• New Report Shows "Sprinkles" are Working to Prevent and Treat Childhood Nutrition Epidemic

Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 700 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; pneumatics; wheels; brakes; tires; safety/emergency equip. Regulatory Approvals: FAA SCS3009I (STO), SCSZ009I (CPH); JAA DNS-101 Shannon Aerospace Ltd. Shannon Airport, Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 780; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 247,500 sq ft Components/Systems Serviced: Aircraft ground equip.; fuel system; hydraulics; oxygen systems; pneumatics; wheels; brakes; tires; safety/emergency equip. Regulatory Approvals: FAA SH6Y090J; JAA IRL001; Romania; Bermuda; Hungary; Argentina; Poland
Shannon Aircraft Motor Works Ltd. World Aviation Park, Shannon Airport, Co. Clare Ireland Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 70; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 28,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Motors/generators Specialties: Motor and generator rewind; various ATA Chapters Regulatory Approvals: FAA NWXY386L; JAA; China
SR Technics Ltd. Dept. TCIM, CH-8058 Zurich Airport, Switzerland Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Employees: 3,100; Facility Size: 51,000 sq. m. Components/Systems Serviced: Aircraft ground equip.; fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; pneumatics; wheels; brakes; tires; safety/emergency equip. Regulatory Approvals: FAA SWRY3221; JAA FOCA-001; approvals from 20 countries
TAP Maintenance & Engineering Lisbon Airport, Hangar 6, 2nd Floor, Room 17, 1704-801 Lisbon, Portugal Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Employees: 1,864; Facility Size: 70,000 sq. m. Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; hydraulics; pneumatics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; safety/emergency equip.; wheels; brakes Regulatory Approvals: FAA TAPY354I; JAA
Trinity Aerospace Engineering Ltd. 14-18 Bilton Rd., Kingsland Industrial Park, Basingstoke, Hants, England RG24 8LJ Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 94; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 80,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Hydraulics; pneumatics; propellers; wheels; brakes Regulatory Approvals: FAA THEY125N; CAA 00147; China
Triumph Air Repair (Europe) Ltd. Church Lane, Lasham Airfield, Alton, Hants, England GU34 5SQ Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 36; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 15,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Motors/generators Specialties: Integrated drive generators (IDG) and constant speed drives (CSD); full overhaul and test cells for most Sundstrand units Regulatory Approvals: FAA ZC9Y793N; JAA CAA.00672 TRW Aeronautical Systems The Badleys, Marston Green, Birmingham B33 OM2 England Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Facility size (sq. ft.): 47,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system Specialties: Electronics Regulatory Approvals: FAA; JAA
TRW Aeronautical Systems Alma Street, Coventry CV1 5SF England Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Facility size (sq. ft.): 34,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Motors/generators Regulatory Approvals: FAA; JAA
TRW Aeronautical Systems Maylands Ave., Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP2 4SP England Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Facility Size: 74,00 sq. m. Components/Systems Serviced: Motors/generators Regulatory Approvals: FAA; JAA
TRW Aeronautical Systems Huyton, Merseyside L36 6JE England Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Facility size (sq.ft.): 100,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Motors/generators Regulatory Approvals: FAA; JAA
TRW Aeronautical Systems Stafford Road, Fordhouses, Woverhampton WV10 7EH England Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Facility size (sq. ft.): 301,101 Components/Systems Serviced: Hydraulics Regulatory Approvals: FAA; JAA
TRW Aeronautical Systems 270 Avenue des Gresillons 92601 Asnieres, France Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Facility Size: 13,700 sq. m. Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system/hydraulics Regulatory Approvals: FAA; JAA
TRW Aeronautical Systems 7-9, Avenue de l'Eguillette Saint Ouen-l'Aumone BP7186 95056 Cergy Pontoise, France Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Facility Size: 12,400 sq. m. Components/Systems Serviced: Hydraulics Regulatory Approvals: FAA; JAA
TRW Aeronautical Systems 43 Rue des Pres, 27950 Saint Marcel Vernon, France Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Facility size (sq. ft.): 250,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Hydraulics Regulatory Approvals: FAA; JAA
TRW Aeronautical Systems Bataverstrasse 80, 41462 Neuss Germany Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Facility size (sq. ft.): 169,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system Regulatory Approvals: FAA; JAA
Turner Aviation Ltd. Spiersbridge Terrace, Thornliebank, Glasgow, Scotland G46 8JQ Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 72; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 34,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; pneumatics Specialties: Starter generators; AC & DC generators; starter motors; Dart propeller control units & fuel system components Regulatory Approvals: FAA TQGY206K; JAA CAA.00126
Asia/Pacific
Aero Marine Consulting Pty. Ltd. 9 Lambeck Dr., Tullamarine, VIC, Australia 3043 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Components/Systems Serviced: Aircraft ground equip.; hydraulics; oxygen systems; wheels; brakes; tires; safety/emergency equip.
Aircraft Equipment Overhauls & Sales (NSW) Pty. Ltd. 29 Norman St., Peakhurst, NSW, Australia 2210 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 25; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 34,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; safety/emergency equip. Regulatory Approvals: FAA EO0Y584Y; Australia
Aircraft Maintenance & Engineering Corp. (AMECO-Beijing) P.O. Box 563, Capital Airport, Beijing, China 100621 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 3,500; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 430,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; pneumatics; propellers; rotor blade; wheels; brakes; tires; safety/emergency equip. Regulatory Approvals: FAA XYJY995L; JAA LBA.0518; China; Saudi Arabia; Nepal; Kuwait; Japan; Israel; Vietnam; UAE; Egypt; Bermuda
Air New Zealand Engineering Services (ANZES) Private Bag 53098, Geoffrey Roberts Rd., Auckland Intl. Airport, New Zealand 1730 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 4,100; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 1,500,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; pneumatics; wheels; brakes; tires; safety/emergency equip. Specialties: Propellers and rotor blades maintained by associate company Safe Air Ltd.; composite material Regulatory Approvals: FAA ANZY188C; ANZZ188C; ANGY164F; JAA CAA.00446; Australia; Singapore; Canada; Indonesia; Fiji; China; Malaysia; New Zealand; Nepal
Aviation Turbine Overhaul Pty. Ltd. Hangar 59, Moorabbin Airport, Bundora Parade, Mentone, VIC, Australia 3194 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 22; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 30,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system Regulatory Approvals: Australia; Malaysia; Indonesia
China Airlines Engineering & Maintenance Division C.K.S. Intl. Airport, Taoyuan, Taiwan Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Employees: 2,200; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 1,260,000. Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; hydraulics; pneumatics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; safety/emergency equip.; wheels; brakes; tires Regulatory Approvals: FAA SAJY979H; JAA RAI-147; Taiwan; Singapore; China
Composite Technology Intl. Pte. Ltd. 39 Loyang Way, Singapore 508735 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 24; Facility Size: 4,080 sq. m. Components/Systems Serviced: Rotor blade Specialties: Bell Helicopter; Eurocopter depot repair; leading edge replacement; skin repair; refinish and balance Regulatory Approvals: FAA C3GY647J; JAA CAA.00575; Singapore; Malaysia; Thailand; Indonesia; China; India; Japan; Oman
