Green IT Toolkit

Story: Computer Aid: New life for old IT

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In response to the two comments above, I should make a couple of points that were perhaps not exmplained fully in the article:

First, Computer Aid is a registerd charity, not a company, and thus does not have an 'owner'.

Second, the charity does not sell the PCs to Africa "for 50 quid"; that figure relates to the cost of refurbishing and shipping the PCs, and is raised by fundraising activities or is paid for by organisations such as Oxfam or Unicef who are working on the ground with local projects to identify needs.

Third, to assume that the PCs are not going to schools "because of the corruption" is a sweeping statement that does a great disservice to the people of Africa.

Fourth, the concern about the computers ending up in landfills in Africa is a valid one, but who are we in the UK to tell people in Africa that they should not be allowed PCs because we don't think they will dispose of them properly? That seems to be a very condescending attitude.

And fifth, I accept that aid can disrupt local business (Do you ship food into a disaster area and put local producers out of business, or use money to buy food from local business thereby driving local prices sky high?). But these computers are going to organisations who would otherwise not be able to afford them. Local businesses would not benefit if Computer Aid stopped shipments, because the recipient organisations still would not be buying them. By providing this equipment, computing skills can be developed which will in the long run aid local economies.

And finally, if you want to criticise an operation like this, please have the decency to put your name against your comments.

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