Alongside the road to Masindi, northwestern Uganda: 100 men, maybe 200, many of them barefoot and shirtless, glistening in the noontime African sun. They are wielding pickaxes and shovels, tools of prehistoric times, to dig a narrow, miles-long trench … for a new fiber-optic cable. They are being paid by the meter, our friend tells us; overall, it is far cheaper than bringing in heavy equipment.
Odd to think that before very long, packets of digital information will be zipping through this trench at nearly the speed of light, passing only a few feet from the round mud huts with straw roofs that line this road. Those packets will be carrying Google Earth maps, Facebook updates, yearnings for new lives or new friends somewhere else, and all the other business of the modern world, while up above, the women dig in the earth to harvest their cassava.
Three years ago Theresa and I came along this same road, and it was just being paved for the first time ever. Now, the men are preparing a space for the information superhighway, one swing of the pickaxe at a time. How things change.
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