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December 11, 2003

Education on wheels. The rugged and beautiful mountains and of Cambodia are virtually inaccessible to the outside world - Education struggles to travel along the muddy potholed paths that only ox-cart and motorbikes can use.

But an organisation at one of the stalls buried among the hundreds of others at Geneva has penetrated the dense green heart of the Ratanakiri region.

With five little bright red motorbikes, they are taking e-mail and non-real-time internet access to the schools to, project organiser Neou Ty explained. The pilot scheme works through a receiver on the back of the bike, which picks up reception from a satellite dish.

According to Japan Relief for Cambodia: "Despite its charm life in the region is rough. During the rainy season, villages soon become inaccessible. Food and housing are inadequate. Disease is common and child mortality high. Most villagers lack even a basic education.

"No postal system, no telephones. People, goods or information could only be transported via ox-cart or motorcycle. The five motorbikes are a vital first step for these villages in gaining access to a new world of educational, medical and economic opportunity."

The charity has already built 14 schools and equipped them with a solar panel to run their computers. Now, e-mail and internet access provided from the bikes has connected the villages schools to each other and health clinics. But 3,000 villages in Cambodia don't have a school yet, let alone a computer.

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