The Latest News From REMCU

Friends of REMCU

2009-02-25T00:46:00.000-08:00

There will be more substantial updates to the blog in the near future but until then I wish to draw some attention over next few weeks to some of the informal promotion attempts by supporters of the REMCU effort.They are not official efforts by REMCU itself but a fanbase of well intentioned people trying to spread the word.

The spotlight today is on "Friends of REMCU" which is a group (fan club) on the popular social networking sites of Facebook and Myspace.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10249327916

http://groups.myspace.com/helpafricaradio

"Friends of REMCU" say in the following months they will be making artwork to donate to REMCU to help in fund raising as well as creating slideshows or videos on popular site youtube to increase awarness.

A reminder that every individual can help to increase awarness of REMCU and create thier own fan groups or place links directly to REMCU.ORG on thier myspace or facebook profiles.

Radio E-mail Communication ,proven in the field

2008-06-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

Radio E-mail Communication, a reliable technology.

Recently in Africa, "Medical teams International" found that the cell system had failed and was down for several days during a site visit in April 2008.Without communication it would have been impossible for them to organise.

Simply ...communications makes things possible.

A copy of a message sent from a relieved REMCU user to "Medical teams International"

Sorry, we cannot talk over the cell phone, the network system is down. It has been like this since last week. Please be prepared for poor communication with the rest of the world when you get here. However, it is a blessing to have radio e-mail! Otherwise, with the network down we would not be able to communicate at all.

African Expedition!

2008-06-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

A special notice from the REMCU team concerning the latest African Expedition!

"Finally! We're Going back to Zambia!

We've decided to take a leap of faith and commit to going back to Zambia in mid August to upgrade and expand our REM system.We don't yet have our budget fully funded, but we feel strongly that we must go during the current dry season.

As plans now stand, Nzola & Rob will leave August 14th, and be away 5, 6, or 7 weeks, depending on how much more funds come in between now and then.

Help us install more systems at medical clinics and high schools!
Please visit the Donations page and donate to REMCU via
http://www.CanadaHelps.org

Sincerely, - Nzola, Rob & Trever

1st Annual REMCU Flea Market in Review !

2008-05-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

1st Annual REMCU Flea Market Summary:
In the last couple of months an official club has formed at Schneider Electric calling themselves the "REMCU Supporters." They were instrumental in providing volunteer effort for the Gospel Choir benefit concert, and in their first attempt at a fund-raiser they ran with a benefit flea market - "Sell your Junk from your Trunk!"

Their plan was to "borrow" the Schneider Electric parking lot, and rent the parking spaces to folks with stuff to sell for those who do not want to go to the effort of running their own garage sale, or who live in an apartment and can not have a garage sale, etc.

For additional revenue the REMCU Supporters decided to run a concession, rent tables, and try to sell some donated books, old CRT computer monitors, and fresh Level Ground coffee from the fair trade coffee organization.

The REMCU directors decided this might be a great opportunity to demonstrate radio email to the public too.

Great effort was made to advertise the sale. Flyers were put up around the three closest communities (Keating, Brentwood Bay , Central Saanich ), email chains started, ads put in the local paper and the three most popular free ad web sites, and even the very popular local radio announcer, Ed Bain of 100.3 The Q, agreed to spread the word.

Unfortunately, the weather forecasters kept changing their minds on what Saturday April 19 would be like, and then it SNOWED!! In Victoria , in April, it snowed. Well, we had to postpone. So volunteers went around all three communities and updated the flyers, called The Q and got the word out again.

Saturday April 26th was beautiful, warm and sunny! We had a few less sellers than originally scheduled, but the buyers kept coming and coming. Buyers, sellers and volunteers alike had a great time.

The food concession was the big money maker (~$325), followed by stall/table rentals (~$275), and books (~$100). On the flip side, nobody wanted a CRT (not a shock), and Level Ground coffee did not sell well at all (a shock, 85 bags left over).

The live demonstration went well and many people emailed themselves over the radio waves from the Schneider parking lot. Donations related to the event are still coming in; more than $200 thus far.

REMCU really wants to thank everyone who came out - those who came to volunteer, sell, buy, and/or check out the demo. Special thanks to Schneider Electric for their continued support, and to The Q for helping to get the word out.

