Paul Bermingham, senior staff vice-president, IT International, pictured with Nicola Finlay, senior business analyst, Hetz, and John Fitzsimons, CEO, Camara Education
Hertz has donated 1,000 computers to Irish social enterprise charity Camara Education, which will refurbish them before dispatching them off to east Africa to help improve the education of children there via technology.
The donation of the PCs from the Hertz Europe Service Centre for ethical reuse will have the potential to transform the lives of 19,000 children in East Africa, said Camara Education’s CEO John Fitzsimons today.
He said the computers donated from the Rent a Car company will help give the children with a better education through technology and the opportunity to break the poverty cycle in which the might be in.
Camara Education, a social enterprise and charity, specialises in the reuse of computers to educate children in disadvantaged schools in East Africa, Jamaica and Ireland.
It refurbishes computers that are often donated from large companies when they are upgrading their IT resources. Such companies see he advantage of keeping computers in the lifecycle and donating them to social causes such as Camara.
The charity loads computers with educational software and distributes them to disadvantaged schools.
To date, the charity has reused over 27,000 computers in this way, benefiting over 500,000 children who have received a better education as a result.
“Rather than recycle PCs as we normally would, working with Camara Education has been a great opportunity for us to help schools in Africa in their education,” said Paul Bermingham, senior staff vice-president, IT International, this morning.
Also key to Camara Education’s mission is training teachers on using computers as an educational resource.
The word camara derives from the West African leixcon. It translates as “one who teaches with experience”.
