One of the weirdest things for me to see each time I return to West Africa is the abundance of cell phones. Everyone seems to have one and cell towers are popping up in the most remote villages.
This year a friend of mine helped me to unlock my cell phone so that I can use it here. Once in Africa, all I had to do was buy a $3 SIM card and some credits from a kid on the street. It’s great to be able to make short calls to Heidi to check in, but it’s also bizarre to be out in the bush and have my phone start ringing.
Today I had a surprising encounter with technology in a pretty remote village. While we were eating lunch one of the locals pulled out his cellphone and started videoing me. After he showed me the video he Bluetooth’d over to mine (Bluetooth? in a village?!) and then I uploaded it online when I got back to the Ozment’s house.