Students in the Cornell Computer Reuse Association have put their computer savvy to good use by delivering refurbished campus computers to impoverished communities around the world.

Students in the Cornell Computer Reuse Association have put their computer savvy to good use by delivering refurbished campus computers to impoverished communities around the world.

This spring break, CCRA made a service trip to the Grand Bahamas during which they placed 75 computers in locations that previously had none or few that worked. CCRA installed computer labs at three primary schools and set up a complete networking system.  Many schools use the computers to help elementary school students learn computer literacy and Internet browsing, while upper school students learn to use the Office Suite. The computers are also used for watching videos and performing research.

In addition to benefiting the school children, the new computers also helped adults in the community.

“At night these schools become community centers, and folks who were not regular students could take classes in computer literacy,” Al Heiman, the group’s advisor, said.  According to Heiman, CCRA’s efforts reflect President Skorton’s call for student action in developing world outreach and international experience.

CCRA’s first service trip to the Grand Bahamas brought its members to do more than their usual boxing and shipping off of refurbished computers. It gave them an opportunity to increase their channels of communication with the people they help.

“This trip was incredibly valuable in that it allowed us to see logistical problems we never assumed before,” CCRA member Michael Pawlak ’12 said.

During the trip the group checked on the computers that they had previously shipped to the Bahamas communities and offered technical advice to repair broken systems.

“Some of the computers had broken down due to a lack of maintenance and improper setup,” Michael Nazario ’13 said.

“There’s basically no I.T. support in the Bahamas,” Jason Wang ’12, another CCRA member, said. “[The people had] spent over a thousand dollars trying to replace computers we sent. But we went in there and were able to fix them with them in half an hour.”

In addition to the technical problems, the group also learned that the computers interacted differently in the Bahamas atmosphere than they did in the Ithaca atmosphere. A build up of salt decreases the lifespan of a computer.

“One of the things we took away from the trip that we would never have known was the damage caused by the salt and humidity in the atmosphere. It really corrodes computers fast,” Wang ’12 said.

The group instructed users to scrub their computers regularly with alcohol to avoid damage to the systems.

The group, currently in its sixth year, has sent more than 1,200 computers to numerous schools, community centers and government buildings in places as far as sub-Saharan Africa, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Iraq and Afghanistan.  They also donate computers to local community centers here in Ithaca as well. These computers come from Cornell libraries, computer labs and Gannett Health Services, as well as from private donations.

Cornell replaces computers after their warranties complete, so most refurbished computers should last for at least 10 years with proper maintenance, according to  Wang.

“We’re not techno dumping; the biggest knock on these type of projects is that we’re sending junk and that they’ll be thrown away,” Heiman said. “Nothing can be further from the truth.”

Before sending off the computers, the students wipe the systems’ memory, switch hardware parts and reinstall operating systems and open source software. CCRA also sends matching computer models, which allow for easy part replacement.

The group currently works with the Cornell Institute of African Development to identify schools and universities where their services will be most needed.  CCRA will be travelling to Yale for a conference on African Peace in an effort to help draw other universities to join in their project.

“We have yet to find another student group that does what we do, but we figured that every other university has some sort of similar policy with computers, and we’re sure that they have many computers that can still be good for reuse,” Wang said.