Stats website, internet usage penetration into the general populus is 6.7% with only 0.2% of the available access via broadband.  This is compared to the world average of 25%, with North America leading the way at 74% and Europe at 50%.  So the advent of the SeaCom fiber internet cable, many are predicting that this will shortly change.  In anticipation of the final connections that took place last month, nations like Kenya have been laying cable to establish high-speed connectivity to all of the major population centers.  However, there are others who question the overall impact for the average African living in the rural villages that dominate the continent.  While much work is going in to set up the communication infra-structure, the basic electricity infra-structure is still a major question.  According to a recent study conducted by the International Energy Initiative, rural electrification on the African continent is only at 17%.  Furthermore, of that 17%, many sections are nit reliable.  In fact, recent reports from western Kenya indicate that electricity rationing during the daylight hours may become a reality.  So, while promise of high-speed internet access may be exciting, there is still a long way to go.

So, some of you may be asking, “What does all this have to do with missions and leadership development?”  Well, I can think of at least two connections, and I am sure that others could think of many more.  First, consistent high-speed internet would be a boon for missionaries and mission agencies ministering in Africa.  One of the problems facing missionaries from time out of memory is the inability to communicate with and share information with one’s sending agency and supporters.  Wide-spread internet access would make life much easier in many regards.  Second, reliable internet access has the potential to open new avenues for training and education.  Some have advocated the use of the internet to deliver leadership development training from Western universities.  They argue that this would significantly increase the availability of training while cutting costs at the same time.  However, in my opinion, such a plan is fraught with dangers and pitfalls for the two-thirds world church.  Such a plan assumes that you can take training program designed fro a Western classroom and just drop it into any setting regardless of the cultural context.  Not only is such a view patently false, it is dangerous the to health of the indigenous churches whose leaders are being training.  However, this technology does offer hope, provided that a slight modification is made.  Specifically, we should use the internet to deliver the training, but the instruction should come from African instructors and institutions.  That way, there is at least a chance that the training will be culturally appropriate and useful.

As with any new technology, it is equally possible to use it for good or bad – to hurt or harm.  The internet is no different.  Properly used, as many have noted before, the internet can be used to great advantage in building the Kingdom of God.  As with all technology, it is critical that it be appropriate for the setting.  Just as teaching subsistence farmers how to run an modern industrial farm will not bring about sustainable agricultural improvements, training pastors over the internet must also be proper contextualized and viable for the long term needs of the Church.