Another Training Day. Using a Mobile phone – Practicals
This Sunday, after a little contemplation, we decide with the women to test their new skill in the use of mobile phones. We would stay back in the city (Kaduna) and they would call our numbers as well as receive calls from us.
During the past week, with the assistance of the sole administrator, we had purchased an antenna and connector so that the mobile phone can receive network signal in the village. On getting to the village however, we realized that the connector was compatible only with phones such as Samsung R220 but we had purchased a Nokia brand. It should have been easy to exchange but Samsung r220 seemed to have been phased out from the Nigerian mobile phone market. After a long search we (with the much needed and appreciated help of the sole administrator) got an r220 samsung phone. Yeah us!
Back in town, we start receiving calls from the women. Every woman tries to call the different contacts we had given them. We do not pick all the calls; (they learn what we call “flashing”) i.e. just as soon as the phone line is connected to the receiver, you terminate the call with the hope that the person will call you back. The women are really excited and they hope to apply this “flashing technique” in order to receive calls from friends and relatives in town. By so doing, they would also generate income; for every call any of the women gets, they get to pay a fixed charge of N10. Finally, the treasurer, who is also our contact person calls to thank us and the women disperse.
Luckily, we are getting enormous support from the village; especially from the sole administrator who made sure he was present at the meeting even though we weren’t there.
Reported by Seember and Binta
