Hello everyone
I dont know why every one tends to proclaim themselves as belonging
to a Third World.
There is only one world - as it is known to mankind and it is the
earth.
Donot denigrade yourself or your country or your citizens. They may
be poor but not have sold their self respect to the educated few.
Respect every person, every country and acknowledge the differences
whether in terms of language or religion or physical features.
At least in the field of education, we have to build tolerance and
mutual respect for the future generations. Economics is not
important when not backed with moral values and humility.
Self respect is very important for any nation or group to come up in
life.
Sorry if I offended any person
Vasu Murthy
New York
Nov 3, 2005
Beth Kanter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hello all,
I am seeking some advice for a project we're planning to implement in
Cambodia next year for The Sharing Foundation
(www.sharingfoundation.org).
The Sharing Foundation supports many different development projects
in a
small village about an hour outside of Phnom Penh. Education is at the
center. We have a pre-school, support the village school, support
english program and school library for K-8, a khmer literacy headstart
school for poorest residents as well as high school and now college
scholarships. We are hoping to add computer instruction K-8 as well as
for high school/college students.
Right now focusing on the K-8 - we'd like to add a mobile computer lab
(using laptops) that can be used in the various locations. We're
looking at all the issues (instructional support, curriculum,
hardware,
software, sustainability, etc.).
But, I have a question about hardware acqusition which is not my
strong
expertise. We have some options.
Option A: Get donated laptops in US, recondition them, have staff
hand-carry on the plane to Cambodia or raise money to purchase
refurbished laptops from a place like pcretro. (Note, we have lots of
individuals who support us and we could do a little campaign where
donors contribute and they get their name on a screensaver or
something)
There are local sources for repair as I understand it, although not
fast
repair. I'm also researching locally to see if there are particular
computer brands available and only limit donations to those types.
Also, there are students who are studying this in local colleges - so
we
could provide some employment for a student.
Option B: Purchase computers in country. There is a small, but growing
market. I've had some referrals to vendors who have worked with ngos
in country. The pricing is comparative to US market and vendors also
offer support. We'd have to raise a lot more money to go this route.
So, I'd like to know about your experiences with hardware acqusition
in
third world countries. I want to know the success stories and the
horror stories. For that matter, I'm also seeking any case studies,
best practice guides, etc of running computer training room in third
world country. I know there are a lot of differences based on local
issues, but I'm sure there are some basic best practices.
Advice, help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
[email protected]
http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in
the body of the message.
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
[email protected]
http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in
the body of the message.
