Electronic Oasis

8 Feb

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“Water is gold in the Afar Triangle of Ethiopia. No surprise. It’s in one of the hottest deserts in the world. Walking for three days recently near the western scarp of the Rift Valley, guide Ahmed Alema Hessan and I found one smear of muddy rainwater to ease our camels’ thirst. But we stumbled across a new type of waterhole a day later—a coveted oasis of electrons, the village of Dalifagi.” – Out of Eden Walk, January 28, 2013 Dispatch
The ‘Sole Brothers’ dispatch was a practice reflection and introduction to Paul’s journey. Your final assignment for Footstep #1 is to respond to Paul’s dispatch entitled ‘Electronic Oasis’. Follow the directions on the Out of Eden (OOE) Learn site and remember to write your reflection to these questions below before adding them to the OOE site. Time will be given in class to work on this activity this week. Copy and paste your reflection in the comment section by Sunday. All comments will moderated and approved Sunday night at 9:00pm, Feb. 15th.
What caught your attention or interested you about Paul’s article? What questions or wonders do you now have?  
Here is a short video this gives you a picture of what Ethiopia looks like:

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99 Responses to “Electronic Oasis”

  1. sai675's avatar
    Sai February 24, 2015 at 9:12 am #

    What caught your attention or interested you about Paul’s article?

    The thing that interested me is that now, everybody in Ethiopia is using cellphones and they are doing”Bagu” on the phone. They are socializing now on the phone and they are forgetting about their past.
    What questions or wonders do you now have?

    I was wondering about why they are now forgetting about their past because they had this so bad past and because of this electronic oasis, they are just letting their past go and starting to wonder about their future…

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  2. GUILLAUME's avatar
    GUILLAUME February 24, 2015 at 9:17 am #

    What caught your attention in paul’s article?
    I was really surprised that people in ethiopia could get cell phones because it is in the middle of nowhere. Also, I am really surprised they can get electricity. Another thing that cought my attention was that I thought that most people in Ethiopia are poor (no offense) and it surprises me that they buy cell phones.
    What questions or wonders do you have?
    -I wonder WHERE they find electricity?
    -Why would all those people forget their traditions and start “daguing”?
    -I wonder how many charging shops you can find in 1 single town.

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    • Vikram's avatar
      Vikram February 25, 2015 at 3:47 am #

      I liked your post Guillaume. I think that the reason why the Afar people “dagu” is that they have spent countless years with poor technology and just suddenly there was a huge elevation so now they just can’t get over the fact that there is a device that complex (for them) and can do so many things.I guess that we share a few wonders. It really is amazing that you get Wi-Fi in the middle of a barren desert. Wi-Fi used to be impossible to find in a desert until 2015.

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  3. Sriya's avatar
    Sriya February 25, 2015 at 3:45 am #

    What caught your attention or interested you about Paul’s article?

    The part of Electronic Oasis that caught my interest was that tribes who once ended communication to the outside world and now are embracing the new culture and forgetting the culture why they abandoned the outside world in the first place! The good thing is that tribes are communicating with us so we can understand more about them. The bad thing is that they themselves are forgetting their culture.

    What questions or wonders do you now have?

    I wonder if other tribes are starting to use the electronics? I also wonder if Paul Salopek knows more information about the history of these tribes?

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