"A Little More Conversation, a Little More Wifi Please" Earlier this week, I met this wonderful group of secondary students (high school students) while waiting in a Digicel store in Luganville -- Digicel is a mobile phone network provider that operates here in the Oceania, South Pacific region of the world (aka where Vanuatu is located). One girl offered me a seat on the sofa in the waiting area. We starting chatting, and after a while, she asked if she could interview me for a project their group is working on. Their topic is 'internet access' and how it both positively and perhaps negatively impacts the lives of people. This is a very important topic for discussion, as Vanuatu is up-and-coming in the digital world. People's social lives are changing with increasing availability of cell coverage and access to simple phones, smart phones, and Facebook, as they can more easily keep in touch with their friends and family in different villages or even on one of the other 82 islands of Vanuatu (but only 65 are actually inhabited). There are still many regions of Vanuatu where telecommunications service is spotty or unavailable, but Universal Access Policy plans to have 98% of the population have telecommunications coverage by January 1, 2018. It is quite interesting and even oxymoron-like to see the simple village life co-existing with the addition of cell phone technology, but this is what the people want. Access to information for health and education is part of the National vision, so schools, health centers, and public offices are a priority. It is definitely exciting to see students starting to use tablets and laptops for research at school. After we finished their interview questions, I asked if I too could interview them for a research project... ✌🏽️❤️🇻🇺 #ThePeaceWireProject meets #PeaceCorpsVanuatu #communication #UniversalAccess #Vanuatu #PeaceCorps #ICT #InformationandCommunicationTechnology (at Luganville)