

How I created and launched a website from the Internet café in Zimbabwe - munyukim
http://munyukim.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/how-i-created-and-launched-a-website-from-the-internet-cafe-in-zimbabweafrica/

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ma2rten
Good job! I really like the domain name.

Here a some ideas for improvements:

\- It might be a good idea if you'd make subsections for different hiphop
genres, for example one for zimbabwean hiphop (e.g. mixdem.com/zimbabwe).
People can find you on Google this way if they can search for this hip hop
from zimbabwe and you might become the go to place for this specific genre.

\- Think about using more hiphop (ghetto) language.

\- Make a logo. It helps for people to recognize/remember your site. It would
already help if you just write the name of your site in a cool type face.

\- It did not see a lot of comments on your site (none actually). This is very
important for a community (look at Hacker News for example). Experiment with
different ways to get more comments. For example you could put a text box on
every page for people to leave a comment, even if they are not logged in. If
they try to post a comment you could make them log in or register to post it.

\- It might be better to embed the videos in the video section directly into
your page instead of linking to a page which does. This way people stay on
your site, instead of going elsewhere (same of the downloads if it is
possible).

\- Even though it's annoying, you could also put a frame on top of the page,
when people click a link to another site. In this frame people could vote up
the site or go back to your site to leave a comment.

\- Maybe add a share on twitter / facebook for specific news items or videos,
which people want to share with their friends.

\- When I am on the page for a specific item I was expecting that clicking on
the title would make me go to the site. It took me a second to see that there
is actually a button "go to site".

I hope you find some of those suggestions useful. It is not meant as
criticism.

~~~
kaeluka
please do not use ghetto language, that'd make my puppy cry :-(

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ma2rten
Maybe your puppy is not the target audience ;). I think it would help make it
feel less generic and more appealing to (some) hiphop listeners. I don't mean
to overdo it just something like "I feel it" instead of "upvote".

~~~
kaeluka
haha, well, you might be right on that -- however, overdoing it might come
across as insincere...

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blorenz
This is very humbling to read. I live in America, land of opportunity --
mostly taken for granted. I take for granted the freedom to jump on the
internet at almost any moment I choose. I take for granted that I have
constant access to a reliable power grid. I take for granted that credit
companies want to extend me the ability to utilize a credit card. I take for
granted that I have free access to a banking system. I take for granted that,
since I work in technology, I can pick from a multitude of job offerings. I
just plainly take for granted the fact that I had the fortune and advantage to
be born into this land. Does America have her woes? Yes, as does everywhere.
Your situation, munyukim, has created a stark contrast to what I have been
afforded. I truly do respect you for what you have achieved with such
environments and obstacles that you do face. Congratulations on a job well
done!!

~~~
brunohq
I second that. Sometimes we just forget how fortunate we are and how we take
everything for granted. Congrats and a big thank you for sharing this with us,
munyukim.

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munyukim
Thank you everyone ,i really appreciate all the positive responses .i never
imagined my story would be on hacker news frontpage.

~~~
kylec
The space comes after, not before, punctuation like commas and periods. Just
FYI.

~~~
ngokevin
FYI: "for your information".

~~~
munyukim
just updated the about page

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eaurouge
Congrats! I've been told Zimbabwe has a pretty good education system despite
its economic woes. Have to wonder how much talent is being wasted while Bob is
in power.

~~~
keithpeter
I have a number of students from Zimbabwe who over here in the UK for
'political reasons' in my classes. I think once the country is back on an even
keel, we will have to watch out.

~~~
munyukim
Zimbabwe indeed has got one the most affordable education system ,no matter
where you live there is a school easily accessible.Also education is the
biggest employer .However its really hard a tertiary level to get the most out
of your education because of the economic situation.

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intenex
This is fantastic. I was in Tanzania last year and met a very cool kid without
a lot of options. Orphan, no money, etc, but had a fantastic grasp of English
and could definitely hustle. Tried to convince him to pick up programming as
it seemed like the most accessible monetizable skillset available to him. Now
I'll have something to give him to show it's actually possible. Thanks for
sharing!

~~~
boskonovitch
programming is definitely a skill which doesn't require a lot of resources,
with a pc and decent internet connection, one can become very powerful.

~~~
nekojima
"with a pc and decent internet connection"

Unfortunately, for many people in the world this, and as mentioned in the
posting a reliable supply of electricity, is something that not everyone can
afford or easily acquire.

