What fate awaits computers at the end of their valuable life?
Some end up in surplus shops selling second-hand units;
others in junkshops where workers smash and pick apart electronic waste to
scavenge for gold, copper, and other precious metals. Worse, some electronic
harvesters pull out wires and plastic parts, burn them at night, fouling the air
with toxic smoke.
When Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), one of the
country’s biggest banks, upgraded and replaced its systems, old computers found
their way into the hands and minds of those who need them most. BPI Foundation,
the bank’s philanthropic arm, and BPI’s Information Systems Group (ISG) run a
program called e-Donate where old but working computers (with Windows 98 OS
software programs) and unusable ones are donated to schools and recycled into
learning tools.
Used PCs recently went to a public elementary school at the
heart of Smokey Mountain where children of former scavengers learn how to use
computers. Computer donations were also made to the Foundation’s adopted
community in Malibay, Pasay City where Rogationist priests teach residents basic
computer skills as part of a livelihood program. Second-hand units also aid
learning at the Saint Peter College Seminary in Butuan City, which has around
175 student seminarians.
A hundred used units also went to the Girl Scouts of the
Philippines (GSP), which runs a yearly social networking program called
"Jamboree on the Internet" where thousands of participants exchange ideas and
swap scouting experiences on cyberspace. GSP National President Teresita Choa
said BPI’s used computers would also help train and link up its 95 councils from
Batanes to Basilan.
"The BPI Foundation program not only helps the environment,
it also empowers the youth and the girl scouting movement," said Ms. Choa, who
is also the founding chair of the non-profit Mother Earth Foundation.
The biggest recipient of the BPI Foundation program is the
Manpower Training Center of the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Makati City.
Nearly three truckloads of used and unusable computers from BPI Foundation are
now being used in teaching computer repair and maintenance to vocational
students taking up industrial electronics. About a hundred of Don Bosco’s 1,300
vocational students are part of the Center’s outreach program that gets young
people who cannot afford high school education off the streets, away from drugs,
and a fighting chance in life.
"BPI’s used computers greatly help us teach hands-on computer
maintenance instead of just theories. Unusable ones are used as either training
tools or ripped apart and sold to junkshops," said Bro. Elmer Rodriguez, Don
Bosco technical director who runs the Center.
Before the donations, four students would share assembling,
cabling and enabling one computer, said Wendell Buenaobra, who had the
experience as a vocational student and now teaches the class. "After completing
the course, the students could now run their own computer repair shops, which is
now in huge demand," he added.
Success stories from the Center’s outreach program have
already been drawing in droves young people from poor families, even as far as
Mindanao, to its arms. Among these is Richard Kaay, who finished only third
grade in Zamboanga and was 17 years old when brought to the outreach program by
Tuloy sa Don Bosco. He now works in a machine shop in Saudi Arabia.
"Our goal here is the employability of our students. BPI Foundation’s
e-Donate helps us achieve that goal," said Bro. Elmer.
