Abayima is a non-profit (501c3 status pending) organization that was founded to support citizens when their voices are threatened in the form of attacks on communications infrastructure. For instance in situations in 2012 Syria, Egypt and Libya all severed their citizen's ability to communicate with the outside world by 'shutting-off' the internet temporarily. Or in 2011 in Uganda, when government officials put pressure on mobile telephone companies to allow them to monitor all text message traffic so they could crack-down on dissenters. Access to the internet, and information is considered a fundamental human right by the UN, so these offenses represent 21st century violations that need to be disrupted.
Abayima works to create and contribute to the creation of tools and technologies that preserve open access to information for people, all around the globe.
We are the creators and contributors to the SIM Kit project, an open source SIM card reader/writer that allows activists and journalists to store and share content discreetly on SIM cards.
Abayima was founded in Uganda when the 2011 Elections lead to mobile communication networks being monitored for messages that might indicate dissent with the ruling political party. Research funded by Indigo Trust, and supported by Appfrica & Hive Colab lead to this analysis of what transpired during the elections. Following that report, Appfrica continued supporting the Abayima initiative until it was able to survive independently.