On a last note, we have lots of coffee for sale! If you would like to support us by buying some please email Trever.Blair@remcu.org and we can make arrangements to get you as much as you want! :)

Start planning now to "Sell your Junk from your Trunk" again next year!

Benefit Concert follow up

2008-04-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all that attended the March 15th "Eric Dozier and the One Human Family Gospel Choir Benefit Concert" at Lambrick Park Church.

The wildly supportive audience and generous donations made the event an enjoyable success for all those involved.Everyone involved or participated ;we thank you greatly for your continued support!

The event generated over $3000 !
$1,655 net from ticket sales
- $1,267 from donations
- $238 net profit from coffee sales that night
- $54 from sales of "One Human Family Choir" CDs

Many people enthusiastically asked when the next event would be held so we look forward to another OHF benefit concert as soon as possible!

A great thanks to all those that attended and participated ; we look forward to your continued interest !

REMCU Benefit Concert - Saturday, 15-March

2008-02-16T15:16:00.000-08:00

One Human Family Gospel Choir will present a concert at Lambrick Park Church, Saturday, 15-March at 7:00 PM.

This will be an exciting, uplifting evening; with all proceeds going to REMCU!

See Poster below for ticket information.

2007 In Review

2008-02-14T18:48:00.000-08:00

Dear Donors,

Thank you for your generous contributions in 2007. You helped sustain our communications network in Africa, and prepare for network growth and improvements in 2008 and beyond. For your interest, here is a brief update of 2007 REMCU results.

The network in Africa is now more stable than ever, and is experiencing consistent daily traffic. Partly this is due to better equipment we were able to install this year, but this is also in large part due to the staff of our partner organization, the Zambia Flying Doctor Service (ZFDS). They are becoming very familiar with how to support the system, and regularly monitor its status.

As one might anticipate, there is quite a variation in use of the system - some remote sites are using it daily and receiving great value; some have left their system idle. We are working with ZFDS to encourage the low use sites to take advantage of the system, and trying to understand how we can make this tool more valuable for them.

On the technology front, we have made some inroads that will improve the offering we can deliver to the remote communities. We continue to focus on reliability and total cost of ownership. During our upcoming 2008 trip we plan to implement some of the new alternatives. We are very confident in them because we have tested them in our now-very-well-equipped development/test facility in Victoria, and across the continent of North America with new REMCU supporters.

Humanitarian communications opportunities continue to far out number our ability to assist. Throughout 2007 we had many inquiries from other organizations that were hoping we could help. We are working with a few that we feel we are a good match to best collaborate with at this time, but we are keen on growing our capacity to become more responsive.

2007 was our first full year as a stand-alone registered charity in Canada. There was a lot of work just to run the organization and meet our legal/fiscal requirements, and a lot to learn in the process. Thanks to the help of friends, family and new partners we have a foundation for future success and efficiency.

Thank you again for your support! Please visit our web site (www.remcu.org), and particularly the “blog” (web log); we will be using this more as we start to achieve more milestones in 2008. We are very excited about what is possible to achieve; with your continued support we most surely will increase the positive impact we are having!

Sincerely,

Nzola Swasisa, Rob Porter, Trever Blair

2008-02-11T20:10:00.001-08:00

REMCU 5 year visions - In 2013:

We have installed over 150 remote e-mail nodes since Jan 2008. We operate 3 HF-server hubs. We have full time administrators in Africa, South America and South Pacific that provide training and tier-2 field support. In Victoria, we provide tier-3 technical support. For each hub we have trained “super-users” to provide a minimum of tier-1 support to the e-mail nodes associated.

We are partnered with 4 or more well known humanitarian groups such as Operation Eyesight or Charity Help International, whose efforts directly or indirectly support the Millennium Development Goals. We receive funding from them, install systems for them, and share best practices for assisting the developing world.

We have secured stable “maintenance funding” which allows us to continue to provide Radio-E-Mail support and administration free of charge to our remote e-mail nodes.

Also since Jan 2008, we have helped over 10 other humanitarian groups (whose efforts directly or indirectly support Millennium Development Goals) with the installation of their own email systems. We have done this by providing technical and financial consulting, including: installation guides, trouble shooting guides, and bills of material. We provide tier-3 technical support for them and have trained them to provide tier-2 technical support for their clients.

