Working for Uncle Sugar

I thought I’d write a bit about the work that I’m doing here in Kinshasa. I was quite fortunate to be hired as a contractor at the US embassy, as I mentioned back in September. Since then, I’ve been working with a variety of organizations around Kinshasa that are affiliated with the US Embassy in some way and helping them create websites. I didn’t expect to come here and be a quote-unquote webmaster, but the work has been interesting and definitely more diverse than anything I’ve done prior to arriving here.

At present, I’m working on about seven different websites as well as working on the US Embassy-Kinshasa site. Only one has gone live – it’s a site for the Kinshasa Hash group. The other six are mired in the bogs of development and the work comes in fits and starts for a number of reasons:

The internet is slow and flaky here and the power goes out a lot. This means my productivity is way below what I would be able to achieve with a stable electrical supply and a non-flaky internet connection. It can take all day to upload content to a site if the connection doesn’t die on you in the midst of the data transfer. The electrical current varies from flickering to non-existent to normal, and there will be days where it’s fluctuating between flickering and non-existent for hours at a time.

Web sites are a new concept for a lot of people here. Well, they aren’t a *new* concept, per se, as much as they don’t really know what they’ll use a web site for once they’ve been given one. For example, I’m building a site for an alumni organization that’s made up of Congolese who have been to school in America in some capacity. A web site would offer them a great opportunity to network with other alumni, the universities they attended in the states, other Congolese, etc.

Initially they were most interested in what kind of logo they would have for their organization, and if it was possible to animate the words in the logo so they could spin around. They also gave me a lot of personal photos that, while nice, really don’t belong on a professional website.

Last week we had a workshop at the US Embassy and talked about what a website is for and what should be on it. We were able to scrap such requests as a live webchat option for members, a directory of all US Embassy locations and addresses worldwide, and a comprehensive list of US policy statements on any and all international matters. Now, we’ve narrowed it down so that we’re just looking to get news, calendar, history, donation, and contact sections on the site.

I guess what I’ve had to get used to is the way the internet is seen here. It’s not seen as a business tool as much as a bit of a novelty. It’s kind of like the way the internet was seen back in the late 90s, where people weren’t exactly sure what it could do for them. The web is here – people just don’t use it in their day-to-day lives like most of those in the West do. Here, most users have to go to internet cafes to access the web so they can read email, look at their Facebook pages, or check on football (soccer) news. Rather than use the web to communicate to Congolese here in the city of Kinshasa, it will be more helpful for these organizations to communicate with Congolese spread across the DRC via a website and, by extension, those who have left the country and are now living in North America or Europe. It’s a great way for them to reach the rest of the world.

Payment is not easy to come by. One of the conditions for me working on these websites is that these organizations will have to pay for the hosting of their sites themselves. I’ll create the site, but they’ll have to find a way to pay a web hosting service to host the site. Web hosting isn’t that expensive, maybe $100 a year, and the cost isn’t the hangup. The problem is that nobody around here has a credit card. Everything in Kinshasa is paid in cash, and web hosting services accept payment via credit card. When pressed, people around here can find a way to pay for something with a credit card, but it tends to take a while to scare up those connections.

Things just move slowly here. The tired old joke here is about how so-and-so is late because they’re on “Africa time” and while it’s tired and not funny any more, it’s true. People show up for meetings hours late or don’t show up at all, and despite countless emails and phone calls, I’ll go for weeks without hearing from someone I’m working with on a website or need content from. At first it was frustrating for me, but after a while I learned how to deal with it. It might be tricky for me to handle developing six different websites at once in a faster-paced environment, but when I’m only hearing from my collaborators twice a month (if that), it gives me a lot of downtime to switch between several projects.

Most days I start work around 8am. Working from home has its advantages as there’s no commute time, I can wear whatever I like, and lunch is whatever I feel like cooking up. Today I have a sort of Andrew WK getup on (white shorts with a white t-shirt and I’m a little unshaven – no long hair, sadly). I spend my days playing around with software to develop websites, meeting with people, making phone calls, emailing, and researching. Last week I spent a couple days taking pictures at a local school to add to a site I’m working on. Once a week I go to the US Embassy (not dressed like Andrew W.K., of course) to meet with my boss and spend the day there. I really like my boss a lot – she’s been a big help in connecting me with people around town, getting me supplies I need to do my job, and helping me with advice and problems I run into.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve actually come across a few other job opportunities but I’m pretty happy with what I’m doing now. The work is interesting and varied, I’m learning new skills and using my work experience, and I get to work with locals and help them help themselves. I’m sure that all sounds like it came out of a Peace Corps brochure, but it’s the truth.