World Computer Exchange

Building IT capacity in schools in developing countries

PRESS RELEASE: GSA Helps US Education Group With Computers For Schools In Kenya

Contact: Paula Santangelo, Director, Customer Services Division, GSA paula.santangeloATgsa.gov 617-565-5777

David McBride, Peace Corps Relations Manager DMcBrideATWorldComputerExchange.org 617-445-7684

The US General Services Administration’s (GSA) Boston office is donating 240 Pentium computers to help connect schools in Kenya to the Internet. This surplus equipment is being combined with other donated computers to fill a shipping container that will leave the Port of New York City around August 21, 2003.

The GSA’s staff has been working with college students recruited by the World Computer Exchange, a nonprofit based in Hull, Mass., to test, scrub, and inventory the computers and network gear.

On August 12^th, volunteers from Boston Area Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and from City Year joined the GSA staff and students. Together, they moved the computers into a 40-foot container already loaded with 195 computer sets gathered from local individuals and companies and packed by volunteer students from South Shore Charter School in Hull and the Melrose and Lexington High Schools, Asha for Education, Vichaar, and Yale Recycling in New Haven. Other assistance for this project has come from Land Air Express and the Vermont recycling program both in Burlington.

GSA's Regional Administrator for New England, Dennis R. Smith said, "We're thrilled to make this donation of computers that will enable students in schools in Kenya to connect to the Internet.  This is a great opportunity for GSA to help others and provide a communications tool for kids.  Our GSA associates take pride in being able to make a difference."

Doane Perry, the President of Boston Area Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, said, "We have been pleased to see that the Exchange is working with Peace Corps Volunteers in many developing countries. It is great that our 600 returned Peace Corps Volunteers in the Boston area have this type of service option available to them. We are beginning to advise the Exchange in how to better work with Peace Corps and to get us involved in schools in more developing countries and in more US cities where our volunteers return after their two years of service."

The 435 Pentiums and Power Macs will connect 20 schools with 10,000 students to the Internet. The schools were recruited, trained, and prepared by SchoolWeb (Kenya) Ltd. SchoolWeb was developed by Kiragu Maina while he was with Africa Online. The Exchange and SchoolWeb were brought together when the World Economic Forum's Global Digital Divide Initiative showcased the work of the Exchange after a global education competition in 2001.

This container also holds a special gift of high-end network switches and hubs being donated to Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology by PAREXEL International, a health research firm based in Waltham. This equipment will allow the university to help local schools with the use of computers and the Internet to improve learning. PAREXEL has donated through the Exchange several times.

World Computer Exchange is an educational nonprofit that has shipped 7,279 computers donated by individuals and companies in the USA, Scandinavia, and Germany. The Exchange (www.WorldComputerExchange.org), founded in 1999, works to build IT capacity in schools in developing countries by providing computers, online help-desk volunteers, and building collaborative projects among sister-schools. This is the Exchange's 12^th container to Africa and the 12^th container shipped from its Boston Office. The Exchange is now gathering donated computers in 30 cities in 11 countries. It has provided computers and collaborative projects to 829 schools with 319,000 students in 17 developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Its next shipments are to Bangladesh, Ecuador, and Bolivia.

Timothy Anderson, president of the Exchange, said GSA was wise to find a suitable use for equipment that the

agency's local school beneficiaries were not prepared to accept. "We have worked extensively with U.S. and U.N.

agencies to help bridge the digital divide for schools. We look forward to further projects with Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and with GSA."

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