Ghanaian Teacher Builds Own Wireless Equipment

“I’m a teacher at the Dabokpaa Technical Institute in Tamale and there was a need to share resources within the school premise," says Salifu. "Doing this through Internet is too expensive. Also, buying the equipment in the north of Ghana is very hard and it takes a long time to get to Tamale.”

As an electrical engineer Salifu has always been interested in building appliances himself out of spare parts. After attending several wireless workshops sponsored by IICD, he started building his own wireless network equipment from antennas to a full satellite. He also got help from other local partners through IICD’s online D-groups forum.

Salifu is now seen as an ICT expert, in particular on building wireless networks, in Ghana’s Northern region. Apart from his teaching job, he also works for the IICD-supported ACDEP-project, where audiovisual information is made on health and agriculture. Salifu: “I teach the project staff how to use the computer to raise awareness: how to capture content by video or scanner and share what is being done. This process of visualisation is very important, because many people around Tamale are illiterate and this way they can still find information.”

Salifu’s main aim is to “inspire people to think outside the box and show that we can accomplish many things if we do them ourselves.”