Cell phones

We all now have working Kenya cell phones. Having them is important to us as communication is really necessary throughout the day. Everyone ends up dispersing some during the day and we all seem to need to call and/or text each other. Even the surgeons end up all over the place. They may start the day in the theatre but eventually one goes to see patients in the ENT clinic and someone else goes to the ward to round on earlier surgery patients but they inevitably have questions for each other. They also call me. For anything and everything. From "I need you to find the nasal packing back at IU House and bring it immediately" to "can you bring some cokes?" to "where are we going for dinner?"

So one of my jobs is to get a phone for everyone. We've collected some phones over the years that work here. We brought 6 with us and have now collected 4 more. Since I'm a phone snob, I'm using an iPhone 4 from home that I recently replaced with a new iPhone 5. I'm using it to call, text, and post blog entries. I have a good 3G data connection here as we'll as wifi at IU house.  Most of the phones we use here are very simple talk/text phones as shown in the photo.

It used to be very easy to get cell service in Kenya.  The 4 cell companies happily gave away SIM cards and phone numbers to anyone who would take them, hoping that the user would buy pre-paid air time from them. But recently the Kenyan government enacted legislation requiring that all phone lines be "registered" in a bid to combat crime. (www.bbc.co.uk/news/10366235)

To make a long story a little shorter, after 4 visits to an Airtel store, I finally have all our numbers registered and the phones working. Unfortunately, these lines will automatically be shut off after going 3 months without being used. So when we return next, I'll have to get new SIM cards and phone numbers and register them again. The good news is after my 4 visits to the store, I now know that I can register all the phones with my passport (and don't really need to register them to each user) AND I now know the codes that the employees send via the phone to initiate the registration process, so in the future, I can buy the SIM cards and airtime and register them myself. 

I mentioned they are pre-paid phone lines (as are the vast majority here.)  You buy airtime by purchasing a "scratch card" for your carrier from any shop, scratch off the gray coating (like in a scratch-off lottery ticket) and use your phone to send the code, which then adds the money amount to your phone number. Then after each call that you make or text you send, you get a message telling you what it cost and what your balance is. It costs nothing to receive a call or text, only to call or send. The lower picture is an example of how the message appears on my iPhone. This result is from a 2 minute call that I made. If you convert the Kenyan schillings to $US, my call cost $0.08 and my remaining balance is $3.80. 

Sent from Kyle's AT&T iPhone