tonight on "worldfocus." >> tonight on a specl edition of "worldfocus," an eye-opening look at 21st century africa. visit with africa's rising middle class. so many africans are climbing the social ladder, maybe upward mobility should be called the african dream. find out why the humble cell phone has become the one thing africans can't live without, revolutionizing life in the process. and come along to rwanda, ground zero of an ambitious plan to get inexpensive laptops to young students around the world. from the different perspectives of reporters and analysts from around the globe, this is "worldfocus." major support has been provided

by rosalind p. walter, and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters. welcome to "worldfocus." i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. as many of you know, a regular feature here on "worldfocus" has been our "signature stories." reports filed by our own staff members who have travelled the globe reporting on issues that we believe are important but largely ignored. in the fall of 2008, in our first few months on the air, we brought you a series of "signature stories" called 21st century africa. those reports were produced by "worldfocus" special correspondent martin seemungal, who has spent decades covering

that continent. if the only pictures that you have seen from that continent over the years have been of war or famine, stick around for the next half hour or so. first up, one of the biggest stories from africa to have flown under the radar, that continent's china connection. to find out what it's all about, martin seemungal went to ken and neighboring tanzania. >> reporter: these young kenyans already speak english, a legacy of the british empire in africa. but now they have decided to learn chinese. this is the confucius institute at nairobi university. for these students, taking chinese is, as they say, a no-brainer. >> the chinese language is important, because china is growing so much, and the influence of china on africa and

the rest of the world is higher than it was last year. >> reporter: africans want to benefit from the chinese boom. the chinese are bullish on africa. they want the raw materials to fuel their ravenous economy. one third of what's exported from africa to china is oil. but more and more goods are moving in the other direction, from china to africa, arriving as it were right on the continent's doorstep. china to east africa arrive here at the port of mombasa. in fact, the massive cranes unloading the container ships are also made in china. it is just the first clue of the china connection. the mombasa to nairobi road, the vital link from the east coast to the interior of africa. it used to be the worst 350-mile stretch of road in the region. eight years ago, a huge section

was rebuilt by the chine ahmed abdula has just begun his 1,200 milv journey from mombasa0 on the eastern edge of africa, to congo. >> it's very good. before it's not good. >> reporter: so what sorts of things imported from china are those trucks carrying? just about everything you can imagine, from pots and pans to the most sophisticated computers, all cheap. go to the electronics shops and you'll find them.qz+ shoes from china seem to be everywhere. >> they are from china. >> reporter: from china? >> yes. >> reporter: the cheapest ones? >> yes. >> reporter: there are loads and loads of them, overwhelming african shoemakers like this man. his name is emmanuel, and he lives in tanzania, where we

travelled next. his tiny company, one employee, makes shoes, also belts and handbags. he says, it's difficult for us to compete with chinese products, they are sold at much lower prices than what we sell. they are cheap, $6 for a pair of the chinese shoes, about $4 less than the tanzanian shoes. in a country where people don't have much money, no contest. u.s. diplomat george aldridge monitors chinese commerce in east africa. >> this might be the great irony of our new century so far, that a communist country has become the most ruthless capitalist country in the world. undercutting producers -- not just american producers, but african producers. >> reporter: this is a fairly typical market, by african standards. and many of the products here are growing, a number of the products here are chinese. but it's not just the products

that are from china, many of the people who own these shops are from china. the man in the shop next door blames the chinese for undercutting everyone. >> translator: if we could chase them away, he says, we would. it would be better if they weren't here. the big surprise in all this, is that china doesn't see itself as a competitor, or the so-called ruthless capitalist aggressor. >> it seems we are both belonging to the developing country and we have our work, similar experience, and similar task for chinese and african companies to develop their i economy. >> reporter: if you drive around the capital of tanzania, it doesn't take long to find the chinese at work. we were allowed on to one building site, and it helps understand how chinese companies are consistently able to win contracts over western companies. eight chinese construction

