Africa Project

2006 Container arrives in Nigeria

TI's first Africa Project shipment, which set sail in February 2006, included some 8,000 pounds of books about Judaism, more than 50 computers (monitors and CPUs) and an assortment of peripherals. The computers were used to seed three Internet cafes in Nigerian communities. The cafes will generate income for the emerging Jewish communities there. They will also provide easier and more affordable access to Jewish resources on the World Wide Web, allowing the users to learn more about what it means to be Jewish. Finally, the computer donations will narrow the digital gap that exists between countries like the United States and countries in the developing world.

Tikvat Israel Congregation's Africa Project is planning to ship a second container to Nigeria. If you or anyone you know recently upgraded a home or office computer system and would like to donate a personal computer, a monitor or peripherals (printers, scanners, etc.), Rabbi Howard Gorin will arrange pickup. All equipment needs to be in good operating condition and no more than five years old (see specifics listed below).

We are gearing up for the next shipment of books and computers at end of May. To accomplish the task without the mess of last year, we will be doing the packing in a more compressed time-frame. To that end, I have spoken with Lynn Berk about Sanctuary Room 1 (aka the Ping Pong Table room) and the Youth Lounge. She and I have developed the following plan:

• The last day of usage of Room 1 will be Wednesday afternoon, May 9. Ditto for the Youth Lounge. Hebrew School students will not be able to use those two spaces on the last day of weekday Hebrew School (May 16).
• Classroom 1 will be used for packing books. The Youth Lounge will be used as temporary storage for the computers we hope to receive. All computers will be out of the Youth Lounge well before the sleepover scheduled for Saturday, June 2.
• After Hebrew School on May 20, Classroom 24 will be converted into a Computer Lab - for wiping down hard-drives and for packing computers, monitors, etc. If necessary, we will set up a Computer Lab in the Library and Library Annex on Memorial Day Weekend - Sunday and Monday, 5/27-28.

What can you donate?

1. PC's that are a Pentium III or better, with 256MB RAM and 10GB hard drive.
2. Monitors, all sizes, in working condition.
3. External hard drives.
4. Internal hard drives.
5. Network cards.
6. Printers.
7. CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD Readers.

We are not collecting for this phase:

1. Apple Mac's, Sorry!!!!
2. Software.
3. Large Laser printers.
4. FAX machines.

Contact the rabbi at hdgorin49@yahoo.com for more information or to arrange for equipment pickup.