Global Village – FMF inventor solving Africa’s WiFi woes
[caption id="attachment_21561" align="alignnone" width="592"] Future Lokole users have a look at the inner working of Nzola Swasisa’s invention, Lokole. Lokole operates similar to a portable router and is helping spread access to the internet to underserviced and remote regions of his former country. Inset: Founder and Lokole team lead Nzola Swasisa.[/caption]Peter Mallett, Staff Writer ~An electronics apprentice, and inventor, from Fleet Maintenance Facility Cape Breton (FMF CB) is on a quest to help spread vital internet communications to underserviced and remote regions in Africa. Nzolantima Swasisa travelled to his former hometown of Kinshasa, the capital city of Democratic Republic of Congo, for three weeks in August to distribute 10 of his offline portable web and email network devices to local community representatives. His latest invention is a tiny black box called a Lokole and can provide web and email access in a 25-metre radius for up to 100 users. Lokole derives its name from an ancient Congolese drum used in pre-colonial times as a means of imparting vital communications between villages. Swasisa says having access to reliable communications is a game-changer in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Most people have no internet service; the more fortunate ones rely on wireless phone service to access the internet. “More than 60 per cent of the African population doesn’t have access to efficient internet communications and the problem is much worse in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” says Swasisa. “Lokole addresses this problem by creating a sharable local area network, allowing individuals in remote locations to sustain vital communication links.”With skyrocketing and unaffordable wireless fees, Swasisa says Lokole makes access to the internet 100 times cheaper for the average person. His device allows community leaders to receive emergency government communications and alerts, educational documents for schools, health advice from medical professionals, the ability to...