i am just wondering how Africa can use FOSS to its benefit given how the continent lags behind in terms of IT.i wonder what you nice folks think.

Well, clearly any institution or even government that doesn't have very good funding would stand to benefit from free and open software. Not only is the initial cost going to be very low, but if you look at the long term, educating children in OSS could very well give them a marketable skill for the future.

Not only Africa but also all of our third world countries can benifit from OpenSource softwares. Primarily because of its cost effectiveness apart from all other benifits.

We can convert our friends to linux fold but for the whole system to accept opensource requires political will which our governments lack (do we have any real governments at all in most of Africa?). But nonetheless we can put our efforts in:
a) forming Linux lobby groups and make efforts to convince our governments.
b) volunteer for projects like OLPC.
c) adopt schools and/or collages, if we can manage funding...

i believe you and i have the same thought in common.i also think thats the reason we should promote FOSS here in Africa