Juliana Rotich: Meet BRCK, Internet access built for Africa

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Alisa Xholi Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

Living in Africa is to be on the edge,

Te jetosh ne Afrike do te thote te jetosh ne skajet,

metaphorically, and quite literally

ne menyre metaforike, dhe ne kuptimin e plote te fjales

when you think about connectivity before 2008.

kur mendon per rrjetin e lidhjes para 2008.

Though many human intellectual and technological leaps

Edhe pse shume hapa ne fushen e teknologjise dhe intelektit njerezor

had happened in Europe and the rest of the world,

kane ndodhur ne Europe dhe ne pjesen tjeter te botes,

but Africa was sort of cut off.

por Afrika nuk eshte perfshire aty.

And that changed, first with ships

Dhe kjo ndodhi, fillimisht me anijet

when we had the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution

kur kishim Rilindjen, revolucionin shkencor

and also the Industrial Revolution.

si dhe revolucionin industrial.

And now we've got the digital revolution.

Dhe tani kemi revolucionin dixhital.

These revolutions have not been evenly distributed

Keto revolucione nuk jane shperndare ne menyre te barabarte

across continents and nations.

neper kontinente dhe kombe.

Never have been.

Kurre nuk jane bere.

Now, this is a map of the undersea fiber optic cables

Kjo eshte nje harte e kabllove te fibrave optike te nendetit

that connect Africa to the rest of the world.

qe lidh Afriken me pjesen tjeter te botes.

What I find amazing is that Africa

Ajo cfare me mahnit eshte se Afrika

is transcending its geography problem.

po e kapercen problemin e saj gjeografik.

Africa is connecting to the rest of the world

Afrika po lidhet me pjesen tjeter te botes

and within itself.

dhe brenda vetes.

The connectivity situation has improved greatly,

Situata e rrjetit te lidhjes eshte permisuar ne mase te madhe,

but some barriers remain.

por ngelen disa pengesa.

It is with this context that Ushahidi came to be.

Ne kete kontekst u krijua dhe Ushahidi.

In 2008, one of the problems that we faced

Ne 2008, nje nga problemet qe kishim

was lack of information flow.

ishte mungesa e rrjedhjes se informacionit.

There was a media blackout in 2008,

Kishte nje erresim te plote mbi median ne 2008,

when there was post-election violence in Kenya.

kur ndodhen dhunimet e pas-zgjedhjeve ne Kenya.

It was a very tragic time. It was a very difficult time.

Ishte nje periudhe shume tragjike. Ishin kohe te veshtira.

So we came together and we created software

Ne u bashkuam dhe krijuam programin

called Ushahidi.

i quajtur Ushahidi.

And Ushahidi means "testimony" or "witness" in Swahili.

Dhe Ushahidi do te thote "deshmi" ose "deshmitar" ne gjuhen Swahili.

I'm very lucky to work with two amazing collaborators.

Jam shume e lumtur qe punoj me dy bashkepunetore te mahnitshem.

This is David and Erik.

Ky eshte David dhe Erik.

I call them brothers from another mother.

Une i quaj vellerez me nje nene tjeter.

Clearly I have a German mother somewhere.

Sigurisht qe kam nje nene Gjermane diku.

And we worked together first with building

Kemi punuar bashke fillimisht gjate ndertimit

and growing Ushahidi.

dhe gjate rritjes se Ushahidi-t.

And the idea of the software was to gather information

Idea e programit ishte te mblidhej informacion

from SMS, email and web, and put a map

nga SMS, e-mail dhe rrjeti, dhe te vendosej nje harte

so that you could see what was happening where,

ne menyre qe te shihet cfare po ndodh dhe ku,

and you could visualize that data.

dhe ju mund te kujtoni te dhenat.

And after that initial prototype,

Dhe pas atij prototipi fillestar,

we set out to make free and open-source software

ne vendosem te bejme nje program burim-hapur falas

so that others do not have to start from scratch like we did.

ne menyre qe te tjeret te mos fillojne nga zero ashtu sic beme ne.

All the while, we also wanted to give back

Gjate gjithe kohes, ne donim gjithashtu te shperblenim

to the local tech community that helped us

ne komunitetin lokal teknologjik qe na ndihmonte

grow Ushahidi and supported us in those early days.

te rrisnim Ushahidi-n dhe na mbeshteti ne ato vite te fillimit.