Fuel Accessory Service Technologies (FAST) No. 8 Loyang Way 4, Singapore 507604 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 38; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 28,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system Specialties: Jet engine fuel controls; electronic engine controls; ATA Chapters 21, 28, 30, 49, 74, 75 & 79 Regulatory Approvals: FAA F3YY247Y; JAA; China
GE Aviation Services-Airfoil Technologies Singapore Pte. Ltd. Singapore Specialties: Repair center of excellence for compressor airfoils Regulatory Approvals: FAA F94Y941N
Goodrich Evacuation Systems Service Center/Bangalore 117, Indsl. Suburb, 2nd Stage, 5th Main Rd., Yeshwanthpur, Bangalore, India 560022 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Components/Systems Serviced: Safety/emergency equip.
Goodrich Evacuation Systems Service Center/Singapore 36 Loyang Dr., 02-00, Singapore 508949 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Components/Systems Serviced: Safety/emergency equip.
Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co. (GAMECO) Baiyun Airport, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China 510405 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Employees: 1,400; Facility size (sq. ft.): 150,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; a/c ground equip.; hydraulics; wheels; motors/generators; oxygen systems; pneumatics; brakes; safety/emergency equip.; tires; hydrostatic testing; halon recycling Regulatory Approvals: FAA GJPY002L; China; Nepal
Hamilton Sundstrand Customer Support Center Sdn. Bhd-Malaysia Repair Station 9 Lengkuk Keluli 2, Bukit Raja Industrial Estate, 41050 Klang, Selangor, Malaysia Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Employees: 43; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 38,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Pneumatics Specialties: Pneumatic valves; starters & starter valves; air cycle machines; heat exchangers; ATA Chapters 21, 36 & 80 Regulatory Approvals: FAA H3UY075N; China
Hamilton Sundstrand Qinling Aerospace (Xiamen) Ltd. 1235 Fang Zhong Rd, Xiamen Aviation Industrial Zone, Xiamen, Fujian 361006, China Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Employees: 25; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 28,000 Specialties: Electric power generating systems; ATA Chapter 24 Regulatory Approvals: FAA XQHY656Y; China
Hamilton Sundstrand Worldwide Repair Singapore Repair Station 18 Bedok South Rd., Singapore 469276 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 31; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 11,000 Specialties: Electric power generating systems; ATA Chapter 24 Regulatory Approvals: FAA FV4Y194M; JAA; China
Honeywell Normalair-Garrett Australia, Product Support Div. 26 Fraser St., Airport West, VIC, Australia 3042 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 50; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 80,500 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; oxygen systems; pneumatics Specialties: Environmental control systems - cooling turbines and heat exchangers; air turbine starters; high-temp. pneumatics Regulatory Approvals: Australia
Honeywell (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. 161 Gul Circle, Singapore 629619 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Components/Systems Serviced: Aircraft ground equip.; fuel system; motors/generators; pneumatics; hydraulics Specialties: Environmental control system; flight control system; engine air system; engine exhaust system; engine starting system; APU LRUs Regulatory Approvals: FAA FT4Y192M; JAA; Singapore; Philippines; Hong Kong; China; Japan; several others
Honeywell (Singapore) Pte.Ltd. Heat Transfer Services (formerly LORI Asia Pte. Ltd.) 28 Loyang Crescent, Singapore 508990 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Employees: 14; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 30,000 Specialties: Repair and recore Honeywell and third-party heat transfer components Regulatory Approvals: FAA LXKY404L; JAA; Singapore; Philippines; Hong Kong; China; Japan
Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co., Ltd. (HAECO) 80 S. Perimeter Rd., Hong Kong Intl. Airport, Lantau, Hong Kong Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 3,670; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 109,600 Components/Systems Serviced: Aircraft ground equip.; fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; pneumatics; safety/emergency equip. Specialties: Lucas; AlliedSignal; Goodrich; Garrett; Parker; Bendix-King; Sundstrand; Air Cruiser; Hamilton Sundstrand; PDU; escape slide; fuel jettison/boost pump; pneumatic starter/motor/valve; ACM; flow control valve; hydraulic pump/valve/actuator; firebottle Regulatory Approvals: FAA NEIY348K; JAA; Hong Kong;, Bangladesh; Bermuda; China; numerous others
Safe Air Ltd. Middle Renwick Rd., Blenheim, New Zealand Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 350 Components/Systems Serviced: Aircraft ground equip.; fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; pneumatics; propellers; safety/emergency equip. Specialties: Propellers Regulatory Approvals: FAA S3L258J; JAA CAA 00514; Canada; Indonesia; Marshall Islands; New Zealand; Thailand
SIA Engineering Co. Pte. Ltd. 09-C Airline House, 31 Airline Rd., Singapore 819829 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Employees: 4,800; Facility Size: 35,000 sq. m Components/Systems Serviced: Aircraft ground equipment; fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; pneumatics; safety/emergency equipment Regulatory Approvals: FAA SBOY989H; JAA CAA 00434; Singapore; China; Thailand; Indonesia; Japan; others
Singapore Precision Repair & Overhaul Pte. Ltd. (S-PRO) 51 Loyang Dr., Singapore 508956 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 40; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 10,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Hydraulics; wheels; brakes; tires Specialties: Airbus and Boeing hydraulic components Regulatory Approvals: FAA OUPY829L; JAA F-18/E; Singapore; China; several others
Singapore Technologies Aerospace Ltd. (ST Aero) 540 Airport Rd., Paya Lebar, Singapore 539938 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 4,400; Facilities: Nine Components/Systems Serviced: Aircraft ground equip.; fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; pneumatics; propellers; rotor blade; wheels; brakes; safety/emergency equip. Specialties: R&O of a/c avionics, components, systems Regulatory Approvals: FAA MZAR013L; JAA; Singapore; Japan
ST Aerospace Systems Pte. Ltd. (STA Systems) 505A Airport Rd., Paya Lebar, Singapore 539934 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 338; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 150,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Aircraft ground equip.; fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; pneumatics; propellers; wheels; brakes; tires; safety/emergency equip. Regulatory Approvals: FAA FW4Y195M; JAA CAA 00493; Singapore; China; Japan; several others
ST Aviation Services Co. Pte. Ltd. (SASCO) No. 8 Changi North Way, Singapore 499611 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Employees: 950; Facility Size (sq. ft.): 405,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; oxygen systems; pneumatics; propellers; wheels; brakes; tires; safety/emergency equip. Regulatory Approvals: FAA VGQZ082L, VGQY082L; JAA CAA.00451; Singapore; China; Japan; Indonesia; several others
Taikoo (Xiamen) Aircraft Engineering Co. Ltd. (TAECO) East Gaoqi International Airport, 20 Diliao Rd., Xiamen, Fujian, China 361006 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Components/Systems Serviced: Safety/emergency equip. Regulatory Approvals: FAA TX9Y778Y; JAA CAA00663; Japan; China; Hong Kong; Singapore; South Africa; Pakistan; Philippines
TRW Aeronautical Systems 84-92 Epsom Rd, Zetland, Sydney, NSW 2017, Australia Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Facility size (sq. ft.): 32,500 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators Regulatory Approvals: FAA; JAA
TRW Aeronautical Systems Gaoqi Intl. Airport, Xiamen, China 361006 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Employees: 50; Facility size (sq. ft.): 48,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators Regulatory Approvals: FAA LX9Y496N; JAA CAA.00810; China; Singapore
TRW Aeronautical Systems 35-37 Loyang Way, Singapore 508733 Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Facility size (sq. ft.): 65,000 Components/Systems Serviced: Fuel system; hydraulics; motors/generators; cargo loading system Regulatory Approvals: FAA; JAA
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Zongo Junction - Now & Tomorrow.
1,467 words

