Fancy Italianate internet cafe 

After checking into my hotel and taking a quick nap I decided to go see if I could find an internet cafe where I could check my email and possibly get some work done. I went to a place that came highly recommended by an older Sudanese gentleman who I met at the front desk. English was the medium of instruction in Sudan until 1990 but Sudanese people also speak some of the finest classical Arabic you will hear anywhere. I loved his accent; I could have chatted with him all day. "I come here to relax" he said with a smile as he took a small sip from his glass. I never bothered to ask what he was drinking out of respect but I suspect that it's banned in Sudan. When the Sudanese equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood took power they quickly banned alcohol and dumped large quantities of it into the Nile River. I'm sure the fish were happy that day. Off to the internet cafe I went. I was optimistic at that point, but my hopes of lighting fast internet were quickly dashed when I walked into the cafe and saw half of the customers using Facebook Lite.  It took a record 1 and a half minutes for a page to load. At first I was frustrated but then I became interested in how the people who live here handle such a slow connection. A young woman approached me; "do you have any download requests" she said. "Excuse me?" I replied. "If you want us to download something for you, we can do it, just come back tomorrow." She also showed me their intranet service. They had stored a variety of English movies for customers to browse while waiting for a page to load. "What a great idea" I thought. The young lady went on to tell me that they add new movies, games and educational material everyday. I admired their determination to not let the frustratingly slow internet  hold them back. They were using a variety of ICT's that do not rely solely on an internet connection. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but feel that the young students who frequented the cafe were being held back by out of date technologies. I thought of the digital divide and I wondered how it was affecting Eritreans. In a society that is primarily agrarian, literacy is the main issue that needs to be dealt with. Addressing the issue of digital literacy likely isn't a priority for a country like Eritrea that is constantly threatened and is far more concerned with feeding itself than attracting companies who can provide faster internet connections. It should be, but it isn't. As I exited the cafe I ran into an Eritrean-Canadian man named Jackson. "Hey man, it's not everyday I run into a fellow Canadian, eh?" he said smiling. "Wanna a go grab a couple of beers and watch football highlights?" "Sure" I said, and off we went. After a couple of drinks and some conversation about the TV show Breaking Bad (I accidentally ruined the finale for him) I began to reflect on my experience at the internet cafe. As I looked around the lounge packed with enthusiastic locals, I said to Jackson, "you know what man, if we were in Canada right now 80% of the people in this room would be staring a their smartphone." "Yep, not here man, people love to talk with each other" Jackson replied. I began to question whether digital natives really know what true human connection is. Is it a skill we're losing? Jackson and I sat in that lounge for hours and hours engaging in deep meaningful conversation on a whole range of topics. I needed that, and I soaked it all up eagerly. I am a major proponent of digital literacy and I believe that real human connections can be made between two people over the internet, but I guess I'm still nostalgic, especially after a few drinks.