IT_Schools_Africa_Phil

that's great, look forward to hearing from you. ph. 01242 228 800

Hi Enjay, sadly we don't have the time or money to refurbish to that degree - we look for working equipment - we can replace memory, but that's about it. Thanks for getting in touch though. We're always keen to get donations of hard drives, memory optical drives and mains leads, but as we're based in Cheltenham you'd have to courier such items unless you can drop them in. We send out a van to collect monitors and machines, but only when there are several pickups of double figures, otherwise it's not cost effective. If there's anyone out there who'd like to be a collection hub and who has storage space in the London area, that could be helpful. Phil.

Enjay - we have a sister charity called Computers for African Schools. They monitor everything to make sure the kit only goes to schools that are suitable (secure, dust-free classrooms, regular power supply etc) and run the distribution ngos, which include 5 day training courses for two teachers from each school supplied, and the technical support required. All our projects have representatives on the ground (typically local government and business-people and IT professionals). Regarding software, we have previously negotiated free Windows 2000 licences from Microsoft. We have recently negotiated xp licences for our tanzania project for $5 each. Our NGO's also monitor disposal of kit at end of life. Equipment is sent to a processing plant called DESCO in South Africa.

Hi Chris, have a look at our website - I.T. Schools Africa - Home and there's a video showing the results of our work - YouTube - IT Schools Africa has given 5 million African children access to IT. Our flagship project is in Zambia, where we've supplied 500 schools with a 10 PC computer lab. We've also supplied 150 schools in Malawi, 300 in Zimbabwe,70 in Tanzania and about 90 in Madagascar (resource centers) . All in all, over 20,000 systems in 5 years. We've also trained more than 650 teachers. These countries are amongst the poorest in the world, and our stated aim is to transform their IT education by providing them with the equipment they need. We rely on donations from Uk Educational establishments for around 60% of this. We estimate that we've given more than 5 million of the world's poorest children the oportunity to begin their journey to IT literacy. I'll be at the BETT show on Wednesday 13th, and the Computer-Essentials stand will be showing our video. I'll also be hooking up with Hollie at the Network SI stand, and Tony Stanley of Trilby Multimedia (an old chum). See you there!

My name is Phil and I and the UK Development Manager for a registered charity - IT Schools Africa. We send donated computers to schools in some of the poorest countries in the world. There is a constant demand, so we are always trying to source more equipment. We are seeking donations of; • Desktop computers (Pentium III and above). • Laptops (provided they have power adapters). • Monitors (CRT and TFT) • Keyboards, mice and power leads. • Floppy drives, optical drives and hard drives. We can take any number of PCs without charge - we only ask for a donation to cover transport costs. The service we provide includes secure data disposal using dedicated, defence standard software. Data Security IT Schools Africa places the highest priority on data security. We ensure that all data left on donated machines is destroyed. Our procedure is as follows: 1. We remove all hard drives immediately on delivery to our warehouse. 2. We then place them on our wiping station, where we wipe them using ‘Killdisk’ wiping software. 3. We inspect the sectors on each drive to ensure only random data is left on the drive. 4. We store the drives in a securely locked cabinet until needed. If you are disposing of any PCs, now or in the future, we would be very grateful if you would consider donating them to IT Schools Africa.