27 May 2002

05:10 PM

Africa News Service

AFNWS

English

(c) Distributed via COMTEX News.
May 28, 2002 (Accra Mail/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) - When I heard on air in the second week of December 2001 that the Oblogo Road was to be closed to traffic for some months to enable the construction of a drainage system that would prevent flooding during rainy seasons, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Over six years ago, in my article, "Zongo Junction - Before and Now" in the Free Press and Daily Graphic, I recounted the situation there. Residents of the surrounding areas of Zongo Junction started experiencing serious floods in the 1980's. I attributed that to various factors including the construction of the outer Ring Road (1st Light - Flamingo Road) and the single culvert that was placed at the valley bridge at Flamingo. The single round culvert was later changed to a big square culvert, but that did not help.
While the NDC government was concentrating on roads leading to the Airport and the inner city, residents of Zongo Junction and its surrounding areas were left at the mercy of floods during heavy downpours. Pleas to the Department of Urban Roads, AMA, Works and Housing to come to the aid of the area proved futile. A letter sent to the Technical Director of Works & Housing, Mr George Nai on 27th April 1992 by residents of Klankoonaa, Abossey-Okai was met with opposition by the engineers during the meeting at the Works and Housing Conference Room on 6th May 1992. They said the first paragraph of the letter should be rephrased or the meeting would not be held.
The letter stated: "We wish to notify you of the impending DANGER posed to the residents of ZONGO JUNCTION due to the DIVERSIONS OF DRAINS into the main drain along the above-named Road (that is the Gbawe Road Extension, adjacent to the Zongo Junction Mobil Filling Station), and the negligence of the engineers of AMA Roads Department."
What was so wrong with this statement to merit the calling off of such an important meeting? The residents were compelled to withdraw the word 'negligence' and the meeting proceeded, but nothing good came out of it.
My letter to the former Regional Minister, Hon Mike Gizo on 9th March 1995 to grant me audience with a few residents of the area on "Zongo Junction and its problems", was granted. After a discussion with Urban Roads engineers and representatives of Big-Fat Services (Road Contractor), we were assured that all was well with the work done by Big-Fat Services who had blocked the junction towards Russia (Nmenmetee) for about four months and done nothing.
Incidentally, that year's rainy season was the worst. Apart from Zongo Junction and its surrounding areas that got flooded with residents losing their property, Kwame Nkrumah Circle was seriously flooded and lives were lost. Most Accra-North telephone lines stopped functioning. It was a bitter experience for some citizens and I wondered why the authorities were not going to their aid.
Later on, the constructed culverts at Zongo Junction got choked and the road had to be blocked again to get a new culvert constructed at the expense of the tax's payer. Waste indeed! And Big-Fat Services was nowhere to be found. The suffering continued and most residents had butterflies in their stomachs whenever they saw dark clouds gathering.
China International Water & Electric Corporation (CWE), the main contractors for the drainage system, started work around 18th December 2001, and by the first week of February 2002, they had laid all the culverts to the Butcher House point of the Oblogo Road.
I am glad that the third suggestion I made in my previous article has been heeded to by the consultant. That is: "... the digging and laying of big square culvert beneath Oblogo Road to join the ones at V-Lagoon traffic lights."
I got to know later that the consultant of the project is S.N.C. Lavalin International of Canada and the client - Ministry of Local Government.
Getting to the end of February 2002, the project came to a halt due to lack of funding. The laying of the culverts ended just behind Abroaquah Memorial School. Incidentally a big drain that carries water from Russia, Mataheko and the surrounding areas lies beside the school.
The project should have been halted by the side of the Mobil Filling Station at the Zongo Junction, the problem spot of flooding in the area but they say there is no money. Who will suffer?
A strong wall, constructed by the CWE contractors behind the Abroaquah Memorial School to direct flow of water, was pulled down by a heavy downpour on Sunday, 7th April 2002. This exposed the contractors as inefficient. The construction team came over to the spot the following morning with their mouths wide open. The problem left behind Abroaquah Memorial School is still there. Instead of blocking the meandering old small channel to the left, to enable the bigger channel concentrate on the flow of water to the tunnel, they have allowed both channels to operate at the same time. This still creates a problem when it rains.
I guess the authorities are not aware of this problem. They are overlooking so many things because they do not live in the area and do not listen to the views of the residents.
Before the project was halted, about seven smaller culverts were joined to the bigger ones. This change in size of the culverts attracted public attention and residents who suffer when it rains expressed their disapproval, but both the Chinese contractors and the Ghanaian workers were adamant.
With the Oblogo Road blocked to traffic during the period of work, residences in the area went through a few problems although the project was to benefit them. Many pipelines got damaged and the contractors did not bother to repair the damaged lines immediately.
The contractor has left a legacy of hardship to some residents in the area. Since the culverts, which were supposed to prevent floods, were laid, no rains have occurred without floods in the area behind Great Lamptey Mills School and beyond.
With my little knowledge about soils, I wonder whether the CWE has a soil specialist who advises them on the use of soils. It is appalling to see clay soil dug from the area being used to cover the culverts. Since the rain started, part of Oblogo Road has been turned into a skating ground for pedestrians and vehicles.
Now, Gbawe Road Extension, which had been impassable for so many years, has been covered with clay soil by CWE to enable the company's trucks and vehicles move freely on the road. Since the rains started, the surface has been decorated with miniature gullies, which have created havens for crabs. Thanks to CWE.
They have broken the strong edges of the big drains and have left the broken 'heavy' pieces in the drain, thus preventing free flow of water when it rains. The Teacher Mensah's Park, where CWE dumped their sand, has been left water logged, preventing the youth from playing soccer. The Chinese contractors also destroyed Ghana Telecom underground cables without notifying them and many telephone users in Sabon Zongo have been cut off by this damage.
They damaged a main service line of Ghana Water Company Ltd at the traffic lights on the Mortuary Road Junction and left it there for some time. Their work has disrupted the traffic lights for so many months now, creating commotion at the junction.
Consultants really need to be assessed before they are given any contract in this country. Inefficiency should not be allowed to prevail in this present HIPC condition. Those who doubt my assessment can visit the area and assess the situation for themselves.
Residents of the Zongo Junction area are, therefore, appealing to the government to come to their aid to get the project completed. But the question is, is CWE contractors capable of completing the project with a good finish?
Before I conclude, I will appeal to the Department of Urban Roads, who will see to the construction of the Gbawe Road Extension, to place speed ramps on the road to check overspeeding. That road has no sidewalks, and it lies in an area where school children walk about. They and all other pedestrians are at risk to over-speeding vehicles and must be protected.
The Oblogo Road also needs speed ramps at the Great Lamptey Mills School and the Gaskia Cinema areas.
I hope and pray that residents of Zongo Junction and its surrounding areas will survive these hard times, so that, I do not come back again.
by H. Nii Abbey
Copyright Accra Mail. Distributed by All Africa Global Media(AllAfrica.com)

KEYWORD: Ghana.

