[Computerbank] PCs for Peace

[Don Cameron]

Thought this might be of interest.

Best regards, 

Don

**************

Click the link below to see the website version and picture.:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/1
6/BU68249.DTL

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Saturday, November 16, 2002 (SF Chronicle)

New life for old PCs/Nonprofit group collects donated computers to aid
students in developing nations

Henry Norr, Chronicle Staff Writer

"One man's junk is another man's treasure."

That old adage hasn't lost its relevance in the Information Age. On the
contrary: PCs that Americans are ready to toss on the scrap heap can
serve as a bridge to the Internet and the world of modern technology for
young people in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

That's the premise behind the World Computer Exchange, a nonprofit
organization that collects working but unwanted Windows and Macintosh
computers and arranges for their delivery to schools, education agencies
and community-development programs around the world.

Under banners reading "PCs for Peace," the group's Bay Area branch will
hold a two-day collection this weekend in Mountain View and Sunnyvale.

Since its incorporation in March 2000, the Massachusetts group has
shipped 4,000 computers to 585 schools with 217,000 students in
Bangladesh, Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Kenya, Lithuania, Nepal,
Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

With the hardware it hopes to collect this weekend, the group plans to
add the Republic of Georgia to the list. A shipment to Bolivia -- the
group's first to Latin America -- is scheduled for next month. Projects
with numerous other nations, from Afghanistan and Barbados to Vietnam
and Zimbabwe, are in the works.

"We're seeing more demand for our donated computers than we can keep up
with," said Richard Gingras, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and former
Apple and AtHome executive who serves as chair of the group's Bay Area
chapter.

For donors, the program is not only a way to put unwanted equipment to
good use, but also a bargain: They not only avoid the fees many
computer-recycling operations charge but also get a tax deduction.

Volunteers will fire up donated machines on the spot. If they work,
donors will get a receipt to file with their tax returns. Gear that
doesn't work won't be accepted.

BUSINESS DONATIONS ACCEPTED

In addition to consumer-oriented collection programs like this
weekend's, the group seeks volume donations from businesses replacing
older PCs. Last month, for example, it cut a deal with the Palo Alto
Research Center (formerly Xerox PARC), which is providing volunteer
assistance as well as hardware.

To comply with license requirements, computers are usually shipped with
the operating system that was on them when they were donated. When
donors have stripped the hard drive for security reasons, the group
installs a copy of the free Linux OS. For groups that would prefer to
have Windows installed on such PCs, Gingras said, "We are exploring a
solution with Microsoft, but haven't yet closed an arrangement."

The group doesn't just dispatch the hardware, he said. It also works
closely with recipients to "make sure the the educational
implementations within each country are appropriately planned and
appropriately funded."

Recipient organizations prepare detailed, 10-to-40-page plans, which --
like all of the group's documents, including budgets and the minutes of
meetings -- are posted on the Exchange Web site. The Exchange advises
that 10 percent of the computers received be set aside for spare parts.

The cost of collecting, processing, shipping and installing a computer
(with keyboard, monitor and mouse) averages about $75, according to
Gingras. That money typically comes from sponsors in the recipient
country -- a local university or foundation or, in a few instances,
government grants.

Hooking up with the World Computer Exchange has resulted in "tremendous
cost savings," wrote Daryl Martyris, a representative of the Goa Schools
Computers Project in Goa, India, in an e-mail interview. His group, he
said, has placed 380 donated computers in community Internet centers in
100 schools serving more than 20,000 villagers. "Low-cost, good-quality
equipment is practically impossible to obtain locally," he wrote.

In fact, according to Dikenra Kandel of the Committee for the Promotion
of Public Awareness and Development Studies, a nongovernment
organization in Nepal, "there would be no computers in most of these
parts we are approaching for many years to come, given their financial
situation, had it not been through WCE."

Kandel's group has placed five to seven donated computers and provided
training and implementation assistance to 75 schools in rural hill
districts of Nepal, according to his e-mail.

Both Kandel and Martyris acknowledged that relying on old hardware, with
relatively slow processors, limited memory and small hard drives,
presents some problems.

"It was not a job without serious challenge to be able to make the
equipment work properly," Kandel wrote. He said his group has urged the
group to set higher configuration standards that ensure that donated
machines "can handle the data that tend to float across (the) Internet."

The group is getting the message. "WCE has been moving up its own
learning curve over the last few years," Gingras said. "We are now more
strict about policing basic standards. For example, we no longer accept
pre-Pentium PCs (even though) it's often hard for volunteers to turn
away a sweet-faced donor with 10-year-old 386. And we will be getting
increasingly detailed in profiling the computers."

Donating PCs for overseas students

World Computer Exchange seeks computer donations for students in
developing countries

What's needed: Pentium PCs and Macs in good working condition and
capable of connecting to the Internet, plus working monitors, printers,
modems, mice, keyboards and software.

More info: www.pcsforpeace.org or www.worldcomputerexchange.org

Potential corporate donors should e-mail richard at richardgingras.com.

E-mail Henry Norr at hnorr at sfchronicle.com.
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Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle


World Computer Exchange, Inc. 
Bridging the global digital divide for youth

www.WorldComputerExchange.org
TAnderson at WorldComputerExchange.org
936 Nantasket Ave., Hull, Massachusetts 02045  USA
+ 781-925-3078       FAX: + 509-752-9186

Offices:  Boston, New Haven, San Francisco, Seattle (in formation),
Stockholm, Sydney (in formation) & Washington DC

Representatives gathering computers in: Albuquerque, Burlington,
Johannesburg,  Miami, New York, Oslo, Philadelphia, Stuttgart, Syracuse,
Tokyo & Tulsa

17 Prior Shipments of 4,400 computers valued at $1,320,000 to 645
schools with 313,500 students in: Bangladesh, Benin, Cameroon (2),
Georgia, Ghana, India (2), Kenya, Lithuania, Nepal, Nigeria (3), South
Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda