| Africa calls Rotary to action |
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Charity IT Schools Africa appeals
to Rotary clubs UK-wide to help create positive lives in Africa Press Cutting: Rotary Today, 02 August 2007 
IT Schools Africa (ITSA), a UK-based charity whose purpose is to ‘Create
positive lives through Education' throws open the gauntlet to Rotary clubs around
Great Britain to help source used computers for school children in Africa. Founded in 2004 as an outreach of the Isbourne Foundation to accelerate education in Africa and provide a platform for cross-cultural learning between African and UK schools, ITSA and partner charity CFAS (Computers for African Schools) are making a major difference in some of the poorest countries in Africa. With joint country programmes in Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, ITSA and CFAS donate computers free of charge to all state mission and secondary schools. To date the programme has sent over 11,500 computers to more than 850 schools, installed computer labs, trained hundreds of teachers in IT and provided over 750,000 children with access to IT technology. Following support from a group of Rotary clubs in Gloucestershire who have pledged to source funds and computers to extend ITSA's African education quest into Tanzania, Rotarian Michael Ratcliffe, founder of ITSA, calls on Rotary clubs around the UK to help further expand this compelling humanitarian enterprise: ‘A major contributing factor to the lack of development in African countries is a shortage of basic IT skills amongst the workforce, Ratcliffe elucidates, ‘which are increasingly in demand by business and global economy. Our projects are invaluable because they give the chance to all school leavers to attain the IT skills needed to obtain decent jobs. With Rotary help we can extend our existing programme model to other African countries and provide millions more children with IT education. Could there be a more fitting service opportunity for Rotary?' Following set up in 2004, ITSA opened a warehouse in Cheltenham and collecting used computers from local businesses, organisations and individuals, it set about refurbishing them (checking over, wiping hard drives and making repairs) and sending them to schools in Africa. ITSA works with the local community to help with UK operations - with schools, the unemployed and prisoners - who help to refurbish the computers and prepare them for shipping. Prison computer refurbishment programmes at Whitemore, Winchester, Portsmouth and Stafford prisons are based on the principles of ‘restorative justice': by helping other people, the prisoners feel better about themselves while learning valuable skills for use on their release. The joint ITSA-CFAS programme works with distribution partners in recipient countries to deliver computers to African schools, usually supported by the British Councils and Ministries of Education. These partners receive shipments, check computers for transit damage, install Microsoft Office and Windows and other software (free of charge) and distribute the computers to schools, providing technical support and IT teacher training. Knowledge of computing is an invaluable skill in Africa which dramatically increases employment prospects. The main problem in African schools is the lack of curriculum material. The donated computers enable teachers to access the internet and download curriculum, while CD ROMS provide a useful learning tools for schools not connected to the net. In Conjunction with VSO, Aids and other health awareness programmes are incorporated into school training software. Sending computers to Africa has other benefits beyond education. Principally, in providing a shared learning platform linking African and UK schools, the computers help to bridge the cultural divide. ITSA also protects the environment by reducing the number of computers going into landfill while greatly extending the life of a computer in Africa, where they can be used for many more years before being recycled at the end of their working life. ITSA's new Tanzania programme aims to set up a computer lab with 10 computers in every state and mission secondary school in the country. The Gloucestershire Rotary clubs of Cheltenham Cleeve Vale, Cheltenham Sunrise, Cheltenham North and Severn Vale are supporting the programme by sourcing used computers and raising £7,500 between them. With further support from Rotary clubs in Tanzania, a total of £30,000 will be raised to meet the first year costs. The programme will distribute 1500 computers a year, delivering IT teaching training and technical support to all recipient schools as well as dealing with final disposal of computers when they are no longer of use. Rotary fundraising events in Gloucestershire in support of the Tanzania programme have included a concert, a classic car event and the Cheltenham Circular Challenge walk. And to source computers, a series of computer collections at Tesco stores in the Gloucester area have been organised by Severn Vale RC. David Jones, President of Cheltenham Cleeve Vale RC, which inspired the involvement of Gloucestershire Rotary clubs in ITSA's Tanzania programme, is passionate about the project: ‘ITSA's programmes are invaluable in helping to promote literacy in Africa,' he says, ‘and the Gloucestershire clubs involved feel privileged to be able to assist. For Tanzania, we have raised £7,500 to date and are well on track to meet our target of £30,000 by the end of this year.' Jones believes that ITSA's mission in Africa is an exciting opportunity for Rotary service and urges other Rotary clubs around Great Britain to come on board: ‘This project is a shining example of "Rotary in Action",' Jones said, ‘with clubs working together both at home and overseas. I recently escorted a Group Study Exchange Team from Argentina on a visit to the ITSA project headquarters and was asked "What about South America?" I couldn't answer that question there and then, but hope that I may be able to do so in the not too distant future. There is no reason that what is being done for children in Africa today cannot be extended to those in need in the rest of the world tomorrow. But we cannot do it alone and need to mobilise Rotary as a whole; where better to start than with Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland?' Murray Douglas, Operations Manager for ITSA says the best way for any interested Rotary clubs to support ITSA is by collecting used computers: ‘Our goal is to send over 70,000 computers to Africa by 2011,' says Douglas, ‘and to achieve this we need help sourcing and collecting the computers locally around the UK, much as Severn Vale Rotary Club have done for us in Gloucestershire. Rotary clubs interested in helping us with this please do get in touch, ITSA and Africa will be incredibly grateful for any support. Please help us to create positive lives through education in Africa.' For further information please contact Murray Douglas at ITSA: 01242 228800 / www.itschoolsafrica.org |
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