Document afnws00020020527dy5r00f4h
Features

Caught in the Holy Land

Allison Kaplan Sommer

Guy Assayag/Israel Sun

3,371 words

1 February 2002

The Jerusalem Post

JPST

Magazine

10

English

(Copyright 2002 The Jerusalem Post)
There are more disturbing sights than the sections of Ma'asiyahu Prison where 260 foreign workers are being detained while the procedures arranging their deportation from Israel are completed.
But the sights at this jail are decidedly sad.
Each of the faces that one sees behind bars is dejected and miserable.
Some of those held in the two wings earmarked for illegal laborers from abroad are penned up in a small locked room crowded with six bunk beds. Others are lucky enough to be sitting outside on the scattered benches in the courtyard surrounded by barbed wire.
This area of the minimum-security Ramle prison does not house hardened criminals, who are jailed in a separate wing. But it is full of young and middle-aged men who have traveled far from their families and friends, lived apart from them for months or years and spent time as unwanted guests in a foreign country and culture, just to make money to feed their families or build a brighter future.
These prisoners face the reality that they have failed in that mission and are in all likelihood going to be sent back to a situation possibly more hopeless than the one they fled in the first place.
The prison is full to capacity due to an aggressive operation inaugurated last month by the Interior Ministry to round up and deport large numbers of foreign workers, prompted in part by the political pressures of coping with an ever-growing rate of unemployment in the country. The number of foreign workers in Israel today stands at about 250,000, and about 150,000 of these are here illegally, according to government estimates. They account for about 13% of the labor force.
In the aftermath of this wave of arrests, the prison service invited members of the international media into the facility for a few hours recently to demonstrate to the world that conditions are reasonable and that detainees are not being abused.
The group of men - and 96 percent of the workers being detained are male - is a veritable United Nations, hailing from Romania, China, Thailand, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Egypt and Sudan. Some are also from the former Soviet Union, among them would-be immigrants accused of having forged visas.
According to the Foreign Ministry, illegal workers come from close to 70 countries and are employed in construction, agriculture, restaurants, hotels or in private homes as caretakers for the elderly. Those who are detained are accused of having entered the country illegally, overstaying a visa or leaving their original employer, either because of a dispute or to find a better job.
By law, a foreign worker must stay with the employer he or she was originally contracted to, even if that employer is abusive or violates their wage agreement.
As journalists enter the courtyard of Wing 3, several detainees see an opportunity to plead their case beyond the barbed wire. They freely approach and tell their stories.
Mahmoud Abu-Dahab, in jail for a week, is in deep distress.
Trembling, almost weeping, he pulls out a small plastic photo album and displays pictures of his baby daughter, Diana. He is educated and articulate, and given his fluent Hebrew, it is perhaps not surprising that Abu- Dahab managed to work here for five years before being caught.
"All I want to do is leave - take my wife and baby and go back to Egypt," he says, his voice choked with emotion.
"When they detained me, I begged them, 'Just give me 48 hours and I will get out of here.' I promised, I swore. But it didn't help. They talk about humanitarianism, they talk about sympathy, but they are showing none. I am sitting here while my family is suffering. My wife and two- month-old baby are stuck with no money, nothing. She can't buy milk for the baby. I am so worried about them - I have to get out of here," Abu-Dahab says.
From the testimony of other workers at Ma'asiyahu, it seems that more and more employers are cooperating with the authorities in their crackdown on the laborers, rather than doing all they can to hold onto these workers, as in the past.
It is not John Asante's turn to go into the yard - only 20 detainees are permitted outside at once. So he tells his story to journalists from behind the bars to his room.
The 40-year-old from Ghana said that he worked at a hotel in Eilat legally for two years.
Then one day, "the hotel sent me to the Interior Ministry to renew my visa, and instead, they arrested me in the Interior office," Asante says.
Asante feels the hotel management was aware he could be deported, and that perhaps they didn't care since a drop in tourism has forced them to cut back on their staff. "They knew this would happen. They knew where they were sending me," he says.
Another Eilat hotel worker in prison is Jochen Ancaljohn, 32, a Nigerian arrested after three months in the country. "It cost me $5,000 to get here in order to work. I thought I was all set. I had a good job, I was a good worker. This situation is just terrible," Ancaljohn says.
There appears to be no way to interview the members of the national group represented in the largest numbers in Ma'asiyahu without a translator.
Among the numerous Chinese detainees, none appears to speak either English or Hebrew, and most just stand there with sad looks as their fellow detainees are interviewed. They are the most recent group of foreign workers brought over: simple peasants, many of whom have paid Chinese employment agencies as much as $8,000 - believing that they would repay the loans through the wages of their jobs in Israel.
Their communication problems mean that many are stuck in detention far longer than necessary. Many have no idea whether they are legal or illegal workers, or even how to pronounce the names of their employers correctly to help Israeli government officials track down their passports, which are usually confiscated by their employers.
In more than one case, Chinese workers have sat in detention for weeks while Interior Ministry officials investigated their cases. In the end it turned out that these workers were, in fact, legal, still employed, and their employers were looking for them frantically.
Not all Ma'asiyahu inmates display anger. In Wing 4, which looks more like a jail and less like a makeshift camp, one tall, charismatic and muscular African man is laughing and smiling. He won't give his name.
