When I first started thinking about how we could help people in Latin America, I thought about what I could offer. I'm an engineer so I have a bit of a knack for computers. Unfortunately, I quickly dismissed the idea that electronics would have anything to do with providing relief to the poor. I figured what they needed was food, water, and clothing. These things are certainly most important, but I have learned that there is a need that can be filled by computers.
A computer can be a very helpful tool in the education of a child. In fact, children of all ages and abilities can benefit from the right software. Very young children or children with disabilities may benefit from improving fine motor coordination by learning to use the mouse and keyboard. Others may need help with learning the alphabet, new vocabulary, or even fractions and geometry.
USLA has recently launched a Computers for Education project. A collection of donated laptops and desktops were outfitted with education software in Spanish. The software is very easy to use for both the children and the adults in charge. Also of great importance: the games are fun for children! (At least I found them fun.) All laptops were outfitted with Edubuntu software (so the system runs a GNU/Linux operating system, not Microsoft Windows). These systems were well received by the Ministry of Light and Truth. The ministry is one of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) we support.
Getting the computers to another country, Guatemala in this case, poses some obstacles. First, shipping anything to another country is pretty expensive. Second, there are import taxes and documents to have in order when you transport items either in large quantities or with the intent of selling them. We donate them to organizations that support the poor, but for all the customs agents know, we plan on selling them for a profit.
Claire, the president of USLA, is very resourceful when it comes to solving these problems. She has found multiple ways to have people bring a laptop with them when they fly to Guatemala City. One obvious answer was to have the family who runs the Minsitry of Light and Truth to bring a few laptops back when they visit family in the US. A more imaginative solution was to have people who are traveling to Guatemala to study Spanish each bring a laptop.
The desktops are delivered to organizations that support underprivileged children in Juarez and Cuauhtemoc, Mexico. USLA partners with the University of Texas, El Paso Center for Inter-American and Border Studies, where there is a professor with close links with the NGO's in Mexico. Also, USLA partnered with the Rotary Club in Cuatemoc, Mexico. A Rotarian simply drove to the US, picked up the desktops, and hand delivered them.
Is every computer useful? No. Unfortunately, very old computers have too limited capabilities to fit the necessary criteria. The computers must be able to run sufficiently modern software to keep them from being too difficult to use. Here are the minimum computer hardware requirements I have come with (this is a mixture of experience and references from the web):
- 300 MHz processor (prefer 700 MHz)
- 256 MB of memory (prefer 512 MB)
- 5 GB hard disk (prefer 8 GB)