eCorps Volunteers to Nigeria

eCorps Volunteers travel to Nigeria in August to set up computers
in Nigerian schools.
HULL, Mass.--(Business Wire)--
Twelve volunteers travel to Kaduna, Nigeria this August to set up
computer labs in local schools as part of the World Computer
Exchange's eCorps Initiative. The World Computer Exchange (WCE), whose
main site is located at www.worldcomputerexchange.org, is a global
education and environment nonprofit volunteer organization that helps
connect youth in 65 developing countries to the skills, opportunities,
and understanding of the Internet while keeping working computers out
of landfills. The WCE's eCorps Initiative sends teams of tech
professionals and university students to developing countries to staff
programs which address global technology, education, environmental and
cross-cultural issues in the developing world. To date, WCE has
provided 26,800 reused computers to 2,550 schools, libraries,
orphanages and youth centers connecting over a million youth per year
to the Internet.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna imported 800 donated used
computers gathered by the volunteers of WCE Chicago and WCE Vermont,
and has invited an eCorps tech team to help connect 20 of their
schools to the Internet. The shipment of computers was sponsored by
the Strategic Group, a private equity firm based out of Gainesville,
Florida, who learned of the WCE in the December issue of Glamour
magazine. In addition to helping sponsor the computers, the Strategic
Group is sending two of their employees to join the team in Kaduna,
Nigeria. The volunteer team members are from the Cayman Islands, Costa
Rica, Nigeria, the USA and Zimbabwe.

The eCorps team will focus on four main tasks: (1) general
community and school orientation about using computers and the
Internet; (2) configuring servers for local area networks; (3) Linux
LTSP server configuration; and, (4) piloting a plan for responsible
recycling of dead computers in Nigeria. Over 10,000 students in
schools from different communities in Nigeria will benefit. The
computers will impact the lives of these young people, increase and
sustain student intake in schools, and enhance their competitiveness.

The WCE contact in Nigeria is Monsignor Matthew Hassan Kukah, the
Vicar General of the Archdiocese, who has been actively involved in
human rights work in Nigeria for nearly 20 years. In recognition of
his contributions, he was appointed by the President to serve as a
member of the Truth Commission in Nigeria and is currently working to
end the conflict between Shell and the people of Ogoni in the
Niger-Delta while also serving as a Member of the Electoral Reform
Committee.

WCE is planning similar future eCorps trips for volunteers in the
next few months to Nepal, Bolivia and Tanzania. For more information
regarding volunteering for eCorps and the World Computer Exchange
please visit www.worldcomputerexchange.org or contact us at
TAnderson@WorldComputerExchange.org.

World Computer Exchange
Timothy Anderson
TAnderson@WorldComputerExchange.org

Copyright Business Wire 2008