I miss the dot-com days. A day spent at a Southern California Starbucks joint thinking and dreaming about the next big thing, the next big idea that will change the destiny of the human race as we know it was, in my humble opinion, a day well used and a time to remember. Sitting at a café in Washington DC one fine morning in the Fall of '95 with a friend of mine who confessed to me, among many other things, that "Hotmail" was his idea stolen by that Indian guy is a day that I often remember. Really, only a person from the Third World could have been bothered about so much on how to access his e-mail in the remotest part of his city and country that he just had to think of a solution. " I just can't prove it, however," was what my friend kept on telling me that morning. I still believe him. Fast forward to the 21^st century to a beautiful lazy but sunny afternoon in the city of Addis Ababa and imagine sitting with a childhood techy friend at a café in Haile G/Selassie's building where the conversation drifts to what the Internet could mean to lives in our part of the world. Days filled with dreams are, anyone will tell you, great days that will be missed for a very long time.

As Ethiopians, I often ask myself then, what has this now at-hold revolution done for us? Have lives improved? Has the coffee grower in Jimma been able to log into his lap-top and process the thousands of dollars' worth of eCommerce transactions? Has this technology helped tens of thousands of our youth find gainful employment? Has the student with the water resources major studying at the Arba Minch Water Institute been able to "Google" all documents written about the Nile Perch at Lake Abaya and Chamo and the hunting habits of the Ganjule people? Well, too many questions. Big questions, I must add, too. The Internet, however, has left such an interesting mark on our society - at least a segment of it - that it warranted this short note brought to you, what else, through the Internet.

Being the most used aspect of the Internet, Email, of course, is the natural place from which to start. So, how many e-mails does the average Ethiopian expatriate fire in day? 10 might be a good approximation, I think. But that is not to say we do not have brothers and sisters that are known to fire as many as 30 to 40 e-mails per day. Even Jason Pontin of Red Herring had called us Ethiopians, especially the ones in the Diaspora, quite talkative on the Internet. I am assuming that you remember the article he wrote following his visit to Ethiopia where he said effectively, the Internet is a luxury for the average Ethiopian. "False Prophet" is the term that comes to my mind. At any rate, though, the following is among the first e-mails exchanged among Ethiopians way back in 1992 -- I think it has some modest historical importance.

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Date: Tue, 28 Apr 92 09:36:09 +0000

Subject: Selamta

From: LA@f1.n751.z5.gnfido.fidonet.org

To: aa@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu

Received: from cdp.igc.org by VTVM1.CC.VT. with TCP, z2.gnfido.fidonet.org

Via GNFido Gateway, London.

I feel also happy to receive mail from friends abroad who are so enthusiastic about networking.

Yes, there is no free lunch. I have to pay.

It depends. Most of the time I collect mail from various institutions and send them bundled. I am using an HST modem with error free correction capability of 192000 bytes. This is incredibly fast. Except for the negotiation period of usually 1 minute the mail can swap in one or two minutes. So this means if I have mail of 20K it takes two minute. For three minute cost to London is US$12.

It also depend on the polling time. I usually poll London (GreenNet) three times or more a week. If polling is regular it might reach here just two hours later!

Yes.

Yes! It depends on what arrangements you make. I am trying to set up UUCP link between Addis and Ottawa (Carleton University) to test how this will be cost effective compared to what we are doing now in Fido. But with high speed modem and good technical background it seem everything works cost effectively.

Thanks. For all the information and discussion you made.

LA

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Well, we now have come a long way from those days. In addition to scores of active e-mail lists, there are hundreds of Ethiopian web sites with names like anythingonethiopia, Big Ben and Brother Ben on Ethiopia, Arba Minch Water Institute Alumni, Peace Corps Volunteers of 1964-66 in Welliso, etc. We do also have noisy chat rooms that make qebele and kefteNa "niqat" sibsebas look lame. AOL, yahoo and hotmail e-mail addresses with anything Ethiopian are now hard to find. What do you do when StJoe@Aol.com and StJoe@yahoo.com and StJoe@hotmail.com are taken. We have seen, and this can be proven with some luck, variations like StJoeAlways@yahoo.com, StJoeRulesandWillRuleAlwaysandForever@yahoo.com. A disclaimer, I was once told by an aspiring eCommerce attorney (was a former immigration attorney - but that is besides the point) is often not only handy but also could help the face-saving maneuvers; therefore, if your e-mail bounces to the above addresses - do not blame me. Bandwidth is still a problem.

Looking forward, one can only imagine a scenario where we Ethiopians, a people who were among the first to record their history and culture in the written language, will perhaps learn to use this technology to bring good things to our people and our people's lives. I am being optimistic, I know.

Till then, you may send me your comments, if you wish, at dandewserbello_aydelehum@yahoonkahun.com.