"Call me Sam - Uncle Sam if you want."
Sam lived in Tel Aviv for four years with an Israeli girlfriend and refuses to admit that he worked in Israel at all. "I got money from home in Nigeria," is his unconvincing story.
"I was arrested last year, but they released me because my girlfriend was pregnant with my child. But, unfortunately, she lost the baby. Now I have lost my passport, and I have been arrested again."
He is, he says, finally resigned to going home. However, since he claims to have never worked here, the government would have to pay the expenses of deporting him.
While neat rows of laundry hang on the line and Ma'asiyahu inmates are able to make phone calls, they certainly look as bored and miserable as any other prisoners at the facility. Their schedule is unrelentingly dreary.
They wake up at six, eat breakfast and are allowed outside into their courtyard for two hours at 8:30 a.m. Medical personnel examine them every morning and evening.
They eat lunch at 12:15 p.m., and then are allowed out in the yard until 3:30. Dinner is at 5:30, and after that, they are inside for the rest of the night. Family and friends can visit only once a week - on Tuesdays, and special visits are permitted before a detainee flies home.
The majority of Ma'asiyahu inmates are not there for long. Once detained, those arrested for illegal presence in the country are given three days to appeal an impending deportation.
A hearing held by a ministry representative, who has the status of a judge, must take place within 14 days. He has the authority to nullify the deportation order, or to grant release on bail.
In approximately 60% of cases, detainees admit to being illegal workers, can easily access a passport and their employer agrees to send them home, officials say.
But all too often there are complications that delay the process significantly - most commonly the detainee cannot locate his passport, and Israeli officials must approach a consulate or an embassy for a new document or a laissez-passer. This can take weeks.
Financing the journey home is another problem. In some cases a former employer pays for the ticket. For those who hit a dead end in this effort, getting the Israeli government to pay for the fare involves a lengthy and bureacratic process via an Interior Ministry financing committee.
Most detainees have somewhere to go. However, a small number of Ma'asiyahu inmates, referred to by the bureaucrats as "special cases," have been stuck in detention for months or even years because they are unwilling to return to their native countries.
Two such cases were spotted strolling around the courtyard of Wing 3, their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders.
Tarik, a young Algerian, has been detained for 10 months, after living and working in Israel for six years. Tarik refuses to be deported to Algeria or any other Arab state. He is hoping to be permitted to reunite with family in Germany. .
His friend, Alfaddel, from Sudan, has been detained one year; he was in Israel for only a short time beforehand. Alfaddel crossed into the country near Kiryat Shmona from Lebanon after exiting Sudan via Egypt. .
He ran away from Sudan after speaking out against the government, and did not feel safe in any Arab country. .
"I heard that people would be nice here," he says. .
The United Nations High Commission on Refugees has recognized Alfaddel; however, the Israeli government has yet to recognize him as a refugee. If that occurs, the government would likely find him refuge in a kibbutz until a home can be found for him abroad. .
Then there is the difficult case of Muhammad Mashal. Mashal's presence surprises a photographer among the journalists, who never expected to see someone she knew behind the barbed wire at Ma'asiyahu. .
Mashal, 38, is the only Jordanian in the facility. Dressed in jeans and a colorful sweater, with long hair just starting to gray, Mashal worked as a photographer and a "fixer" for foreign journalists, helping them navigate their way around the territories and Jerusalem. Mashal says he was arrested while on his way from the Old City in Jerusalem to a police station to report that his cameras and his Jordanian passport were stolen. He has been at Ma'asiyahu for six months, refusing to return to Jordan. .
"I have written articles criticizing the Jordanian government," he says. "If I go back, I'll be in danger, even though no one here wants to believe me." .
But officials say that Mashal has yet to produce evidence of this danger, or any articles he has written, that would convince the UN or the Israeli government that he is a political refugee. Mashal says his articles were rejected for publication but passed to Jordanian intelligence. Unwilling to return home, and with the government unwilling to set him free, he is stuck. .
There are even tougher cases than Mashal in the detention facility. A handful are citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya or Syria, with which Israel has no relations and no lines of communications to arrange deportations. .
Even if a way to deport them was possible, returning them to their countries after sitting in an Israeli prison could be essentially a death sentence. The government would like to deport them to another country. Permitting them to remain is out of the question, an official says. .
The three most hopeless cases among the detainees are the stateless: men with no countries. These men were citizens of the Soviet Union when they made their way into Israel illegally years ago. Today, their Soviet citizenship means nothing, and because they have a criminal record, are vagrants, alcoholic or mentally unstable, the new republics in the former Soviet Union refuse to accept them as citizens. .
Yet another young man from a former Soviet republic paces the courtyard in frustration. .
Tall, blond and blue-eyed, Vladimir Mosayev, 22, stands out in the crowd of mainly Asian, Arab and African men. .
Mosayev says his entire family are in Israel: His mother, grandmother and sister, who has a baby, have been trying to prove to authorities that they are Jewish. He, too, was at the Interior Ministry when he was arrested, trying to get his visa extended. Officials say the entire family's visas were forged. .
Forged visa or not, Mosayev feels he has been done an injustice - he insists that his family is Jewish and should have immigrant status. "I have an apartment in Tel Aviv - I have a life," he says in fluent Hebrew.