There are many hundreds of bright young people (and older too) that I've met
on my travels through small towns and villages in Asia and Africa. I far too
often have thought that I wish I could give them a computer, internet,
electricity, something to help them break out of their lives of unemployment,
underemployment & poverty and engage in the wider world to make money to
support themselves and their family. Even the seemingly basic solutions have
far too many hurdles and levels of corruption to avoid.

~~~
kaeluka
might I ask how you ended up on those travels? job related or free-time? In
either case: I'd be grateful for some details!

~~~
nekojima
Some are job related where I've visited remote locations to check on resource
sites or in conflict zones. Otherwise, I often go off the beaten track to find
out what its like in remote areas. Originally for the landscapes, flora &
fauna, now also to meet the people who live locally and to see how they live.
Though I try very much not to be intrusive, exploited or voyeuristic about it,
as I feel many westerners do that, still very much in the 19th Century
tradition.

Its usually best to go on personal travel, though obviously more expensive and
usually without a support network & connections that work often provides. For
work or relief organizations it can be better, but you also may not have the
easy option of leaving when it gets a bit dangerous, as can happen in some
regions on very short notice.

~~~
kaeluka
thank you very much -- I'm still dreaming of somehow combining work and travel

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zackzackzack
Good job so far getting it up and running. Apply some kickstrap[0] and you
will have a much cleaner looking website overnight. If you can get some better
design going, your traffic should increase more.

[0]<http://ajkochanowicz.github.com/Kickstrap/themes.html>

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ezegolub
Hey munyukim, really good site and story, i have a question and an offer:
question: What is your plans for monetization? How do you plan on making money
with this? Offer: Private Message me if you need help with then programming,
i'll be happy to help (been programming in php/mysql for longer than i care to
remember)

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jgw
Very cool, Munyuki. Maybe it needs a "Translate to Shona" feature :)

I lived in Harare from 1986-90, long before I'd heard the term "Internet".
It's really great to see Zimbabweans making their mark on the net.

Best wishes and luck, mate!

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aen
Congrats buddy! Shows that nothing can stop someone from creating good things.
I'm not into hiphop but the site looks pretty well-made.

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rabbitfang
>Zimbabwe, Africa

Off-topic, but it really shouldn't be necessary to provide a continent when
naming a country e.g. Japan, Asia.

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kylebrown
> _If you find yourself in a position like me ,don’t lost hope instead start a
> project and tell people about it ,it doesn’t have to perfect and use all the
> resources you can get._

Inspiring story!

I'm curious about the tech stack for mixdem. Was it forked from an example
link aggregator, written from scratch, php or ...?

~~~
jurre
If you take a look you'll see it's php from the URL's.

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AwesomeTogether
I have so many tools at my disposal but have only a fraction of your talent
and perseverance...Great job!

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netvarun
Thanks for sharing your story! I know a thing or two about building web
crawlers and aggregators. Drop me a note and I could help you with some of the
technical matters. Stay awesome and keep rocking!

~~~
munyukim
I would like to learn about crawlers .My email is m.manatsa@gmail.com

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bdotwaller
Munyukim, I've had an idea similar to this in my head for some time. Your
story is impressive, I'd like to speak more with you offline if possible. Can
you send me your info? b@bdotwaller.com

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flannell
How spooky, I was in Harare just two weeks ago for a friends wedding. The
electrical grid only seemed to work for a few hours, however with a backup
generator the Internet seemed reliable!

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Axsuul
Wow no power during the day? That's awesome that you took advantage of the
resources available to you. Your story was very inspiring, thanks for sharing
and I wish you the best of luck

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mahmud
Fix your About page; ideally, it should say something about you.

~~~
mischa_u
Also link to your blog from your site.

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wtvanhest
Anyone know why the punctuation gets messed up from a lot of African
computers? It is the best giveaway that a Cl emailer is a spammers.

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tersiag
Great job. I'm willing to help with the front-end design and development, free
of charge. Just send me an email (find it on my hn profile)

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Tichy
Impressive story. Is it "the internet cafe around your corner" or "THE (one)
internet cafe in Zimbabwe"? :-)

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aysar
Wow, congrats! Thats a crazy struggle you have to go through- surely must pay
off- just keep at it!

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jackds
I was hoping the blog will have some links from times past, talking about how
it was going.

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psteiner
Munyukim, excellent start! Keep building on your initiative, we'll be cheering
you on!

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antihero
Any chance you'd throw the code on GitHub for some critique? :)

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brainless
Very inspiring story.

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munyukim
feel free to contact me @ m.manatsa@gmail.com

