Computer Aid: keep up your PC contributions

Some 250 IT directors have now pledged a total of 3,500 PCs to our Computer Aid 2004 appeal.

Working with specialist charity Computer Aid International, we're asking the UK's IT directors to donate their old PCs so they can have a second life in the developing world.

As many as two million working Pentium PCs are dumped in landfill sites in the UK every year.

Meanwhile, 99 per cent of schoolchildren in Africa graduate without having touched or seen a computer in the classroom.

'Please carry on with your good work. Your PC donations will make a real difference to the lives of thousands,' said Tony Roberts, director of Computer Aid International.

'Thousands of non-IT literate students will become technology literate and IT literacy is vital for students. It means increased opportunities, whether it's obtaining a place at college or finding white-collar employment.'

Computer Aid International provides a free re-conditioning service to help companies dispose of unwanted kit effectively.

The charity recently signed a deal with data erasure specialist Blancco that will allow it to guarantee donors GCHQ-approved data removal from any hard disk.

Donated computers are tested, refurbished, fully upgraded and shipped to developing countries.

If you would like to help the appeal, email computeraid@computing.co.uk