COMPUTERS FOR AFRICA?

Uganda Flooded With E-Waste ‘Clones’ EARTH911.COM
by Lori Brown
Published on April 30th, 2010
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According to a UN report, 27,000 computers were imported into Uganda in 2007. Of these units, only 4,000 were used computers. The vast majority of the rest were clones. Photo: Flickr/buhugu.org
For the people of Uganda, living on $2 a day is a reality. Purchasing a new computer probably doesn’t fit in to that reality. In fact, there are a mere 10 installed computers per 1,000 people in Uganda.

Knowing that, charities have popped up right and left to send donated computers to Africa. These tend to be the computers donated out of genuine good will by an individual trying to “help somebody in Africa.”

But countless other computers are sent overseas to Africa each year, either by companies looking to adopt the out-of-sight out-of-mind mentality to their e-waste problem (albeit a violation of the Basel Action Network) or by “cloned” computer manufacturers looking to sell PC’s assembled from non-major brand parts at discounted prices.

Regardless of how the computers get there, parts of Africa have turned into a literal e-waste dumping grounds, where there is little or no means of properly treating and disposing of their hazardous components.

Omaha-based nonprofit, Computers for Africa (CFA), provides refurbished computers and labs; as well as hardware, maintenance and repair lessons; to students in rural Uganda. The organization receives computer donations from local businesses, then works with high school and college students to upload new software, clean, test and configure them to excellent working condition.

The computers aren’t merely shipped overseas. They are shipped to the local CFA coordinator who has carefully vetted the applicants for factors including administrative leadership, sources of affordable energy and overall planning for the computer program. This commitment ensures the computers don’t become tech-trash a year after they are sent over.

Teachers from the recipient schools attend a two-week course in computer maintenance and repair and attend periodic workshops to keep skills up to date.

The organization hopes the adoption of quality refurbished technology will help control the influx of cloned computers as “dead clones are accumulating all over the country with little public outcry,” Herbert Busiku, Director of Ugandan Operations for CFA, told The Huffington Post.

A May 2008 report from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) put the number of computers imported into Uganda in 2007 at 27,000 units. Of these units, only 4,000 were used computers. The vast majority of the rest were clones.