Farewell to Maputo
Letter from Mozambique! Marlon Bachmann draws positive conclusions from his project work in southeastern Africa.
Nov 13, 2015
The apprentice IT specialists spent two weeks in Maputo to build a campus network at a higher education institution there. One last group photo, and then it was time to say goodbye.
Image Credit: Private
Done! Relaxing at the beach after our last stressful week of work.
Image Credit: Private
There was a lot to do again during our last week of work: We turned over our project to the two local administrators and explained how to set up new user accounts and what authorizations they will need to connect to the Wi-Fi. We also showed the administrators where they need to set up the access points we configured in order to cover the campus with Wi-Fi. We drafted documentation and instructions so that the new administrators could solve potential problems on their own. Finally, we copied the data from the old Windows server to the new one and created a file sharing structure. Now the teachers can use network drives jointly and share information about classwork and similar subjects more easily.
At the end, we were also interviewed about our work for the Instituto Superior Dom Bosco school newspaper. The interview is supposed to let students know about the free Wi-Fi that is now offered on campus. On our last weekend, we drove to Ponta do Ouro, a small town on the Indian Ocean, on the border between Mozambique and South Africa.
It was a great place to relax – just what we needed. We had a barbecue and drew conclusions about our work with our project manager, sharing our impressions. Then, on Sunday, we went back to Maputo, where we shared another meal as a large group, including everyone involved in the MoçamBIT project and their family members.
I am very happy to have been able to participate in this project. I gained a wealth of experience, formed many impressions, and got to know a lot of nice people. I hope our project was a success and encourages others to get involved, too. It is a really nice feeling to know that we were able to help the local people. In particular, the gratitude they showed us reinforces my desire to continue working on projects like this.
Further Information
MoçamBIT is an apprenticeship project launched by apprentices from Strato AG, in Berlin, five years ago. Since Strato AG did not have any apprentices who could be sent to Mozambique this year, the company approached the vocational training association afib, a partner of Freie Universität Berlin. MoçamBIT is currently being implemented for the fifth time; the program is scheduled to run for the long term.
In our campus.leben series "Letters from ..." six students, two doctoral candidates, and an apprentice are reporting on their experiences abroad. Here we introduced the nine travelers, and here are Marlon Bachmann's previous reports.