A few months ago we got a call from Paul LaGrange, a computer teacher at the Marysville, WA Mountain View Arts and Technology High School. He had a “gift”---more than 100 refurbished computer towers that had been donated by a local hospital!
Frankly, we were kind of skeptical! A “gift”?? Really? Should we even consider sending “junk computers” to AFRICA?? But we knew Paul! After all, he and his students had refurbished children’s computers for us in the past, and they are still working in what passes for the Axim, Ghana Children’s Library.
So…SURE, we’d take 110 refurbished computer towers with updated Microsoft Windows, newest open source office-type software, 220 volt electrical power capacity, and more. And since Paul is a genius teacher, he and his wonderful students got 110 of the towers to work perfectly.
BUT, how to get them to Ghana? It was amazing! Wonderful Marysville FedEx folks taught us how to pack them in boxes properly. The School District had shipping pallets. Thanks to Dave A., FedEx’s social responsibility program kicked in to have them picked up at the high school and shipped to Maryland at no charge to us!
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| Students hauled in very large FedEx boxes |
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| The towers had to be wrapped just so... |
And from there James Kainyiah, our Western Heritage Home partner in Ghana, got them all the way to Axim. He sold some of them to buy screens and worked with Director Madame Safiatu Seidu and staff at the Community Development Vocational Technical School (CDVTI) in Axim to set up a newly-equipped computer lab, and…well, it's taken a long time to get all of this accomplished, but AS OF TODAY...
HERE
WE ARE!
CDVTI now has a beautiful new computer technology lab with updated computers!
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| Oh the places he'll go....!! |
We've been proud to help Western Heritage Home support CDVTI for
many years. We fund tuition for about ten students a year. We've renovated both girls and boys dorms. We worked with local carpenters to
provide beds, for the boys dorm.
We funded a urine diversification/dehydration toilet for the
guys. We’ve hosted two workshops---one by Days for Girls and the other on
leadership. We provided a set of about a hundred books on construction,
electrical work, etc.
It’s been a good partnership and we see this computer lab as vital
to preparing these students for their vocational training. Ghana is rapidly modernizing, and computer tech training is essential!
Thank you so much to all who
helped make this possible!!
808
Addison Place
Mount
Vernon, WA 98273
Website: http://ghanatogether.org
Email:
info@ghanatogether.org
