Jun 27, 2019
One of the great things about being in the satellite business is learning about all the ways broadband satellite solves problems for our clients. We have had clients in war zones who used our services to stay in touch with their friends and family back home, clients who provide telemedicine services, petrochemical, exploratory and drilling companies that allow employees deep in the jungle to make phone calls back to home and family, as well as, of course, all the standard business applications for which internet access of private IP networks are required.
We have written here before of partners providing services for medical personnel providing aid for Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). One of our partners, VisionNet, Ltd., who has supported this effort, has shared some photos of an installation in DRC, for a project to support a Gorilla conservation program. As Alex Bahati noted in a recent LinkedIn post:
“Today we just completed the implementation of an Off-Grid box and VSAT antenna in a rural village located 50km away from Lubero, North Eastern Congo. This village has no mobile coverage, nor internet. The solar power from the off-grid box will provide power for the VSAT for satellite internet to help advancing the Gorilla conservation program and provide a means of communication for the population in this area. I have spent 7 days here and I have never used my phone nor receive calls. All you can do with a phone here is to take photos.”
Our partners often face difficult circumstances and locations. As Alex proudly notes: “Do you see any building, car or shops? No one talks about the struggle of an entrepreneur in Congo. Yet we thrive! You will not see me on the media cover, yet I transform lives.”
Along with his next photo, Alex notes: “DAY 9: OffGrid is completed, Internet is also up and running, now installing mesh AP (WiFi Access Points) in the forest. This is how far we go to connect people to the internet and bring Renewable energy to the remote villages.”
The project Alex is supporting is the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center (GRACE). This is the only sanctuary that rehabilitates orphaned Grauer’s gorillas, a great ape that is critically endangered and threatened by illegal hunting. The gorillas in the project were rescued by Congo’s wildlife authority from poachers who captured them in the wild. GRACE cares for the orphaned gorillas with the goal of returning them to the wild.
The “gorilla cam” monitors gorillas in a 39-acre forest where they practice skills such as foraging and nest building. Most of them were less than three years old, and thus have not established the skills to live on their own. Placed with a surrogate family group, the orphaned gorillas receive care from GRACE in hopes of healing and returning them to gorilla life. In addition to caring for the gorillas, GRACE works with Congolese communities to promote forest preservation. We at BusinessCom are proud to support Alex with this amazing project.
Are you a BusinessCom client or partner? Please send photos and a description of your project and we will feature them with a short article here in our blog.
