Albany kids are rebuilding them for youths in Uganda

Brittnee McQuarrie pushed down with all her might and tried to turn the driver, but the stubborn screw holding the computer’s hard drive wouldn’t budge.

Despite the minor setback, the 13-year-old middle school student said rebuilding old computers for young people in Uganda is “really fun.” The project has been under way at the Boys & Girls Club of Albany since the school year started.

Guiding the aspiring computer technicians is Jacob Johnson, the club’s director of technology.

“This was actually an idea from Steve Stocks of the Albany Rotary Club,” Johnson said, as more than a dozen kids worked on computers in various stages of repair. “The club planned to send medical supplies to a youth sharing center there and Steve wanted to know if we could fix up some computers to send along as well.”

The project has grown, thanks to numerous donations of old computers. Johnson said 60 computers are scheduled to be shipped on Oct. 28.

“We have 43 computers done so far,” Johnson said.

“I hope some of the kids will help prepare the shipment as well.”

The 16 young people involved in Club Planet (Partners for Learning and Achievement.Net) range in age from 10 to 17.

“There’s good interaction among the age groups,” Johnson said. “The older kids help teach the younger ones and that’s exciting.”

Johnson said donated computers are stored at the club, then tested. Hard drives are wiped clean, and failed components are replaced with those salvaged from other computers.

“We’ll probably send along a few salvage computers so the people in Uganda can get parts if needed,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to make sure each computer has at least a 10-gigabyte hard drive and 128 megabytes of RAM. That’s enough to operate Windows 2000 and provide Internet connectivity.”

Internet connectivity is important, he said, because the club members plan to communicate with their new friends in Uganda and help them learn new skills.

“Their average annual income is only about $300,” Johnson said. “We want to help them gain new, marketable skills. We can do that over the Internet.”

Johnson said Jeff Peterson, 17, has been his right-hand man on the project.

“It’s been a great learning experience,” Peterson said. “We don’t know a lot, but we do know enough to make upgrades and do some maintenance. It’s been fun.”