Computers for Refugees program nears fulfillment
Work on establishing a computer resource centre for refugees in Agoro, Northern Uganda, nears completion as a shipment of 10 PCs arrives.
RESPECT has been working with the Agoro Community Development Association (ACDA) to provide a general resource centre where refugees can acquire valuable skills, and gain access to information technology.
ACDA was founded in 2001 to improve life for the 16,500 residents of the war-torn rural Agoro community in Northern Uganda. 17 years of civil and tribal conflict has devastated this community, and many have been killed or forced into fighting for the rebel factions. Those remaining have lost their herds of goats, which are the main means of self-sustainability. The resultant poverty and lack of security have made it impossible for the inhabitants to work or attempt to rebuild.
In their search for partner organisations, ACDA got in touch with RESPECT, and they now serve as the RESPECT country co-ordinators for Northern Uganda.
The Computers for Refugees programme grew when Students Encouraging Global Awareness (SEGA), based in Riverside Secondary School in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, approached RESPECT to distribute funds raised from their annual 12-Hour Relay. W.H. DAY Elementary School's Children Connecting Children project, which involves many schools across the globe, also contributed funds to this project. Between them they raised $2225CDN.
These funds were used to buy 10 computers from Computer Aid International. The transfer of the computers was not without hitches, though.
Tom Fred Obonyo, the ACDA co-coordinator explains, "The cost to transport the computers was bigger than we expected. We had to pay storage costs, and the customs fees were inflated. Also, we were paying to have the computers transported unaccompanied, so security was a problem."
The computers languished in Kampala customs until RESPECT was able to donate an additional $600 USD, including personal funds from Marc Schaeffer, the RESPECT co-coordinator. The computers completed the final leg by bus.
Tom Fred Obonyo and his team are now installing operating systems onto the machines, and will soon be setting them up in the centre, which has already been prepared. An update will follow when the computers have been in place for a while and the community has begun to take advantage of this facility.