I had a meeting yesterday with Ben Wolo, the Managing Director of Libtelco, Liberia’s national telecommunications company.  I’ve spent much of the past week learning more about Internet infrastructure (just because I worked at Google doesn’t mean I know these things very well!).  After yesterday’s meeting, I now understand the set up behind the horribly slow Internet that I battle on a daily basis.

Liberia has next to no infrastructure.  There is no connection to submarine fiber, ...

Most internships are not about getting much accomplished.  Many of my fellow interns her are complaining about how little they’ve done so far, and many of my classmates abroad are two weeks into the job, still waiting for their projects to materialize.  In all honesty it was never my goal to have a big impact over a nine-week period.  I just wanted the perspective that working in a capacity constrained government in Africa would afford.  Turns out I’ve got my work cut out for me, and ...

I had lunch earlier this week with the country manager for Google in Senegal, Tidjane Deme.  He’s an incredibly impressive guy who not only understands Senegal but also deeply understands Google philosophy and approach.  We talked about many fascinating things, but one stuck out enough to merit a posting: the importance of radio for strengthening democratic institutions in developing countries.  Tidjane told me his favorite thing to hear is “Let’s do it again in Wolof.”

What he wa...