Computer Aid hits 10,000 pledges

IT directors have pledged more than 10,000 used PCs since April via our Computer Aid web site.

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

The appeal web site makes it easy to donate old PCs, and we are hoping to beat last year's total of more than 28,000.

Tony Roberts, Computer Aid International chief executive, says the response from Computing readers has been fantastic.

'Ten thousand pledges is a massive milestone,' he said. 'It will translate into about 60 million hours of access to computers in education and highly vocational training.'

Since its launch in 1998, Computer Aid International has shipped more than 50,000 PCs to 93 countries, providing a free reconditioning service to help firms dispose of unwanted kit effectively.

While two million working Pentium PCs are dumped in UK landfill sites every year, 99 per cent of schoolchildren in Africa graduate without having touched or seen a computer in the classroom.

Computing's appeal site can be accessed at: www.computing.co.uk/computeraid