======================================================================== Goa's phone numbers change from Nov 10, 2002. Prefix old number with a 2. New numbers will be seven-digit 2XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is the old number). ========================================================================
Excerpt: 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. Headline: New life for old PCs. Nonprofit group collects donated computers to aid students in developing nations Source: San Francisco Chronicle 16 Nov. 2002 at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/16 /BU68249.DTL&type=business By: Henry Norr, Chronicle Staff Writer Saturday, November 16, 2002 Text: "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. Where: Parking lots of Fry's Electronics, 1077 E. Arques Ave., Sunnyvale; and ABC Storage, 2488 Wyandotte St., Mountain View. When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., today and Sunday. More info: www.pcsforpeace.org or www.worldcomputerexchange.org. Potential corporate donors should e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] E-mail Henry Norr at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ============================================= Don't forget - you saw it on GoaNet! ---------------------------------------------------------- What's On In Goa (WOIG): Nov 06 Children's book exhibn opens, Walkabout, Anjuna... (all weekdays) Nov 06 ArtHouse, Calangute: Chaitali's acrylics on canvas till 19.11 Nov 07 Revision of electoral rolls (till Nov 30) See schedule. Dec 01 Two day conference, Goa Agenda. IT For Society. (Ends 2.12) Every Sunday: Music therapy sessions at Moira, 5 pm. 278, N.Portugal ----------------------------------------------------------
