AirJaldi in San-Sebastian, Spain

Yahel and Yael infront of San-Sebastian City Hall

Since I attended the AirJaldi conference held in Dharamsala on October 2006 only virtually, while sitting in Berkeley, I decided to physically join Yahel for his talk in San-Sebastian, where he was invited to speak at the San Sebastian Municipal Summer Course about AirJaldi's work.

	San-Sebastian, sitting on the Atlantic Ocean, is a charming little town. The conference was held in an old palace which the city council transformed into a small university. Most of the attendants were from Spain and several speakers came from South and North America. Naturally, the dominant language was Spanish and much of the enthusiasm in Yahel's voice was lost through the simultaneous translation. Though Yahel tried to excite people about the technology which is being used by AirJaldi, his bright eyes, as he described AirJaldi's work, took the audience to another direction - instead of getting questions about the technology, as he was hoping, several came after the talk, saying how exciting this project sounds and asking about ways of joining! Beyond the obvious importance of having an AirJaldi representative invited to give a talk in an international conference, I feel there is an impact which goes much deeper - the idea that Western countries can learn from things happening in the developing world. A project like AirJaldi addresses some very big challenges as it brings new technologies to rural areas. The solutions developed for these challenges make such a project much more interesting than many other wireless Internet project as, once these solutions are developed with various constraints in mind (for example the need for very cheap infrastructure or the importance of very durable equipment) other countries and regions - even in Europe - can learn and benefit from these solutions. Many projects which are realized in developing countries by the developed world end up being mainly a uni-directional relationship - "we, in the west, will teach you how to do things". AirJaldi proves that this relationship can indeed be (as it should be), mutual and fruitful for both. Though Yahel himself is more westernized by nature and affiliation, AirJaldi is Indian and the knowledge and experience gathered in the project is surely Indian. Yahel's background and knowledge of both worlds enabled him to emphasize in his talk those advantages of AirJaldi's work which can also be beneficial in a place like Spain: the unique technology, the low price of manufacturing, and so on. The talk expressed a serious and important side of AirJaldi which goes beyond the usual gimmicks that the media stick to. But above all, I think that the biggest benefit to most people who attended Yahel's talk was a chance to share his excitement in developing new technologies to fit the needs of challenging places. It is said, in Architecture, that constraints force creativity, this is definitely true for AirJaldi.

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AirJaldi in San-Sebastian, Spain

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