Forgive the apparent obscurity of my attempt to sustain the mountain-climbing metaphor--I wish to revisit Johan Viljoen's point about "us" up here (the technologically empowered elite) and "them" down there (the disempowered mass). My concern is that the faster technology advances the greater the chasm. The "shoes," are the basic necessities as opposed to the "IT back-pack" which is not just the luxury option but becoming technological obsoletism by default (better > quicker > obsolete > better...) We are in danger of missing the obvious pointers--technology for the masses in Southern Africa needs to jog before it can sprint.
I am not "suggesting that educational technologists would better serve the world joining the Peace Corps." Technology has became an industry in which there are too many stakeholders with vested interests. The "we" up here are benefiting from such forces as those on the Internet. And I agree that "the problems of the world are varied... and that just like illiteracy, those are very difficult problems to solve." But in South Africa, educators have to often put technology-type solutions in the background with the needs of the learner in the South African context in the foreground.