My girlfriend recently went to South America. She took Travellers Cheques which turned out to be a big mistake as in many parts of South America, no one will go anywhere near them as there are so many fakes circulating. Of course, she didn't know this until the time she had to cash them in. She managed to get the cash by ringing up Amex, getting them cancelled and they wire transferred the money to her via the local Western Union office, although this was a saga in itself with over 6 hours of calls to the Amex office in the UK.
Unfortunately, Travellers Cheques remain the safest way to take money abroad - even with acceptance of them depreciating. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place!
If possible, I wouldn't say don't take the cheques, but weigh the cash/cheque balance more in favour of cash. And make sure he has the number of the issuer in case of the obvious, but also in case he needs to get them cancelled and the money wired to him.
Hope this helps!
And PS - he shouldn't have a problem finding a Messenger/Skype equipped internet cafe!