workers, 50 tanzanians. as far as the chinese go, they get no vacations to china, no holidays the entire time they're on this project. the project lasts two years, they still have one year to go. their only connection to home is the tv set. meals they cook themselves. they work long hours, but there is a noticeably relaxed interaction between the chineseñ and the tanzanians. some of the chinese have worked in tanzania before, and a bit like the young kenyans learning mandarin, they have learned swahili. not necessarily to make friends. it's clear they're here to do business, just like the chinese sending the cheap shoes, building roads and buying the oil. i'm martin seemungal reporting r for "worldfocus" in east africa.

the thought of economic growth in africa that you just ç heard about isn't simply benefiting outside investors like china. it's transforming the every day lives of many africans as well. take the citizens of nairobi, kenya, for example. there, there is a rising middle class whose lifestyle is a lot closer to what you'd see among affluent americans, and what you might expect when you hear the word africa. again, "worldfocus" special correspondent martin seemungal has an eye-opening look at 21st century africa. >> reporter: take a look at those shiny skyscrapers, a mid-sized city in america, right? it's actually in africa, nairobi, the capital of kenya. it's a busy place, multinational

companies, investors buying and selling a growing economy. and the middlelass here is booming. this is where you'll find kenya's middle class on the move in downtown nairobi. over the years it developed a reputation for violence and crime. in fact, its nickname was nairobbery. you wouldn't want to wander around here at night, but during the day, this is the place to be if you're going to do business. it is much easier to do business in kenya than every before, because of government deregulation, that stimulated economic growth, and more people started making money, a lot of money. nina keniani is one of these people, and she's about to leave for work. a quick breakfast standing up while reading her blackberry and exchanging a few words with her maid. a few minutes later, and she's commuting. a cup of coffee, the newspaper, no need for the steering wheel, because she's also got the driver, a bonus that comes with doing well in a country where

labor costs are cheaper. nina is the branch manager of a bank, like any other commuter, she's contemplating the day ahead. >> i'm just thinking about what sort of strategies or tactics we are going to use to get customers into the bank, to get customers to open accounts with us. >> reporter: by 8:00 a.m., she's at her desk reading e-mails, then her first meeting of the day. >> this is life on a daily basis. >> reporter: nina's life and success on the job reflect a trend, the growing wealth of the middle class. in kenya, they amount to about 10% of the urban population. so an estimated 1.5 million people nationwide. one of the largest middle class groups in subsaharan africa. >> no, that's the number of transactions. >> reporter: witness that restless entrepreneurial spirit at nairobi's java house. the staff have a reputation for being friendly, and the service is fast.

java, as they call it here, was started ten years ago by american kevin ashley and his partners. java house is now a multimillion dollar company. ashley is not surprised by the rise of the middle class. he says, when it comes to business, kenyans get it. >> in the first two weeks of opening the first branch, we showed our guys how to make a good cappuccino. and within two weeks, they were making them better than we could. >> reporter: the company pretty much runs itself these days, and it's run by kenyans. james started out as a waiter, he is now the senior manager of this store, and he won't stop there. >> i think this is a place whereby i'll be able to build my future and be able to learn a lot regarding coffee, and be 5cy able to make -- take it to a level higher. >> reporter: a quick scan around the tables, and you can see the majority of the people are

kenyans, over 50%. and it wasn't like that 10 years ago. to understand what's driving the middle class in kenya, you have to talk about education. kenya's universities turn out thousands of graduates every year. confident -- >> we are the people who are going to build this country, we're going to contribute to the growth of the society. >> reporter: optimistic. >> i'm outgoing, and i'm looking forward to being in a higher class. >> reporter: which helps explain how nina and her husband jim were able to achieve all they have, a five-bedroom house in an up-market neighborhood, their two children at a private school. both nina and jim are university educated. >> my parents had to work hard to put us through school, through college. you also naturally, you try things. >> reporter: you could almost

