I will be leaving for Sumatra, Indonesia on Saturday 2/5 to help run a VSAT satellite "internet cafe" in Banda Aceh. This will be a key communications post to provide email, voice and internet connectivity in an area whose infrastructure has been decimated by earthquake and tsunami.

Health and relief aid workers desperately need good communications to stay in contact with their headquarters to arrange for movement of personnel and supplies. Four notebook computers and two VoIP (Voice-over-IP) phones connected to the internet over the VSAT satellite link, will meet this need.

I will relate my personal experiences as I spend 30 days manning this much needed remote communication post.