Cast-off computers are finding a second life bringing Third World communities into the digital age. In a corrugated iron shed, a group of young East Timorese are learning how to type on a computer. Others are Googling the latest varieties of corn or the price of rice, excited by their newfound connection to that great equaliser - the World Wide Web.
It's a power to learn beyond the dusty streets of Dili on second-hand computers donated by Australians: humble Pentium 3s and 4s with hard drives smaller than an iPod; desktops that have served business and families faithfully now shelved to make way for whizzbang upgrades.
Proving the adage that one man's trash is another man's treasure, these unwanted computers are being collected, refurbished and shipped to developing nations by non-profit groups such as Computerbank, whose volunteers check that the preloved machines are working, wipe the hard drive and trade power-sucking Windows for the more lightweight Linux, and a batch of other open-source programs.
Since president Kylie Davies founded the recycling scheme in 1999, Computerbank has distributed 2500 computers to disadvantaged communities in Australia and overseas - from Congolese refugees in Shepparton to schools, orphanages and villages in Fiji, Samoa, East Timor and Ecuador.
ANZ Bank recently gave Computerbank a soon-to-beupgraded fleet of 1000 branch PCs, which are being used at schools across the South Pacific.
Ms Davies says resurrecting computers from the junk pile is a rewarding exercise as they serve a second life for communities struggling to learn, communicate and work without basic computer technology."
There's a lot of goodwill out there and people see this as a good service - an outlet to recycle a computer that somebody else might get use out of," the social worker says.
In East Timor, a church minister is educating remote communities with a laptop that came from a high- flying Melbourne businessman.
Young East Timorese farmers are using internet cafes to research agriculture, weather and produce prices using computers that probably clocked up game records for Aussie teens putting off their homework.
In Ecuador, Computerbank's internet cafe has become a thriving social meeting point, which Ms Davies says is just as important as the technology itself."
Internet cafes like the centre we set up in Ecuador provide an avenue for the community to get together, so it's more than just about providing the technology and education," she says.
Katie Cincotta
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