Halberg’s family lived between two villages, a few miles apart. Her host sister, Jane, in the pink shirt on the left, would use her cell phone to call friends and family. (Photo courtesy Alicia Halberg)
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In my opinion
Rural African village meets the global village
By Alicia Halberg
Imagine my disbelief when I walked through a rural Sierra Leonean village of 400 people with mud-thatched roofs, no running water, and no electricity as my 15-year-old host sister tapped away on her cell phone.
Once these technologies exist, they’re going to expand and change how the world interacts. That’s what communication scholar Marshall McLuhan’s medium theory predicts: each significant new medium introduced will change communication patterns. It’s simple.
This introduction of a new globalized process into a new space has changed things, creating a new cultural communication pattern among youth. They’re growing up hearing about faraway towns and news instantly, rather than by word-of-mouth gossip communication.
Adaptable technological mediums, such as cell phones, aren’t solely associated with the West anymore. New media have maintained local diversity in Kagbere, a rural Landogo village in Sierra Leone’s Bombali District, while still plugging people into the global communication trend of instant news.
In fact, these cell phones were brought in by Chinese corporations and modified to cater to the needs of the population. Many phones featured extra long battery life, flashlight components, and special solar or crank-powered chargers. These are Sierra Leonean phones.
Some might say cell phones and other technologies destroy traditional life in this part of the world. I would argue otherwise — the introduction of these new communication processes is changing how people interact, but not for the worse.
Sierra Leone’s youth now have access to instant information and are connected into a larger global public sphere. From one rural village lacking electricity and running water to a global village of shared communication methods, they all use cell phones to spread whatever diverse and unique message they’re trying to send.