"Look how I am living now - the food is inedible, we have no soap, no toilet paper - and look at the kind of people I am being held with" - he points with disdain at some African detainees, who understand what he is saying and snarl back, not appreciating the insult.
Officials say there are no problems of violence among the detainees.
"This atmosphere is very different from the rest of the prison. We're not talking about prisoners with criminal backgrounds - the opposite, in fact. These are people with a strong work ethic. There is almost no violence here, though there is some friction between the various nationalities because of differences in mentalities," says Orna Git, a young uniformed woman who is the manager or both wings.
Git tries to see herself as much as a housemother as a prison warden.
"I try to look at the people there in as human a way as possible: How can I make it easier for them while they're here? I try to make sure they get their meals; nobody goes to sleep hungry."
For those who are there long-term, she tries to ease their boredom by looking for books in their native languages and bringing in games like backgammon, checkers and chess.
But the pursuit that most interests them is sorting out the country's bureaucracy and trying to figure out how they can get released as quickly as possible, Git says.
"Most of these men never thought they would be in prison in their lives. All they want to do is get out as fast as they can - that's what keeps them busy."
Haggai Herzl, special adviser on foreign workers to the Ministry of Internal Security, explains that not every illegal worker who is caught and has a deportation order against him ends up at Ma'asiyahu. Those at the facility are believed by the government to be unwilling or unable to leave the country, he says.
"If a worker has no criminal background or involvement, seems genuinely committed to leaving the country on his own, and leaves a security deposit of NIS 30,000 - and we have been flexible on this sum - we will let them go with two weeks to get themselves organized and leave the country," Herzl says.
Herzl also notes that the government provides legal assistance to detainees seeking unpaid wages from former employers.
"It is true that it is a prison. But I have seen facilities for illegal aliens in the United States, England and Germany, and I don't think we have anything to be ashamed of, either by the conditions or procedures. Look at the Israelis who sat in US prisons after September 11 for two or three months, waiting to be able to begin their deportation process," Herzl says.
"We know that this is not a prison population, they are a special group and should be treated differently. We are continually trying to improve their conditions," he says.
Herzl adds: "If you saw the conditions that many of these workers were living in when they were detained, you would see that for many of them the hot meals and telephones at Ma'asiyahu are an improvement in their standard of living.
"Yes, it is sad that they are behind bars. But they did break the law and Israel has the right to enforce its laws."
(Box)Deporting illegal workers
The sad scenes at Ma'asiyahu Prison are all presumably for a greater national good. When there are fewer foreign workers, salaries in construction and agriculture will go up, more Israelis will be willing to work in them, and the soaring unemployment rate will drop, or so the theory goes.
In addition, the absence of cheap foreign labor will force the construction and agriculture industries to use hi-tech methods, thus becoming more attractive jobs.
This is the assumption the government is working on, and it is the driving force behind the stepped-up operation to get rid of most foreign workers, an estimated 13 percent of the civilian workforce. The declared purpose is to open up jobs for some of the 220,000 unemployed Israelis, diverting to them the approximately NIS 3 billion paid annually to foreign laborers.
On January 15, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Shlomo Benizri reported to the Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers on the results of his plan, whose goal is to implement a cabinet decision limiting the number of foreign workers to 48,000.
Merely freezing permits for new legal workers is clearly not enough to bring the numbers down so drastically, so rounding up workers who are already here and deporting them had to be part of the plan. The declared goal of the joint police-Labor Ministry operation has been the deportation of some 1,000 a month.
Benizri reported proudly that over the first four days of the effort, 300 illegal foreign workers were arrested. This is a significant increase over the previous pace of some 100 a month.
What he did not announce quite so proudly was his inability to round up any more than 300. While the government may have budgeted more money to allow teams of government workers to wander the country taking foreign workers into custody, it never increased the budget for their detention. Budgets flowing to the police, Labor, or Interior Ministry staff responsible for organizing and executing the deportation orders were not increased.
In addition, it is physically impossible to round up 1,000 foreign workers each month, when the number of spaces in facilities for detained foreign workers is less than 400. Currently, there are 260 detainees at Ma'asiyahu, which is full, 60 more at the women's prison in Neveh Tirtza, and an additional 20 at Nitzan Prison, which houses foreign workers with criminal proceedings pending against them.
"Right now, with the facilities we have, we still believe we can deport 650 to 700 each month. We are in intense negotiations with some hotels for conversion for use as facilities for foreign workers who are detained. If that happens, we think that we can double the rate of deportation," said Haggai Herzl, special adviser to the Internal Security Ministry on foreign workers.
But until that promise becomes a reality, the vast majority of illegal foreign workers will remain exactly where they are now - at work.
Some are bitter, others just don't know where to turn. Such is the plight of some of the hundreds of men who came here to work or seek refuge, but have been jailed as illegal aliens. Box at end of text.
3 PHOTOS; Caption: Laborers from China accused of being in the country illegally. Inmates loiter in a courtyard in Ma'asiyahu Prison. Mahmoud Abu-Dahab from Egypt.
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Building a firm foundation.
By Suzanne Sng.

