Looking for computer parts again!

Same as below in last post.
We're sending out a whole 20' container this time!

So along with a tractor, we want to fill the spare space with medical equipment, books and computer bits.

Please help if you can!

Get in contact.

Read report on exactly where these computers have been going www.lindsaysafricaprojecdt.org


Thanks
Lindsay

Call out for computer parts

Hey guys

I'm on call out time again.

To keep the computers working in Malindi, we have to continually maintain them. Due to the fact that they are not new in the first place, that they are operating in extreme conditions with heat, humidity & dust and the transport it took to get them to their new location in schools in Kenya, the computers tend to fall into varying states of disrepair very quickly.

We have managed to address this issue some what by taking on a team of local maintenance and training assistants. They work very hard keeping the school systems running, but continually the main parts of the computer fail, and can't be repaired.
Conveniently what we consider rubbish or old parts for computers in Ireland, are exactly what we will use in Kenya. So all we've got to do is get them to a place where they will be used!

The following is a list of what we need, please check if you have any of these parts lying around, or the computer savvy people in your life might have (including your work place), and we'll see how I can possibly collect them. I'll be shipping out a pallet at the end of August which I'll be able to put them into.

Computer parts needed

Hard Drives
Internal 3.5" HHDs
Any size 10Gb and up



RAM
Internal memory for making the machines operate faster, an easy upgrade!
Again, any size and type, we have such a range of makes and ages, we need every type. These chips are small, so we are looking for hundreds.



CPUs
We are actually going to send out full computers in this shipment too, so if you have any that are not being used, are minimum P4 and less than 6 years old please pass them on.

Flat Screen Monitor
Sounds posh, but now a 15" flat screen monitor is considered useless here.
These are great for sending out because they are so much smaller and lighter than they're conventional CRT monitor partner




It would be great if you could help me with any of this call out.
Please pass this onto anyone you know in Ireland who might have access to these parts.
What we consider rubbish and outdated can be used for years at our centre and in the schools we help.

Thanks for your help.


Lindsay

086 8370087
lindsaysafricaproject "at" gmail.com

Some school photos of the computers in action

......and another school gets computers

4 schools got computers last week!

And another one this week.
SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) Primary and Secondary School in Watamu, the next town over from Malindi (our roots).

20 computers where installed by the team, of course with the help of most of the school too, and a very happy computer teacher Patrick, who has been a friend of ours since we started the office in Malindi 3 years ago.

These computers arrived from Dublin some months ago, but have had huge hold ups in Mombasa port due to typical "bureaucratic" issues. Camara Kenya eventually got them clear, and have been fantastically quick at processing the machines for delivery to fully prepared schools in Coast provence.

Below are an array of photos sent to me this morning from a proud Jimmy with a good job done.














And the finished product:

Working Hard in Malindi

Howdi!

Right, well its been a while since I actually wrote on this thing.
BUT we've been mighty busy, so thought I might throw down a few notes on what we are now doing in Malindi at the ICT Resource Centre.

I was over in Malindi in January, which was a great time to go, as even though I was getting bad reports here from people regarding how things were running over in the Centre, when I got there so many changes had been implemented, it was the perfect time to set a few other plans in stone and work on the office image and presentation.

Operations at the office are broken down into three separate functions. Training, Maintenance and Further Education.

Jimmy and Manasseh are employed at the centre and they manage all activities at the centre and our contact and work at the schools.

We also have a group of mainenance and training assistants who are working with us on a voluntary basis, they are out of work IT professionals and IT graduates. These guys help out at the office, but are mainly placed in primary schools where we have setup computer labs over the past few years. They train the pupils in the absence of a computer teacher at the schools and fix and maintain the computers.
What has been a great side to this program is that some of the assistants have been taken on as employees to the schools, which is great and really one of the main aims of all this work.


Training Program
The centre runs accessible and affordable computer training through different programs:
Providing trainers to primary school classes without a dedicated computer teacher
Private individual tuition at the centre
School student class groups for schools without computer labs
Training of trainers program with computer teachers with Camara Computer Labs using Edubuntu - Open source software
Training of trainers for Malindi Prison guards – who have a donated computer lab
Classes in computer maintenance

Maintenance Program

A serious problem with ICT technology in Kenya is finding correct and honest maintenance of equipment. The centre is now running programs itself to resolve this issue.
Maintenance contracts are signed by the schools that have received computer donations in the last few years, for this small fee a dedicated technician visits every week to service and repair all the computers. Reporting feedback structures are also in place to monitor this work.
Maintenance training courses are also run for all the schools with computer labs, and are also available to private individuals.

