A Camara volunteer refurbishes computer equipment in San Jose, California
Camara Education wants your used computers – 1,000 in one week, to be exact – to refurbish and send off to be used in schools in disadvantaged communities in Africa. The charity and social enterprise has launched its ‘One Week – 1,000 Computers’ campaign, which runs until 22 October.
Camara Education works to deliver digital literacy skills to schools in disadvantaged communities through the reuse of technology.
Using donated equipment, Camara has to date supplied more than 35,000 computers to more than 1,650 schools and other educational organisations in East Africa, Jamaica and Ireland, benefiting more than 350,000 children.
Camara relies on individuals and organisations donating their old equipment, to ensure today’s students are equipped with tomorrow’s digital literacy skills.
Service demand
The demand for Camara’s services outstrips supply at the moment, with more than 1,000 schools and 750,000 students in Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia waiting for computers.
“Each year in Northern Ireland we throw away thousands of computers that still have many years of life left in them,” said Camara’s project manager Jonny Lamberton.
“We would encourage people and businesses to give them to Camara for reuse rather than recycling them. There is a moral imperative to seek a reuse option.
“We are not asking for money, just your unwanted computers; each computer will give the gift of digital literacy to 21 disadvantaged students so we urge people to please support this campaign,” Lamberton added.
Individuals, schools, businesses and organisations with old computers, laptops, monitors, mice or keyboards are asked to please think about donating them to Camara.
Camara securely wipes all data on all machines to an internationally recognised standard before refurbishing them.
A collection service is available and is free of charge for people and businesses who contact Camara during its campaign week.
Information on hours and drop-off locations can be found on Camara’s website.
Silicon Republic is proud to be official media partner of Camara, and to support its great work in promoting digital literacy in disadvantaged communities.