1,370 words

1 September 2001

Straits Times

STIMES

English

(c) 2001 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
The Singapore International Foundation, set up to promote globalisation, has come a long way. It has volunteers going around the world and 82 Singapore clubs abroad
GOING global is quite the buzzword these days. Everyone, it seems, can be a citizen of the world.
But 10 years ago, when the idea of setting up the Singapore International Foundation was mooted, globalisation was a foreign word to many.
'I think that 10 years ago when SIF started, it was an organisation that was slightly ahead of its time,' says Dr Tan Chi Chiu, 41, its executive director.
'While it was clear that Singaporeans needed to globalise more and more, how it was going to be done at the people-to-people level was not clear to anybody.'
SIF's founder-director Professor Chan Heng Chee - who was asked by the then-Minister for Information and the Arts George Yeo to set up the organisation in August 1991 - started with a blank piece of paper.
'I could write my job description and the vision for the Foundation. As there were no precedents, we could be as innovative as we wanted,' says Prof Chan, 59, who helmed the non-government organisation until 1996, and is currently Singapore's ambassador to the United States.
'The SIF is the first organisation in Singapore to be dedicated to people-to-people diplomacy and cultural diplomacy,' she writes in Singaporeans Exposed, the SIF's 10th anniversary book.
'Through the SIF, we reach out to our neighbours, our region and the world. We learn to give and in giving, we learn about the world and a lot about ourselves,' she adds, pointing to its programmes.
The flagship programme is Singapore Volunteers Overseas (SVO), which sent out its first 15-man dental team to the Philippines in 1991.
Since then, more than 379 volunteers have spent a year or two living and working with communities, or as specialists on short engagements to Asean countries as well as Bhutan, Botswana, China, Ghana and Nepal.
Friends of Singapore and Overseas Singaporeans were also launched in 1991.
Dr Tan, who took over as executive director after Mr Chen Chin Chi in October 1999, says: 'It is a great tribute to Prof Chan and her early team that they conceived of platforms for programmes that not only continued to present day 10 years later, but have also been very successful and found new applications.'
The original programmes have been left largely intact, except for subtle strategic shifts 'to launch SIF into the 21st century'.
AN INCREASINGLY BORDERLESS WORLD
POINTING to changes in Singapore society in general and in the world at large, Dr Tan says that Singaporeans are more mobile and more connected than ever before.
'We wanted SIF to be less of an organiser of things for people to take part, and more as an enabler, a facilitator,' he says of the SIF's 'subtle strategic shifts'.
'In other words, whatever platforms we have, have to be made more flexible, more adaptable to address Singaporeans' aspirations.'
For instance, volunteers who had gone overseas over the past 10 years are called upon to organise talks and events, and even recruit and train new volunteers as part of Returned Singapore Volunteers Overseas (RSVO), formed in 2000. A network of volunteers is thus born.
'We're recognised as having a good quality set of procedures and protocol for handling volunteers,' he says. 'And I think we are Singapore's premier volunteer-sending agency.'
While the SVO and other volunteer programmes form the backbone of SIF, its other approach is through global networking, which is accomplished through Friends of Singapore and Overseas Singaporeans.
'I'm not aware of any organisation in the whole world that build relationships with their overseas communities as effectively as we do,' he says, while admitting that the Jewish and Irish diaspora around the world do so through more informal channels.
Rather than passively receiving visitors such as Asean fellows and diplomats from abroad, the Friends of Singapore programme is now projecting outwards as well.
Homegrown talents such as artist Ong Kim Seng, poet Felix Cheong and medical and environmental researchers are given grants to showcase their works overseas.
Achieving aspirations through SIF
The Overseas Singaporeans programme has also grown. Starting with 30 Overseas Singapore Clubs in 1991, there are now 82 such clubs in contact with the SIF, in places as far-flung as Shandong in China and as near as Malaysia. The SIF also organises camps for kids, such as Rainbow Blossoms and Connexions.
Singaporeans who are overseas, either for studies, work or have migrated, are not viewed as outcasts.
Dr Tan emphasises: 'We no longer say, 'These are overseas Singaporeans. Let's support them by giving them some grants'. We're now saying, 'These are part of the wider Singapore community. Let's do many things together'.'
So on top of grants to celebrate National Day, webchats with Education Minister Teo Chee Hean and Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh, for example, also bring overseas Singaporeans a little closer to home.
'We now want to bring them on board more actively, so that overseas Singaporeans are considered a part of the Singaporean community in the world,' says Dr Tan. 'They live there happily, but they don't want their Singaporean-ness leached out of them by their living overseas. In a way, we discover that they are more Singaporean than we are at home.'
A MORE 'PEOPLE' ORGANISATION
PROVING that you are never too young to volunteer, the SIF started a new initiative last year.
The Youth Expedition Project (YEP), as its name suggests, involves young people from youth groups such as the National Youth Council. Also joining the stable of SIF programmes this year is the Humanitarian Relief Programme (HRP), which sends teams to assist when disasters strike.
'For the original three programmes, we've had subtle strategic shifts in their approach, but the two new programmes clearly are very much 21st century programmes, very very new economy-type programmes,' says Dr Tan, a medical doctor who himself is a veteran of the volunteer brigade, having been to Indonesia, Laos, India, Mongolia and Chile on various missions.
'The YEP is remarkable for the fact it really brings on board youths in the globalisation process,' he adds, pointing to the impressive figure of 720 youths who took part in its first year, going to countries such as Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam to dig wells and build schools. Another 1,000 youths are expected this year.
Reflecting the new ways of engaging Singaporeans in its programmes, he says: 'We don't organise for them to take part, and we allow groups to retain their identity.
'We help them by giving advice, hand-holding if necessary, giving them some amount of financing. We are partners with the youths.'
As for the HRP, the fledgling programme has already sent four teams to assist during disasters such as severe floods in India's Orissa in August and Cambodia last December.
'Many Singaporeans wish they can contribute to disaster relief overseas,' he says. 'Yet, they don't have the ability or the organisational capability as individuals to really participate meaningfully in these projects.'
SIF gives these people 'developmental skills, databases them as volunteers, organises them into coherent functional teams, educates them about disasters, trains them, equips them'.
'And when the button is pressed, well first of all, we develop good relationships with their employers so that they can go,' he says, adding that SIF also helps them in terms of logistics, transportation and communication when they are there.
'It is not a Lone Ranger doing it alone and seeing who wants to jump on board with us on our projects as volunteers or as participants, but in fact responding to society's aspirations and finding ways to enable people to achieve these aspirations through us.'
The Singapore International Foundation celebrates its 10th anniversary tonight with a fund-raising dinner at the Mandarin Singapore. The guest of honour is Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, and the $250,000 raised so far from the dinner is in aid of Special Olympics Singapore and the Singapore Sports Council for the Disabled.
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Circuits; Section G

