Rudi von Staden is an eRider from South Africa, someone who helps development organisations become more effective, efficient and innovative through the use of all forms of technology. In 2003 Rudi helped establish Ungana-Afrika, an organisation that is building a more effective development community through the implementation and support of eRiding and other non-profit technology programs in Africa. Working with a great team at Ungana-Afrika, Rudi has been focusing on technology planning, developing technology support concepts and coming to grips with FOSS in a development setting.

Rudi studied Computer Science at Stellenbosch University, but always referred finding interesting ways to use existing technologies rather than starting from scratch. eRiding worked very well for him in this regard. Despite his passion for applying technology to development, Rudi tries to unplug as often as possible and frequently disappears somewhere into the African bush.

You can read more about the adventures of Ungana-Afrika on their website: http://www.ungana-afrika.org, and http://www.eriders.net is also a good place to find out about eRiding.