East Africa

By the East African coast, north of Mogadishu, Agent O relaxes between assignments. Semi-retired, he is very selective of the jobs he takes these days. If it's not going to help good people in need, no amount of money will separate him from his family or his students.

Agent O never imagined that he would have a family. Being able to work alongside his twelve year old son Shuja, to design energy and transport technology that will help take human civilisation into the future, is a dream come true. Now that the Solar Desailinator is fully operational, they are free to enjoy life in the lush, green, oasis of the East African coast. In the distance, the sea of the elephant grass, meets the sea of the Indian Ocean. Shadows of vegetation dance and play as the blood-orange sun kisses the mountains of the horizon. Two figures splash their way out of the sea, laughing out loud as they run up the bank towards the main compound. A number of large, thatched huts form a circle, in the centre of which, a blazing fire cackles furiously to the dancers and drummers beating round.

The primary solar desalinator is based on their third generation prototype and provided the blueprint for the Maji project being sponsored by the East African Federation. Since the focus panels were fine-tuned, it has supplied at least two tonnes of pure, fresh drinking water, every day, for nearly three years, with no maintenance.

Supporting his beautiful wife Kihembo in her mission to transform the desert into farmland, Agent O also quite literally enjoys the fruits of his family's labour. The drought resistant elephant grass hybrid she developed with her students, creates a wind break and shade from the intense sun, providing a barrier against soil erosion. This technique, used in conjunction with the solar desalinator, gives them the land and freshwater they need to grow crops such as cassava, irish and sweet potatos, onions, garlic, avocados, capsic**, paupau, pineapple, artemesia (an essential weapon in the war on malaria) and lemon grass (a natural pesticide). This produces enough food for the family, the students and a number of goats.

It's been three years since Lagos and a lot of progress has been made but the shockwaves are still being felt. Every year, Agent O travels west across the Rift Valley, through Nairobi and Kampala to Kigali and Bujumbura to conduct social surveys for Agent Ember. Whilst maize is plentiful, water and land are not. Tribal tensions still run high in certain hot-spots but with
levels of literacy increasing and information freely available thanks to the success of the OLPC project, the people are less easily manipulated. Education also led to the inevitable reduction in birth rate and less pressure on other limited resources. With more to go round, the seemingly indestructible monster of corruption now has a weak spot exposed. It's been a long time coming but Africa, one time 'scar on the conscience of the world', is starting to show it's potential and reveal to the world the paradise it has always been.