Africa Projects

Overview

There are several projects that are possible in light of our new connections with Africa.

Upcoming Events / News

• Oso has been invited to attend the tuXlab Roadshow conference [1]
  • Location: Cape Town, South Africa
  • Dates: February 9-11, 2005.
  • Registration: RSVP deadline Jan. 19, 2005.

ICT4Africa.org Computers to Africa

There are some really good quality computers heading for recycling as the FreekBox spec goes ever higher. In this regard, ICT4Africa.org has proposed a partnership with Free Geek to ship the below FreekBox spec equipment to Africa rather than the recycling pile.

• ICT4Africa.org [2] has funding for getting Free Geek computers to Africa for refurbishing.
• Costs to be covered by ICT4Africa.org:
  • Rent for storage space off-site.
  • Truck rental for transportation from Free Geek to storage.
  • Shipping container dropped of at storage facility.
  • Labor costs to load container.

• Free Geek Responsible for:
  • Providing computers, and parts to build computers / less-disk classrooms.
  • Testing and storing parts.
  • Packing shipping container.

• Next Steps:
  • Estimate rate of computers available (how fast to fill 1 container, approx 400 computers).
  • Current specifications available, estimated rate of increase.
  • Estimate labor costs associated.
  • Research rental costs for storage facility, needs room to load shipping container.
  • Create budget/proposal for staff/council review.

FREE GEEK Cape Town

Hilton Theunissen, of the Shuttleworth Foundation, who I met in October at the 1 million PCs for African Schools Conference has pitched a Free Geek idea to his board of dirctors and they are funding some preliminary work for getting things up and running. They are based in Capetown, but the idea is to make it replicable across Africa.