Imagine a world where people communicate and understand and appreciate our diversity. Imagine a world where the tyranny of distance is overcome and time zones and huge travel times become an asset. Imagine a world where people don’t have to emmigrate to prosperity but instead can enjoy prosperity wherever they want.

Imagine a Pacific Village perched between the fertile hills and the abundant sea. Imagine it surrounded by coconut, banana and breadfruit trees on one side and the smooth white sandy beaches in the other. Imagine it taking more than 50 hours in a small boat to get to the nearest airport. Imagine the challenges and hardships of getting decent education and health care in such a remote place. Imagine the scant opportunties for earning cash in a fundamentaly subsistance economy.

Now, Imagine an ICT enabled Pacific Village…

“Talofa Lava, FaleFa”. The radio wakes the family with the latest news from last night’s village meeting, the news from around the country, from around the world, and from the fabulous Manu Samoa football team. Today’s weather is the usual warm day with occasional showers – no hint of a cyclone. A good day for working in the field and perhaps a bit of fishing.

An early morning check of e-mails shows that there have been plenty of orders for the family’s high quality Samoan Coffee and kava. Their distribution warehouse in Auckland is running low on Coffee and the warehouse in Frankfurt will run out of Kava at the current rate and another container of each will need to be sent off before the end of the month to ensure the supply chain remains full. The Samoan Blue Coffee web site is really making a difference.

Shifting focus to the web browser, it’s clear that our local bank balances are running low and with the exchange rate being favourable, this would be a good time to bring some money back, all done with just a few clicks of the mouse.

The children are sent to the local shops for fresh morning bread for breakfast where they pay for it with the micro-finance bank’s issued EFTPOS card. The shop keeper calls the parents to make sure it’s OK for the kids to use their EFTPOS card. The shop is checking their stock and placing an order for supplies from the wholesaler in the capital so that they can be delivered in the afternoon by the truck that picks up the coconuts for the copra plant.

At the villages’ health clinic, the visiting nurse is seeing patients and checking their history online. One woman has a peculiar eye disease so the nurse calls up the consulting ophthalmologist in Auckland for assistance, using the high quality video link to allow the doctor to see the eye in detail. While not necessary this time, the portable x-ray device in the nurse’s medical bus could also send images to the specialists in the capital for immediate review. The doctor in Auckland provides an assessment and prescribes a topical anti-biotic that won’t cause an allergic reaction and the nurse issues it fro m the bus’ pharmaceutical stock while the doctor updates the patient’s notes before moving on to another case in another place.

Meanwhile in the plantation, the farmer notes that the new crop of Taro is doing particularly well. The information on planting guides and soil management learned from the Tropic Farming website operated by the FAO is paying dividends.

However the new venture of corn is not doing so well. The leaves are looking a little tired, so the farmer takes a picture with a digital camera so that he can send it to the Ministry in the capital for their help in diagnosis.

The bananas are nearing harvest size so the farmer makes a note to check on the shipping schedule so he knows when to take them to the exporter. He’ll also let the exporter know how much he’ll be able to send and book space in the container.

The children arrive at school for their day’s lessons. It will include the usual curriculum of reading, writing and arithmetic. The maths skills will be practiced using both paper and pencil and the computer based math games. It’s fun to get the arithmetic answers right because that gives more fuel for the racing game. Learning has never been so fun.

The older students are doing today’s science investigation into copper and its properties. They are using the encyclopaedia on the shelves as well as the one on the CD-ROMs. They spend a bit of time on the Internet looking for ideas for their Science Fair project.

At the end of the day, when the children have gone home, the teachers update their student’s progress into their Student Management System. There are parent-teacher interviews next week, and the village’s families have said that they like to be able to check on their children’s progress so they can work with them after dinner on areas where they may be falling behind.

Several teachers get together after school to study through the on-line Teacher Training Program. They are hoping to pass the next exam level and get a promotion. The principal is supportive because the better trained the teachers are, the more money comes in from the Ministry. And it will help the students perform better which also means more money from the Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Fafaeo is working on this week’s sermon. He takes a break because its time to meet with his on-line study group. This week’s discussion topic is Genesis. While participating in the on-line Chat room, he also checks his e-mail which includes a revised architectural drawing for the Church’s new Youth Hall.

While working at the computer he puts last week’s sermon onto the village’s web site so the village’s overseas families can keep in touch.

It’s late in the afternoon and the shopkeeper is concerned that the order he placed this morning has still not arrived. He calls this supplier and finds out that the truck has broken down. A mechanic is on the way and will find the truck quickly because both are equipped with two-way radios and GPS. The mechanic’s GPS system tells him the fastest way to reach the broken down truck and the truck’s built in diagnostic system tells him what parts to bring.

The tourists at the village’s beach fales are beginning to wind up their wonderful and relaxing holiday when the resort manager tells them to stay and relax a bit longer because their return flight has been delayed for four hours in Auckland. They use their cell-phones to send a text back to their families in Auckland telling them of the delay, and then go back to another Pina Colada and the last chapters in their books.

When the flight departure is finally confirmed and the resort’s bus if full of luggage, the tourists and the resort staff bid fond farewells and expressions of delight. They know that when they get back home they’ll add their recommendations to the hundreds of others on the resort’s web site. They’ll also print the pictures the staff took of them during the Fia Fia night as they danced as they’d never danced before.

It’s payday at the village’s small software development venture. The company’s accountant is preparing to pay the wages into the micro-finance operations bank accounts. It’s been a good month for the business with new development work coming from the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, England and even a neighbouring Pacific Island. After just 24 months of operation, they are getting a reputation of doing good work at a fair price and with some Pacific Island flair. The high speed Internet access has meant that it doesn’t matter where in the world they are or their customers are. And the time zone difference is a real benefit in providing astounding service, particularly to those repeat clients in the UK and Germany.

It’s the end of the day, and the phone rings with news that the family’s daughter in New Zealand has had a baby and, thankfully, all is going well. A few hours later, and the video-phone lights up with a call from Auckland Women’s hospital where their daughter and new grandson appear on the screen. There is much joy and tears throughout the house. The baby has a full head of hair, the mother is looking a little tired, and the baby’s father, the family’s son-in-law, is looking as goofy as ever. After the call, the printer springs to life as it produces pictures for everyone in the family to share with their village tomorrow.

While dreams for some, this vision is beginning to happen. In countries with enlgihted leaders and eager people, this dream is becoming a reality. This is the lesson from Tunis – for leaders to either get on the plane, or at least get out of the way. It’s time to Fly!