say they live a typically american life, and being rich in kenya, especially with the cheaper labor, can make for an even easier life. kenya's privileged, they're also discovering the other benefits of having money to spend. the market has responded with chic bars and nightclubs. there's also a move to this country's great outdoors. kenya's famous game parks, traditionally the realm of foreign tourists. most kenyans simply couldn't afford it, so they were as rare in a park like this, as those endangered rhinos over there. that is changing too. joseph moya is a successful game park owner. >> you cannot stop it. the sky has opened. the people are learning. >> reporter: wild africa, literally, just outside the window. for them, getting there isn't about the cost any more, the

challenge, getting away from the office. i'm martin seemungal reporting for "worldfocus" in nairobi. in some cases little things are making a huge difference in 21st century africa, take the humble cell phone. it's a device most of us take for granted. for many in africa, it is proved to be a godsend. as a result, africa has the fastest growing, mobile phone market in the world. with mobile service now available to two thirds of the continent's approximately one billion people. martin seemungal reveals how in a few short years, the cell

phone revolution has changed the lives of many africans. >> reporter: with one hand he steers a piece of antiquated 20th century machinery. the other hand is grasping 21st century technology, a cell phone. he never leaves port without it. when you hear his story, you'll understand why. >> a lot of boats come in, boats go down. >> reporter: the boat he was in sank once, 50 miles from land. before it did, he managed to make a cell phone to make a distress call. the cell phone saved your life? >> saved my life, yes, not just one time, maybe three times now. >> reporter: easy to see why he just can't seem to put it down. it's more than just a lifeline to shore, it's great for his business, selling the fish he's caught.hu(fdycy before he had a cell phone, he used to have to go to each individual dealer to find the best price for his fish. now all he does is use it to

sell. he ends up getting a much better price than he did before. he estimates he makes 10 times more than the days before the cell phone. he's doing so well now, he's got four boats and 24 people working for him. who was that that just called you? >> my friend. >> what did you tell him? >> he need fish. >> reporter: did he give you a good price?9ñ! >> good price. >> reporter: you just made more money with your cell phone? >> yeah. >> reporter: you'll find a similar story in the markets across kenya, sellers able to get better prices for their produce, again because of cell phones. in the slums, people don't have much money, unemployment is incredibly high, but they're connected, they have phones. and samuel says that makes him a player. >> everybody has a phone. >> this little device with a few buttons is the hottest commodity

around. >> the mobile phone is probably the biggest social revolution that's come to africa. >> michael joseph is head of safari com, the largest mobile phone operator in kenya. >> what would be the product to introduce into an emerging market like kenya? it's the prepaid mobile phone. >> reporter: why? because for years, kenyans could not even communicate with the neighboring town. telephone lines are poorly connected here, and the service erratic at best. so cheap, pay as you go cell phones, now allow kenyans to talk and do fwiz with people in the next town or anywhere in the world. in kenya, many people work in the cities, but have family become in the rural areas, keeping in touch is important. so is sending money. once again, enter the cell phone. empaza, which means mobile money,a service that uses text

messaging to securely send money around the country. it's an incredibly simple system. let's say for example you want to withdraw cash, someone sends money to your cell phone. that money sits on the cell phone number, you take the cell phone, hand it to one of the people at the shops, they look there, you enter the pin number, and they give you the cash. john walks into a store in nairobi, hands over his money, a few punches of the keyboard and he's finished. 100 miles away, his wife gets the cash. >> it is good because it's faster, easier. >> reporter: according to safari com, t amount transferred around the country using empaza is just over $2 million. the internet, by contrast has failed to make the same kind of impact in kenya, and the reason is simple. at the moment, it is only available in this part of africa via satellite. that makes internet costs