We have a strong technical team that is very well connected and well respected in the humanitarian communications community. The factors that drive their application research and development are:

effectiveness, including: reliability and meeting the needs of the developing communities,

total cost of ownership, including: installation, maintenance and ease of use.

We have strong support teams that, among all the statutory non-for-profit management requirements, are able to confidently find and maintain reliable sources of funding for growing and maintaining the client email systems, and further REMCU’s ability to meet the communication needs of developing communities.

We have a strong leadership team that has continued to recruit great people, set new stretch goals, and keep the REMCU organization motivated and moving forward toward these goals.

Note: Tier-1 support: basic user-training to send e-mail, & minimal trouble shooting ability.

Tier-2 support: a superset of tier-1 with added ability to trouble shoot common technical problems. Tier-3: a superset of tier-2 with additional mandate to troubleshoot any problem, prioritized by overall up-time metrics.

2008-02-10T14:48:00.000-08:00

Message received from Zambia Flying Doctor Service Radio-E-Mail
administrator (comments in parentheses added by REMCU for clarity):

Dear REMCU,

Today is 5th February, 2008 on Tuesday at 08:34 hrs in the morning. Here in the Copperbelt (province in north-central Zambia) the rain is pouring almost every day since January up to date. Also the whole country is receiving heavy downpour resulting in floods in most areas. Most people have been made homeless because their houses have collapsed due to heavy rains.

Thanks,

Charles Kasonde

ZFDS, Ndola, Zambia.

CBC Radio One Interview with Nzola Swasisa

2008-01-25T15:35:00.000-08:00

Today, CBC Radio One Victoria, BC, aired an interview of Nzola Swasisa by Jeff Weaver. The occasion is the receipt by Nzola of an e-mail message from Perpetua Alfazema (who lived in Victoria for 20 years), who has returned to Africa to help her people. Perpetua describes the hardships endured by the people of Sena, caused by the flooding of the Zambezi River. Although totally cut off from the rest of the world, She is able to communicate with the rest of the world through e-mail via 2-way HF-Radio using a system installed and maintained by REMCU.

REMCU wants you to know that we are "ready to go" with the next expansion of Radio-E-Mail in Zambia. We need "the last $5,000" to complete our fundraising to allow us to proceed. Please help us with a tax-receipted charitable donation. Please utilize our "online donation" capability at www.remcu.org.

Thank you, - Rob Porter

------- Here is Perpetua's e-mail message -------
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 8:16 AM
Subject: Re: floods

Hello all,

Floods.

The road from Sena to Caia is flooded, it has not been passable for the last three weeks. From Sena to Caia is about 60 km. However, the most serious floods are taking place at Checha, only 14 km from Sena. The only way to get to Caia right now is by boat.

Deep water.

In most parts the water is very deep and moving fast. Yesterday a staff from Kuwangisana was coming from Murraça to visit a patient. When he arrived at Checha there was no boat. Then he decided to cross the water on foot. While crossing he heard sounds like bird's in the water, since the water was very brown and bubbling he could not tell what sound it was. As he prodded along, he saw two water cobras raised their heads...He got very scared, and walked very carefully until he made it to the dry land.

Farm

Kuwangisana two hectors food farm is covered by water, losing all the ha maize crops, beans, pumpkins, okra, cucumbers, watermelons and sesame to the flood. Last night a hippopotamus entered into our field and helped himself/herself with whatever looked green and tasty. During the day, from far we watched the young hippo basking in the sun.

Well.

Kuwangisana well is also underwater. When the floods started people used to go to Kuwangisana well to catch cat fish. Now they have stopped going there because there is a crocodile roaming around in the flood waters in the farm.

Forcast.

The water level is overwhelming and yet the prevision is that its still going to be worse! Right now it is not raining but it rained heavy last week. Just to let you, the flood waters are not caused by rain but due to the opening of the Cahoras Bassa dams in Tete, and other dams in the neighboring countries.

Weather

This week's weather is extremely hot, mosquitoes, crickets and grasshopper are in full gear. However, the crickets, grasshoppers are very helpful to most people because they are been used as food. At the market the food is very expensive and not a great variety to choice from.

Health

Praise to the Lord there has not been very serious cases of cholera reported yet. However, many people right now are suffering from Malaria, eye infection and diarrhoea.