Malaysia's Internet Road Show

By WAYNE ARNOLD

1,779 words

23 August 2001

The New York Times

NYTF

Page 1, Column 2

English

c. 2001 New York Times Company
TUNJANG, Malaysia -- NAFIZAH ISMAIL had heard of the Internet, but she had never used it until one day in April when a special bus rolled up to her school, deep in Malaysia's northern rice bowl.
''We realized that the Internet can connect us to the outside world,'' Nafizah, 12, said as she and two village friends sat in their school canteen, heads covered by scarves as tradition dictates in this conservatively Muslim area. Now Nafizah is learning to prepare her homework on a computer, navigate the Internet, send e-mail and even design Web pages, as more than 2,800 other Malaysian children have done since the bus hit the road two years ago.
The bus, called the Mobile Internet Unit, is an attempt by Malaysia to help bridge its digital divide by delivering technology to its poorest, most remote schools on a 40-foot bus loaded with 20 personal computers. To the United Nations Development Program, under which the idea was conceived, the bus is an experiment in hastening the spread of the Internet to young minds in areas where infrastructure is scarce and suspicions run high.
''These mobile units are perfect in raising awareness, building interest and understanding -- and reducing the fear,'' said Vijay Parmar, deputy regional coordinator of the agency's Asia-Pacific Development Information Program in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur.
A sort of bookmobile for the Internet age, the original bus has already been supplemented by seven scaled-down versions, and the government plans to put two in each of Malaysia's 14 states by 2005. The United Nations agency, meanwhile, has organized a similar initiative in Ghana and says countries like Lebanon and Iran have expressed an interest.
Development experts involved in the effort say the Internet can play an important role in providing education and new opportunities in such countries -- or at the very least, can help them avoid falling further behind the developed world. That is no small challenge in places where villagers are lucky to have phone lines and electricity, much less an Internet cafe.
In its own development, Malaysia lies somewhere between the extremes and is trying to leap ahead. Homes in the rice-farming village where Nafizah lives have telephones and televisions. There are paved roads for motorbikes. The peasants and water buffaloes toiling in the paddies are gone; farmers hire combine harvesters to reap their crops.
And thanks in part to government initiatives, Malaysia is also disproportionately well networked. It has almost half as many Internet users per capita as the United States. Since the mid-1990's, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has made the creation of a ''knowledge economy'' a national priority, clearing a swath of oil-palm plantations for his version of Silicon Valley, seeking counsel from American technology executives and even badgering Muslim clerics to embrace the Internet.
At the same time, plans to install computers in the country's roughly 8,500 schools, starting with those in rural areas, have been slow, impeded in part by the financial crisis of 1997 and 1998 and the latest global economic slowdown. Since the endeavor was announced four years ago, only 90 of the so-called smart schools have been established.
''Malaysia is a very good country to start with,'' said Gabriel Accascina, who until last year headed the Asia-Pacific Development Information Program. Mr. Accascina came up with the idea for the Mobile Internet Unit based on his experience in the 1980's in Mali, when he and other aid workers used a four-wheel-drive vehicle to cart a television and videocassette recorder to rural villages to show instructional tapes. ''We would go into the village and pull out the TV and hand out brochures and teach the villagers how to dig a trench or recognize malnutrition,'' said Mr. Accascina, who now heads his own consulting firm.
With $75,000 in initial funds, Mr. Accascina sold the government's own technology research company, the Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems, or Mimos, on his idea of an old school bus carrying personal computers down the country's muddy back roads.
Mimos had even bigger plans. It persuaded the local distributor of Isuzu vehicles to donate a $263,000 bus tailored for the project. The result is a sleek, silver coach that is well beyond the battered bus Mr. Accascina envisioned. Three air-conditioners and a pocket of insulating air protect the computers and their users from the tropical heat. If no reliable power source is handy, a diesel-powered generator slides out of the bus's belly.