And that's why we set up the iHub in Nairobi,

Dhe per kete ne vendosem iHub ne Nairobi,

an actual physical space

nje hapesire fizike

where we could collaborate,

ku ne mund te bashkepunonim,

and it is now part of an integral tech ecosystem in Kenya.

dhe tani eshte pjese e nje ekosistemi teknologjik integral ne Kenya

We did that with the support of different organizations

E realizuam ate me mbeshtetjen e organizatave te ndryshme

like the MacArthur Foundation and Omidyar Network.

si Fondacion MacArthur dhe Rrjeti Omidyar.

And we were able to grow this software footprint,

Dhe ne ishim te afte te rrisnim gjurmet e ketij programi,

and a few years later it became

dhe pas disa vitesh u be

very useful software,

nje program shume i dobishem,

and we were quite humbled when it was used in Haiti

dhe u nderuam shume kur u perdor ne Haiti

where citizens could indicate where they are

ku qytetaret mund te tregonin ku jane

and what their needs were,

dhe cilat jane nevojat e tyre,

and also to deal with the fallout from the nuclear crisis

si dhe te perballonim renien e shkaktuar nga kriza nukleare

and the tsunami in Japan.

dhe cunami ne Japoni.

Now, this year the Internet turns 20,

Kete viti, Interneti mbush 20vjec

and Ushahidi turned five.

dhe Ushahidi mbushi pese.

Ushahidi is not only the software that we made.

Ushahidi nuk eshte vetem programi qe ne krijuam.

It is the team, and it's also the community

Eshte ekipi, eshte edhe komuniteti

that uses this technology in ways that we could not foresee.

qe perdor kete teknologji ne menyra qe ne nuk mund te parashikonim.

We did not imagine that there would be this many maps

Nuk e imagjinonim qe do kishte kaq shume harta

around the world.

perreth botes.

There are crisis maps, election maps, corruption maps,

Keto jane harta krizash, harta zgjedhjesh, harta korrupsioni

and even environmental monitoring crowd maps.

akoma dhe harta per monitorimin e mjedisit.

We are humbled that this has roots in Kenya

Jemi te nderuar qe kjo ka rrenje ne Kenya

and that it has some use to people around the world

dhe qe mund te ndihmoje njerez perreth botes

trying to figure out the different issues that they're dealing with.

duke u munduar te zgjidhin ceshtje te ndryshme me te cilat ata po meren.

There is more that we're doing to explore this idea

Ne po bejme me shume per te shqyrtyar kete ide

of collective intelligence, that I, as a citizen,

mbi inteligjencen kolektive, qe une, si nje qytetare,

if I share the information with whatever device that I have,

nese e ndaj informacionin me cilendo pajisje qe kam,

could inform you about what is going on,

mund t'ju informoj per cfare per ndodh,

and that if you do the same, we can have a bigger picture

dhe nese ju beni te njejten gje, ne do kemi nje imazh me te gjere

of what's going on.

per ate cka po ndodh.

I moved back to Kenya in 2011.

U ktheva perseri ne Kenya ne 2011.

Erik moved in 2010.

Erik u zhvendos ne 2010.

Very different reality. I used to live in Chicago

Nje realitet shume ndryshe. Une kam jetuar ne Chicago

where there was abundant Internet access.

ku ka akses interneti te bollshem.

I had never had to deal with a blackout.

Nuk me eshte dashur kurre te merrem me nderprerje korenti.

And in Kenya, it's a very different reality,

Ne Kenya, eshte nje realitet shume ndryshe,

and one thing that remains despite the leaps in progress

dhe nje gje e cila riqendron pavaresisht hapave te progresit

and the digital revolution is the electricity problem.

dhe te revolucionit dixhital, eshte problemi i elektricitetit.

The day-to-day frustrations of dealing with this

Frustrimi i dita-dites qe te merresh me kete

can be, let's just say very annoying.

mund te jete, le te themi shume e bezdisshme.

Blackouts are not fun.

Bllokimet nuk jane argetim.

Imagine sitting down to start working, and all of a sudden

Imagjino te ulesh per te filluar punen dhe papritur

the power goes out,

te nderpritet energjia,

your Internet connection goes down with it,

lidhja me internetin shkeputet,

so you have to figure out, okay, now, where's the modem,

dhe ti duhet te gjesh ne ate moment se ku ndodhet modemi,

how do I switch back?

si e rindez?

And then, guess what? You have to deal with it again.

Dhe pastaj, mendo, duhet te meresh perseri me ate.

Now, this is the reality of Kenya, where we live now,

Tani, ky eshte realiteti ne Kenya, aty ku jetojme tani,

and other parts of Africa.

dhe ne vende te tjera te Afrikes.

The other problem that we're facing

Problemi tjeter qe hasim

is that communication costs are also still a challenge.

eshte se kostot e komunikimit jane nje tjeter sfide.

It costs me five Kenyan shillings,

Me kushton mua pese shilling Kenian,

or .06 USD to call the U.S., Canada or China.

ose 6 cent ne minute te telefonoj Ameriken, Kanadan ose Kinen.

Guess how much it costs to call Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria?

E merrni me mend sa kushton te telefonosh ne Rwanda, Ghana dhe Nigeri?

Thirty Kenyan shillings. That's six times the cost

Tridhjet shilling Kenian. Kjo eshte gjashte here me shume,

to connect within Africa.

per tu lidhur brenda Afrikes.

And also, when traveling within Africa,

Gjithashtu dhe kur udheton perbrenda Afrikes,

you've got different settings for different mobile providers.

keni konfigurime te ndryshme per kompani te ndryshem celulare.

This is the reality that we deal with.

Ky eshte realiteti qe ne perballim.

So we've got a joke in Ushahidi

Ne kemi nje shaka nje Ushahidi

where we say, "If it works in Africa, it'll work anywhere."

ku themi "Nese funksionon ne Afrike, do funksionoje kudo."

[Most use technology to define the function. We use function to drive the technology.]

(Shumica perdorin teknologjine per te percaktuar funksionin. Ne perdorim funksionin per te drejtuar teknologjine.)

What if we could overcome the problem

Po sikur te mundeshim te kapercenim kete problem

of unreliable Internet and electricity

te internetit dhe elektricitetit te pasigurt

and reduce the cost of connection?

dhe te reduktonim koston e lidhjes?

Could we leverage the cloud?

Mund ta perdorim ne avantazhin tone kete re?

We've built a crowd map, we've built Ushahidi.

Kemi nje ndertuar nje harte te ngjeshur, kemi ndertuar Ushahidi.

Could we leverage these technologies

Mund te perdorim ne avantazhin tone keto teknologji

to switch smartly whenever you travel from country to country?

te transferojme ne menyre te zgjuar sa here udhetoni nga nje shtet ne tjeter?

So we looked at the modem,

Keshtu qe vezhguam modemin

an important part of the infrastructure of the Internet,

nje pjese e rendesishme e infrastruktures se internetit

and asked ourselves why

dhe pyetem veten pse

the modems that we are using right now

modemat qe ne perdorim momentalisht

are built for a different context, where you've got

jane te ndertuara per kontekst ndryshe, kur kemi

ubiquitous internet, you've got ubiquitous electricity,

internet te kudogjendur, kur kemi elektricitet te kudogjendur,

yet we sit here in Nairobi and we do not have that luxury.

por ne jemi ne Nairobi dhe nuk e kemi ate luks.

We wanted to redesign the modem

Donim te riprojektonim modemin

for the developing world, for our context,

per boten ne zhvillim, per kontekstin tone,

and for our reality.

dhe per realitetin tone.

What if we could have connectivity with less friction?

Po sikur te kishim lidhje me me pak pengesa?

This is the BRCK.

Kjo eshte BRCK.

It acts as a backup to the Internet

Perdoret si nje rezerve per internetin

so that, when the power goes out,

ne menyre qe, sa here te kemi shkeputje te energjise

it fails over and connects to the nearest GSM network.

fiket dhe ben lidhje me rrjetin me te afert GSM.

Mobile connectivity in Africa is pervasive.

Lidhja celulare ne Afrike eshte e perhapur.

It's actually everywhere.

Ne te vertete eshte kudo.

Most towns at least have a 3G connection.

Shumica e qyteteve kane nje lidhje 3G.

So why don't we leverage that? And that's why we built this.

Pra pse mos ta perdorim kete ne avantazh? Dhe kjo eshte arsyeja pse e ndertuam kete.

The other reason that we built this

Arsyeja tjeter pse e ndertuam

is when electricity goes down, this has eight hours

eshte se kur elektriciteti shkeputet, kjo ka tete ore

of battery left, so you can continue working,

bateri te ngelura, ne menyre qe te vazhdosh punen,

you can continue being productive,

mund te vazhdosh te jesh produktiv,

and let's just say you are less stressed.

dhe le te themi qe je dhe me pak i stresuar.

And for rural areas, it can be

dhe per zonat rurale, mund te jete

the primary means of connection.

mjeti kryesor i lidhjes.

The software sensibility at Ushahidi is still at play

Ndjeshmeria e programit ne Ushahidi eshte akoma ne loje

when we wondered how can we use the cloud

Kur pyesnim veten se si mund te perdornim ren

to be more intelligent so that

per te qene me inteligjent ne menyre qe

you can analyze the different networks,

te analizosh rrjetet e ndryshme

and whenever you switch on the backup,

dhe sa here transferoheni ne rezerve

you pick on the fastest network,

ju zgjidhni rrjetin me te shpejte

so we'll have multi-SIM capability

keshtu qe do te keni kapacitet SIM-te shumfishte

so that you can put multiple SIMs,

keshtu qe do mund te vendosni SIM te shumifshta,

and if one network is faster, that's the one you hop on,

dhe nese nje rrjet eshte me i shpejte, ate do zgjidhni

and if the up time on that is not very good,

dhe nese koha e ngelur ne te nuk eshte mjaftushem mire,

then you hop onto the next one.

atehere do zgjidhni tjetren.

The idea here is for you to be able to connect anywhere.

Ideja kryesore ketu eshte qe ju te keni mundesi te lidheni kudo.

With load balancing, this can be possible.

Me balancimin e ngarkeses, kjo eshte e mundur.

The other interesting thing for us -- we like sensors --

Pjesa tjeter interesante per ne --ne na pelqejne sensoret--

is this idea that you could have an on-ramp

eshte idea qe ju mund te keni nje On-ramp

for the Internet of things.

per gjerat e internetit.

Imagine a weather station that can be attached to this.

Imagjinoni nje kanal moti qe mund ti bashkangjitet kesaj.

It's built in a modular way so that you can also attach

Eshte e ndertuar ne nje menyre modelare, sa te bashkangjisesh

a satellite module so that you could have

nje modelar satelitor qe te keni

Internet connectivity even in very remote areas.

rrjet interneti edhe ne zonat me te largeta.

Out of adversity can come innovation,

Jashte fatkeqesive mund te dali risia,

and how can we help the ambitious coders and makers

dhe si mund te ndihmojme shifruesit dhe krijuesit ambincioz

in Kenya to be resilient in the face of problematic infrastructure?

ne Kenya te jene elastik ne rastin e infrastruktures problematike?

And for us, we begin with solving the problem

Sa per ne, ne fillojme te zgjidhim problemin

in our own backyard in Kenya.

ne oborrin tone ne Kenya.

It is not without challenge.

Nuk ndodh pa sfida.

Our team has basically been mules carrying components

Ekipi jone eshte treguar kokeforte me mbajtjen e komponenteve

from the U.S. to Kenya. We've had very interesting conversations

nga Amerika ne Kenya. Kemi pasur biseda shume interesante

with customs border agents.

me agjente doganor kufitar.

"What are you carrying?"

"Cfare po mbartni"?

And the local financing is not

Dhe financimi lokal nuk eshte

part of the ecosystem for supporting hardware projects.

pjese e ekosistemit per mbeshtetjen e projekteve programuese.

So we put it on Kickstarter, and I'm happy to say that,

Pra e vendosem ne Kickstarter, dhe jam e lumtur te them se

through the support of many people,

me mbeshtetjen e shume njerezve

not only here but online,

jo vetem ketu por dhe ne rrjet,

the BRCK has been Kickstarted,

BRCK ka filluar,

and now the interesting part of bringing this to market begins.

dhe tani fillon pjesa interesante e te sjellit kete ne treg.

I will close by saying that, if we solve this

Do e mbyll duke thene se, nese zgjidhim kete

for the local market, it could be impactful

per tregun lokal, mund te jete ndikuese

not only for the coders in Nairobi

jo vetem per shifruesit ne Nairobi

but also for small business owners

por dhe per zoterues te bizneseve te vogla

who need reliable connectivity,

te cilet kerkojne lidhje te besueshme,

and it can reduce the cost of connecting,

mund te reduktoje koston e lidhjes,

and hopefully collaboration within African countries.

dhe ti japi shprese bashkepunimit midis shteteve Afrikane.

The idea is that the building blocks of the digital economy

Idea eshte qe blloqet e ndertimit te ekonomise dixhitale

are connectivity and entrepreneurship.

jane lidhja dhe ndermarresia.

The BRCK is our part

BRCK eshte pjese e jona

to keep Africans connected,

te mbajme Afrikanet te lidhur,

and to help them drive the global digital revolution.

dhe ti ndihmojne te ecin drejt revolucionit dixhital global.

Thank you.

Faleminderit.

(Applause)

(Duratrokitje)