expensive, especially for the average kenyan. it's why internet companies are focusing on the big cities at the moment. >> you need electricity, you need a computer, and you need to know how to use it. those three aspects are still lacking in the rural areas. >> cyber cafes are the best way to get access to highspeed connections. otherwise, for most kenyans it is too expensive to have at home. the highspeed here is still pretty slow by western standards. there are limits to what a cell phone can do, it won't do large file transfers. for now, most kenyans are happy with what it does do. and just ask them if they could live without it for a day. >> for a day? >> the mobile phone may be a late arrival in this country, but it is now a big part of their life in the 21st century. i'm martin seemungal reporting

for "worldfocus" in kenya. technology was also the subject of the last report in our series on 21st century africa, first broadcast in december 2008. you may have heard of a program called one laptop per child. an ambitious plan announced in boston five years ago, to get  young students around the world. now, that idea is changing the lives of children 7,000 miles away in the african country of rwanda. again, martin seemungal has that story. >> reporter: ramagana is famous for something the people in this town would rather forget, genocide. 14 years ago, it was a place of death. but today, the town is famous for something else. the children of ramagana are

leading rwanda into the 21st century. those little green and white things they're carrying are actually computers, laptop computers. and the kids are hooked on them. this boy is 13 years old, he's had his laptop a couple months, he's discovering many things. >> the story of my country, the story of the president of africa and america. >> yes, this is that $100 laptop you probably heard about. it was developed at m.i.t. and it is the centerpiece of the one laptop per child initiative. the focus is on developing countries and there are 31 nations involved. one laptop per child isn't just a catchy child, it's a real goal.

one laptop for every primary schoolkid. and rwanda is determined to get there before anyone else, one laptop at a time, until it reaches 2.3 million. that's how many school children there are in this country. the president of rwanda, no less, is the driving force here. paul cagami, the former general who led the rememberet army that a strategist, he hasmç+ac>ñ calcu that rwanda can leap frog over other countries in africa, by creating a knowledge-based society. that means making the entire country computer literal. >> our goal is to continue raising means and ways to provide all primary school children in rwanda with this important learning tool. >> reporter: when you see the children clicking away, it's hard to believe that most of them don't even have a radio at home.

that is the case with bon air and joyce, it was intimidating in the beginning. >> when i first got it, i was afraid, he said. because i thought computers were only used by people who were very intelligent or who had graduated from universities. but now he says, i'm very confident. she says, i was happy at first, but worried, i might break it, and never get another one. and look at them now. >> they discover things -- they are so curious. >> in a short period of time, they've raced way ahead, the teachers often struggle to keep up. these laptops may be small, but they have a lot of information crammed into them. there's over 30 programs, it doesn't use a hard drive, it uses a one gigabyte flash memory. that may not sound like much, but for these children it's opened an entirely new world. the green cylindrical things are antennas that pick up the

signal. the idea is to make the country before the laptops arrived in these schools, attendance was a problem, classrooms were usually half full. not any more. they also take their laptops home on the weekends. which is a big part of the whole idea. the logic is that the kids, keen, quick learners, will teach their brothers and sisters, their neighbors and their parents. bon air spends a lot of time on the computer with his dad gerard, he is a patient teacher. >> translator: i was not lucky enough to have this chance, like my son, he says. because i was born into a poor family. i don't understand how it works, he says, but my son shows me how to use it. he is, however, a very proud dad, and he believes the

computer will only lead to good things for his son. rubbing shoulders with the president isn't so bad. bon air was one of those kids in the audience on launch day, and he's got the picture of the president to prove it. school is out now, and the children at ramagana primary are on their way home. some will walk past that genocide memorial. it may be just down the road, but what it represents is a long way from where these children are now. for "worldfocus," i'm martin seemungal in ramagana in easterl rwanda. that's "worldfocus" for thil thursday evening. but remember, you can watch all of our "signature stories" and give us your feedback by oh>x visiting our website at worldfocus.org. for everyone here at "worldfocus," i'm daljit dhaliwal, good-bye.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com major support for "worldfocus" has been provided by rosalind p. walter, and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing & key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters --