The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Sending Computers To The World Ray Beatty

Well that first little article brought out a dozen or so Melb PC members who volunteered old computers. I immediately pounced on them and asked if they would like to participate. Much to my surprise, most of them said yes.

At the same time I was looking for a charity which could handle the project. The first few I spoke to said no, computers would be too hard. They only handled money, which was sent to overseas offices to pay for wells and generators and school rooms. This would be too big a step for them - they did not have the infrastructure in place either here or in the field to cope with new technology.

But then came the serendipity. I put the idea to Chris Bockisch, the Corporate Business Executive at World Vision. It turned out he had been thinking along the same lines. He saw computers as a valuable addition to their activities, and already he had given lots of thought on how to handle shipping and distribution. Give us the computers and we'll get them there, was his message.
 

But what about premises? Everyone I spoke to, I'd ask a question along the lines of: do your know of an empty garage or shop or some other place which could be donated to us at a nominal rent, so we could do the refurbishing? No was the answer... until I asked Chris.

Once again he was well ahead of me. In his investigation he had come across a recruitment, job placement and jobs-for-the-dole agency called RecruitNet. They were supported by government and ran several centres around the city. Their latest would be in an old red-brick factory in Campbell Street Collingwood. Perhaps they would have space for us?

Well it was going to turn out much better than that. I still can't believe our luck. We met with their Executive Director, Sue Campbell, and their Collingwood team led by Ian Lambert and Mat Scott. We talked around a rickety table, crowded into a corner with painters and builders working all around us to finish the building's fit-out.

Right there was the perfect workshop. No, in fact it was a proper factory -with half a dozen work benches for stripping and rebuilding computers, huge steel-mesh hoppers full of old computers, monitors and every imaginable peripheral. Racks and stacks and even a fork-lift truck. It was Eldorado!

And things got better. The meeting was so easy it didn't seem possible. Everyone's answer was "Yes". Yes we have the premises and equipment and you can use them, said Recruitnet. Yes we have the skilled and willing people, I responded, having recruited a dozen keen helpers already. Yes we can ship the computers overseas and distribute them to the right places, said World Vision. ComputerAid was up and running almost instantly.

Within a matter of weeks a team of outstanding people had started to regularly attend the ComputerAid sessions. Melb PC members like Michael Mullerworth, Paul Addis, John Wilson, Julian Burke and others formed a core team who could be relied on to turn up regularly. Tom Coleman played godfather, giving occasional training sessions and helping out whenever he could, and Jay Boag - a retired company secretary - took on the job of administrator.

Many other members would come along, do a few hours when they had time to spare. We were able now to support four days a week - Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And as our team's skills grew, the output grew in speed and volume.

A problem, though. The computers we were working with were a hotchpotch from out of the RecruitNet storage bins and our members' chook sheds. Making them work was a hard chore, a matter of patching and cannibalising and working very inefficiently. At the end the computers we had were too out of date even for an African mud hut. We had to raise the standard of what was acceptable, even though it meant that many well-meant donations ended up in the scrap bin.

Meantime, at World Vision, the energetic Chris was indefatigable in his pursuit of a better standard of computer. He targeted corporations, where a redundant computer might be only three or five years old. Also they would supply multiple numbers of the same make and model, making upgrades and part-swapping easier.
 

It was his efforts that led to ANZ's involvement. They were making major upgrades to their networks and lots of perfectly good machines were put out to pasture. A few employees approached management with the suggestion - rather than sell the computers for a very small return, let's give them away. In addition, ANZ implemented a policy allowing their staff one day off a year, fully paid, which could be spent on a charity project. A number of them chose to come down to RecruitNet.

By early this year we had the influx of truckloads of good computers. Our members also agreed to act as mentors for the work-for-the-dole clients. These youngsters saw the exercise as a necessary routine to retain eligibility for benefits. But more than a few took the opportunity to learn new skills, encouraged by the wisdom and enthusiasm of our members.

Our little workshop was turning into a factory pumping out pallet-loads of computers for the third world. So it was that World Vision decided to mark the progress - and thank ANZ and the volunteers - through a little celebration for the 500th computer.

The number is mind-boggling. In little over a year, 500 machines had been completed, from a target of 100 at the start. In fact by the time of the event, on June 17th, the number had reached 617 with a value, estimated by World Vision, of $316,000.

Melb PC can take a real pride in this because there is no way this could have been achieved without the efforts of our members. We can proudly claim responsibility for a third of a million dollars' worth of equipment going to help Ghana, Romania and Papua New Guinea - already sent and received - and awaiting shipment to East Timor, Kenya, Zambia and Lebanon.

The project has been so successful that RecruitNet now want to extend it to their Cranbourne office - and have asked whether any of our eastern-suburbs volunteers would be willing to help.

The little party at RecruitNet was a PR exercise, certainly. To thank all the different people and groups who contributed to the result. There was a second half to it, less formal, with our own members present a week later. This was to thank them and to give every regular participant a letter of personal thanks from World Vision. Together these two celebrations were done to remind us all what can be achieved for the benefit of mankind, when different sections of our community come together in a spirit of goodwill.

As a club we can take a pat on the back too. And if anyone asks us, we're more than a bunch of nerds who like to talk computers. We're an organisation which can play an important role in the world - which can make a difference.
 

Reprinted from the October 2003 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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