When I arrived first to Tanzania in January 1991, things in technology and communication field were galaxies apart from what we have now at our disposal...
The only means of communication back then was a simple humble letter which I wrote to my parents, drove 40 kilometers to Musoma Post Office, posted it and waited for three weeks to get home to them. Then another three weeks of patient wait for their reply to get back to me, driving to Musoma to check the box in the Post Office from time to time...aaah, a genuine school of patience!
Oh, yeah, I forgot about a phone. In order for 'ET phone home' thing, I had to inform the operator that I wish to call home. Then waited till he/she succeded in connection. It could take a few minutes up to a day or two in bad cases...
Now, at this very moment, I'm in my bed typing this post on my iPhone and - once I'm done - will send it via email and it will show on my blog as a post! Technology leap of cosmic proportions in a span of twenty years!
The other day a friend of mine asked a question on Facebook: 'Who else is using a laptop while sitting in a toilet?' Give me a break! Yet it was a quite sincere inquiry...And....surprise, surprise! He got a lot acknowledgements! Looks like we are many these days not only reading books, newspapers or magazines while in a chamber...things have become more severe - texting, calling, internet browsing, working on spreadsheets, reports etc is a quite common feature now...
Hmmm, think about those muscle cramps sitting for long time doing some serious work on a laptop forgetting you are long done down there...yikes!
Ok, at least I won't have any muscle cramps composing this message. Set horizontally and comfortably in bed, watching some funny YouTube video on the phone in the meantime, replying to emails, sending texts
all over the world and listening to some soothing music I downloaded on iTunes...
Imagine, what you can do these days with this mobile phone thingy! Online banking, sending and receiving money, paying for utilities, gaming, working on office applications, keeping up with your tight schedule using clever notes/to-dos/calendar applications, checking weather forecast wherever you want to, chatting, taking photos and videos and posting them online, you name it!
I need to pinch myself from time to time to remind myself that I am still in the same place where I was writing those simple, humble letters and waited for six weeks to get a reply...just two mere decades ago...
Yet, sadly, those days, when I really felt so far far away from home are gone forever...and with them that feeling of adventure and survival mode kind of a missionary life...
Ok, where is this 'send' button? Ah, yeah, right here...
Catch you later! Over and out!
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