Warning

Today, I attended a community meeting here in Sena and the police warned everyone to avoid walking in the waters because of crocodiles, snakes, hippopotamus and other unknown creatures that are running loose in search of food.

I will stop there for now,

Blessing, Perpetua

Introducing the New REMCU Logo!

2007-07-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

The Radio-E-Mail Connections Unlimited (REMCU) logo illustrates REMCU’s goal to "Connect the Unconnected" around the world.

1) a Floating Envelope is carried on a Wave which Encircles the Globe

The floating envelope signifies E-mail.

The wave signifies the use of HF and VHF radio frequencies to transmit the E-mail, instead of telephone or satellite systems – thus the name “Radio-E-Mail”

The waves encircle the globe, signifying that Radio-E-Mail can be used to communicate from anywhere on the earth to any other e-mail address on earth.

2) Ripples Emanate from a Center located in Zambia, Africa

The ripples radiating from Zambia signify our first dedicated Radio-E-Mail system which was installed in Zambia in 2006;

the outermost circle indicates the practical limits of its range.

The Zambia Server is symbolically located on the wave which encircles the world; this signifies REMCU’s goal to make Radio-E-Mail connections available at all humanitarian facilities on the earth which have no realistic hope of affording commercial e-mail.

Finally, it is not coincidence that the part of the globe in view includes areas which are prime candidates for Radio-E-Mail.

2006 in review

2007-02-21T23:55:00.000-08:00

Before delving into the successes and challenges of 2006, we wish to extend our sincere appreciation to our donors. Every success REMCU achieved this year relied on the individuals and organizations who generously gave of their time and finances. Thank you so very much. We hope you agree very positive things have come from your gifts.

Foremost in the news to share is that our founders, Rob Porter and Nzola Swasisa, were able to deliver a new server and twelve new remote email systems to Africa this year. Ten of the systems were additions to the 2004 demonstration network for clinics supported by the Zambia Flying Doctor Service (ZFDS). The other two systems were for Kapasseni Project, (www.Kapasseni.org), an effort out of Victoria, Canada helping to regenerate two villages that have suffered great losses.

Work with the ZFDS focussed mainly on training them to install and support the systems, and to monitor and administer the server. Two stations were installed during Rob and Nzola’s trip. Success can be measured by the fact that ZFDS have installed seven stations since Rob and Nzola return to Canada, and are confident about the final one.

Both Kapasseni systems were installed by REMCU during the trip. User training for these actually began in Victoria in June, when two of the main users took time to sit down with Rob and Nzola before returning to Africa. During the installations the training was reinforced.

There were frequent challenges while in preparation for the trip and during the trip itself - acquiring reliable equipment inexpensively, getting it all programmed and tested in Canada in time for the trip, getting it out of customs in Africa, and getting it to the locations to name a few. Obviously these issues were overcome, but not without lots of late nights, nail biting, and retracing of steps.

The challenge that remains with us now, is supporting the overall system from Canada. While the training REMCU provided is clearly helping, continued training and some high level support from REMCU will be required for some time to come.

On the home front, there were some important developments. REMCU is now a registered charity with Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA). Simply put this means that we can now receive donations directly and write charitable donation tax receipts directly. We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the Pilgrim Society (www.pilgrimsociety.com) for allowing us to affiliate with them while we prepared for and awaited this status. The Pilgrim Society truly played a key role in getting REMCU off the ground.

Further, with respect to organization, Nzola and Rob welcomed Trever Blair on board in May as the Planning Manager, and then in December Trever was appointed a Director. Together, they have the expressed intent of broadening the organization to bring more help to those in need of affordable, remote communications. They developed the following statement:

The REMCU vision is to connect the unconnected,
- by providing communities where there is no telephone with appropriate cost-effective communication tools, to accelerate:

the improvement of healthcare,

the eradication of poverty & illiteracy, and

the empowerment of ordinary people

2007 will be an exciting year for REMCU, as the organization starts to grow. By inspiring other volunteers to take on leadership roles we are hoping to accelerate REMCU’s ability to deliver its vision. Some of the immediate opportunities include partnering with well established organizations that have already sought REMCU out, working with secondary schools in Kenya, becoming expert in new radio e-mail technologies now available, and fortifying and growing the existing network and skill set in Zambia.