Further Education

A number of other programs are always being developed and created through the centre.
Sports competitions are run in basketball and football
School debates and quizzes are held
Member of the district development committee
Providing knowledge of and access to educational and informative resource material through specially designed CDROMs
Promoting Community Training Centres – run from the schools
Recycling and waste management – giving irreparable parts to scrap guys
Channelling donor funding to other associated projects





Over the next while I'm going to post a few more bits up here. Just to profile all the different bits we are working at. And to give those who support us through the pub quizes an idea of where the money is going.

Next Pub Quiz on Friday 20th March. 8.30pm Bowes Bar (behind Doyles Bar, Fleet St) €10 per person, and we'll help you get into tables of four if you don't have enough people with you already

Fund Raising Pub Quiz

Lindsay’s Africa Project fund raising Pub Quiz

The quiz where it’s fun, not serious!

The quiz where because Lindsay set the questions, they’re easy!

The quiz where the losers have more chances to win than anyone!

€10 entry fee, where we’ll help you to join into teams of 4, then answer topical questions, to win honour and possibly prizes!!

Thursday 24th April – Chaplin's Pub
(beside Screen cinema, Hawkins St)
8.30pm-11.00pm


This is the first of a series of monthly pub quizes on the last Thursday of the month.

Hope to see you there!!


Lindsay

Sierra Communications helping out Lindsay’s Africa Project

Sierra Communications helping out Lindsay’s Africa Project ICT program once again

While carrying out our computers for schools program, we of course have a waste issue that must be dealt with.

Last week we started clearing out Hilary’s PCs for Africa stores in Rathoath, where for the past 7 years computers have been stored and prepared for shipping to Africa. This process is now carried out with Camara Education @ The Digital Hub in Dublin, and so with the help of volunteers Richard and Andrew, we have been clearing all the machines left in Rathoath, including all the broken, irreparable computer equipment. Camara Education is helping us to correctly dispose and recycle this equipment.

We’d like to thank Camara’s continued help in our joint goal of providing ICT to Sub-Saharan Africa, and also Sierra Communications who having sponsored our work last year, this time provided a vehicle to assist in transporting the equipment for recycling.

We will be continuing to do this work for the next few weeks as there is quite a lot of equipment in Hilary’s stables. Any help would be much appreciated.

Lindsay

Update on Malindi work, and on political status there

I've been meaning to post something here just to explain how things are going over in Kenya, as regarding the project in Malindi, which is on the coast of Kenya, far away from the main troubles in Nairobi and Western.

Gitau, one of our main guys in the ICT Resource Centre sums things up nicely in an email to me last week:

"Its been a long time since I sent mail but I hope you
will understand that things are different nowadays in
Kenya. Everything is cooling down to normal though
some things will never be the same again. I have been
involved in designing peace messages for the Malndi
public for the past two weeks, a project we got
started with a group of youth and joined by the Hon.
Gideon Mungaro, our current Member of Parliament. It
was mainly to stop the locals from going the way of
other regions where guys from upcountry were being
forced to go back to their ancestral homes and all
that. Luckily for us, Malindi has been free of
violence and the MP has been holding regular peace
meetings in the villages to ease tensions.
Nothing to get alarmed about, but we figured better
not take chances.
Anyway, work is still going on as usual at the office
though business is a bit sluggish when compared to the
same period last year, but again, its all due to the
political situation. We are currently holding this
year's debate and it comes to an end on the 4th of
March. This year's event attracted more participants
than last year though a few of the schools had to drop
out due to lack of transport funding from the government. We
are doing a DVD of the event and will put that on the
Centre's website (that is still offline).

So many of our plans and projects
had been shelved due to the uncertainity including the
website, newsletter (with Sean), tournament, ICT expo
and many others but are now being dragged from the
dusty shelves and will soon be running full steam.
Say hi to guys back there and keep an eye for events
in Kenya. Things can only get better for us and even
some thick-skinned tourists have started trickling
back to Malindi.
Pray for us to achieve lasting peace coz we must."