Computer Aid kick-starts computer donations through Twitter

Faced with rising computer demands in Africa and Latin America and shrinking donations due to the economic downturn, Computer Aid International kick-started a new donation drive through Twitter.

In the world's first charity Twitterthon in aid of rural schools, hospitals and community centers, Computer Aid International encouraged Internet users to promote the charity via Twitter, hoping to get 1,000 individuals to donate PCs as part of a wider initiative to equip African schools with 10,000 computers within a month.

"We are experiencing an incredible increase in orders of PCs from schools, hospitals, universities and community organizations. We estimate there are thousands of PCs currently collecting dust today in backrooms and store cupboards across the country and we are urging people to take action and get involved," said Tony Roberts, Computer Aid International founder.

Computer Aid professionally refurbishes PCs and laptops in its London workshop and ships them for reuse in schools, hospitals and community organizations in developing countries. The charity has provided almost 150,000 PCs and laptops to support e-learning, e-health, e-inclusion and e-agriculture projects in more than 100 countries such as Rwanda, Ecuador, Chile and Zambia.

Twitterthon required Twitter users to follow Computer Aid and to encourage as many people as possible to send Twitter messages, raising awareness about donations and the various projects the charity is undertaking worldwide. The campaign will go on for a month.

"Hundreds of PCs pledged by City and Islington College," said a twitter message from Computer Aid after the Twitterthon started at 11:00 GMT on Tuesday.

However, Computer Aid efforts in East Africa are likely to be diminished after the Kenyan government turned down requests to lift the 25 percent duty imposed on refurbished computer imports and after a total ban on refurbished computers by the Ugandan government.

The government of Uganda has chosen to shut off the flow of PCs donated through programs such as Computers for Schools Uganda, while at the same time cutting back on its own expenditure on education and health due to the financial recession, said Roberts.

"The poor and marginalized will be the worst affected as the cost of a new PC in Uganda represents more than a year's income for anyone with less-than-average GPD per head," he added.

While the governments argue that the measures have been undertaken to prevent electronic waste dumping, there have been no mechanisms to test whether the computers coming into the countries labelled as new are actually new or just a way for businesspeople to avoid paying tax.

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