Thank you again to all of our supporters. We hope and trust that you will see that your support is making a difference in a very important ways. Please stay tuned to our website at www.remcu.org, we plan to make changes more frequently throughout 2007 so that you can keep up on our progress.

Sincerely,
Nzolantima Swasisa, President/Director
Robert Porter, Secretary/Treasurer/Director
Trever Blair, Planning Manager/Director

*Pictured above

Masaiti Installation, Chibombo Installation, Server Admin. Training, Ndola

Africa Trip 2006

2006-12-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

This years trip started out with a challenge. After working hard to raise all the money, obtain all the equipment and get it up, running and tested here, Nzola was not allowed to board his flight in Vancouver, and had to come back home that night. British Airways, which gives us a great price to fly because we are doing humanitarian work, was on high alert after the arrests in the UK and wanted Nzola to have extra paper work not “officially” required. So Rob, who had been scheduled to fly some days after Nzola actually got to Zambia first, and Nzola followed after roughly a two week delay.

Difficulty has continued to be a common thread during the trip thus far. The server which Nzola worked on so hard to get running before the trip, failed out of the box in Zambia. They have had to work the previous one that we were hoping to replace. There has been multiple other small delays along the way, but presently they have not been able to gain access to the equipment in Mozambique because the customs officials essentially want more money to clear it, or some (you guessed it) special paper work that Rob and Nzola have confirmed with multiple sources is not required. So now they are trying to negotiate the release of the equipment.

On the slightly good news side of things, Schneider Electric (my employer) has agreed to provide a new server to REMCU, and hopefully have it sent to Zambia in time for Nzola to install it before his return.

Some more good news, we have started planning for a new web site, and we already have a new domain name – www.remcu.org which points to the old one. (Go ahead give it a try).

The best news is that we have been officially instated and a charitable organization in Canada! This will really make a difference in our ability to move more quickly in the fund raising area.

This leads to my list of most important objectives, I need to find someone that would be willing to help lead a fund raising effort. If any of you are interested please let me know. Our goal for the next trip is $150,000. Wow – I know. But better to set high goals and fall short that low ones and fall short.

Sincerely,
Trever

Rob Porter’s Diary Entries from September Trip

2006-09-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last day in Zambia; 29-Sep-06:

Friday was a whirlwind of juxtaposed formal protocol & frantic technical sleuthing.

Zamnet proved very limiting in internet access; things were excruciatingly slow (I expect it was because so many Zambians were attempting to log into the election-results website; it crashed election night (Thurs) "due to overload").

The fun parts of Friday were:

corresponding with Nzola in the field via REM; I have to admit - it was a thrill to actually use REM to convey critical information that is otherwise totally unavailable!
REM to internet and watching actual user (not test) e-mails go to/from internet & REM sites
attending a ZFDS formal dinner given in honour of REM project

The less fun parts of Friday were:

taking bus back to Lusaka, and taxi back to Barn Motel; the taxi was my first experience of being conned; they quoted one price, then demanded another at the destination (moral: always have small bills so that change is not required)
Big oops; I misread a 5,000 Kwacha note as 50,000; so I’m 45,000 short; no supper tonight or breakfast tomorrow; have to save the rest (K15,000 = Cd$4.50) for the ride to airport (which ZFDS had arranged thru motel for me, for K30,000) They were gracious, believing my mistake, but not pleased…
getting chewed up by mosquitoes at motel (there was no breeze Fri; like there had been on Wed); when I finally woke up - literally - to the fact; I got up and used the mosquito net; even though it did not fit the bed at all.

Flying back to London 30-Sep-06:

Alarm went off at 03:30; had to be at airport by 04:30. Breakfast was the last couple fruit bars from Shoprite (from S Africa); with chunks of pineapple; they’re delicious.

Uneventful flight from Lusaka to London; this was my first time flying this segment during daylight. Fascinating to look out at contrast of monochromatic green Congo basin (with a brown river every so often; never a road) vs the ever changing orange/ brown/ white hues of Sahara desert & mountains. Passing the odd military airfield over Tunisia was interesting (one can see the roads stretching “forever”). Mediterranean coast & islands appeared well populated. I looked forward to seeing France for first time, but the coast of Europe coincided with a cloud bank which did not break until approach to Heathrow… sigh.