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CYBERCULTURE has taken another step towards world domination with the
opening of this cybercafé in Dakar, the capital of Senegal—the
first to go online in West Africa.

The café is named Metissacana, which translates as “mixed blood”. This
unusual name was chosen to reflect a union between African culture and European
technology. Metissacana has 10 computer terminals, which will give local
children and college students a much-needed connection to the Internet.
Currently, only about 400 Senegalese have Internet access, Metissacana’s owners
say.

Michel Mavros, one of the café’s owners, hopes that Metissacana will
be more than just a hang-out for computer buffs, and become a cultural centre in
the widest possible sense. “We don’t want to turn it into a temple to the
Internet,” he says.

Although there are more than 250 cybercafés worldwide, until now there
have only been six in Africa, all in the south of the continent. Metissacana’s
owners aim to change this imbalance and have plans to expand into Mali,
Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.