Since I do alot of work in Africa and India, the issue of technology access for the poor is close to my heart. This BBC article is nice - preaching to the choir here; however, I still would like to read a more comprehensive - and convincing - analysis of why the poor need technology. Clean water and decent medicine are pretty high priorities... of course these needs are not mutually exclusive - there is no reason why technology access can't facilitate some of these more important (in my view) issues. Noted in the article is how there is an incorrect perception that the digital divide is "yesterday's issue;" my experience during a recent trip to India confirms this point. there isn't even a decent backbone connection to Europe from India - that connection is completely saturated in the afternoon, rendering web access completely useless to Europe.

Today I spent some time at the Ukrainian Embassy getting my visa for an upcoming trip. The folks at the Embassy were very cordial; they even processed my visa in three hours. During the drive back in the taxi, I decided I should add a category in my blog for ex-pats living in Bulgaria. And now for my first story relating to this topic: Visiting the Ukrainian Embassy in Sofia Bulgaria.