Ben Linder Cybercafe
by Elizabeth Fine
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You can get just about anything you want at the Ben Linder Cybercafe. From simple sandwiches, soft drinks, and coffee, to a wide
variety of dinner entrees, wine, beer, and cocktails. You can also surf the web, send email, and learn how to use a computer on
one of the café's 20 computers.
Prices are reasonable for both the food and the computers. For 25 cordovas, you can get a bowl of chicken soup, and for 10
cordovas, you can order a cappuchino. A hamburger costs less than a U.S. dollar, and a local beer about the equivalent of
75 cents. The general public can use the computers for the equivalent of two dollars an hour, while university students can
use them for half-price. Physicians can have free access, and twelve hours a week are free for children and the poor. The
Ben Linder Cybercafe offers free computer training classes as well.
Improving the health of Nicaraguans was one of Ben Linder's dreams. To entice children to get their vaccinations, Linder used to
ride through towns on a unicycle, dressed as a clown with a big red nose
(see http://as1.ipfw.edu/weller/mulukukuchp2.html).
Thus, it is fitting that the cybercafe is named after Ben Linder, since it too is dedicated to improving the health of the
Nicaraguan people through its support of Walking Unidos and the health care initiatives of WiRED.
The Ben Linder Cybercafe is WiRED's first program in Nicaragua. It will serve as the hub of six new Community Health
Information Centers which WiRED plans to establish in the towns of Chinandega, Matagalpa, Ocotal, Granada, Esteli and Leon.
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