Laptop donation from C.B.C. GmbH Frankfurt
We would like to take a recent donation of 6 laptops from Computer Business Center GmbH(https://www.cbc-ag.de/) as an opportunity to thank not only C.B.C. GmbH, but also the many other donors of computers, laptops, monitors and network components. Donations of this kind are more important than ever for us and especially for our recipients in Ghana.
Our long-standing sponsor, C.B.C. Computer Business Center GmbH, was founded over 40 years ago in 1982 and is a vendor-independent IT system house. The diverse portfolio ranges from hardware and software sales to IT consulting and an extensive range of IT services.
Over 160 well-trained and diversely certified employees* are the core of the company. C.B.C. offers the following services to its customers: Managed Services, Hosting Services, Onsite Services, Microsoft Services, Security Services, Datacenter Services and Client Services.
The consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine were unmistakable for us during our trip to Ghana at the end of March / beginning of April.
The impact of the war on not only the regional but also the global food supply is extremely dramatic: Ukraine as well as Russia and Belarus are among the most important exporters of grain, vegetable oil and fertilizers, which for various reasons can now only be exported to a limited extent or not at all. This leads to enormous price increases, which were and are felt everywhere in Ghana. Food is becoming scarce, leading to more and more people suffering from hunger there as well, simply because the cost of food can no longer be afforded.
Money that was originally earmarked for education and/or health must now be invested in other areas. This has a direct impact on the nation's schools and colleges. Urgently needed new acquisitions cannot be made. The development and expansion of the IT infrastructure slows down even more. The digitization of these areas is once again at risk. That's why it's so important that you continue to donate. Our approximately 25 equipped HITA Computer Labs(https://hita-ev.org/projekte/hita-pc-labore/) urgently need maintenance and renewal. We also want to set up new labs. At the Catholic University in Ghana alone, we want to set up 4 labs with up to 200 places for about 5000 students*.
A second life for used equipment or the cost-effective disposal of e-waste?
We are often confronted with the argument that HITA ships "old" equipment - some even claimed electronic waste - to Ghana and thus disposes of it. This accusation annoys and affects us very much, so we would like to explain here again why we refurbish used equipment and why this is so important.
In Germany and the industrialized countries, a smartphone is normally replaced every 2 years, a business laptop every 3 years and a private PC every 4 years (cf. https://www. europarl.europa.eu/news/de/headlines/society/20201208STO93325/elektroschrott-in-der-eu-zahlen-und-fakten-infografik). That this is not very sustainable is obvious and does not need to be explained further.
Is old really old and no longer usable? Not if we consider the hardware requirements for new software. In our experience, these have remained fairly constant over the past few years, which means that even a 10-year-old computer is still good to use today. For use in schools and universities, top performance (processor or graphics cards) does not really play a role because the applications there are not in gaming or video editing. Our potential users mostly surf the Internet with their computers, use typical office programs and write e-mails. The system requirements of e-mail clients, browsers, Word, Excel and co. are so low that even a ten-year-old PC with a single-core processor and 800 MHz clock speed is sufficient to still work smoothly.
However, another - for us decisive - factor in favor of used equipment is the fact that these old devices are easier to repair. Large enclosures typically provide better access to components that are subject to wear. Also, the ventilation and insensitivity to dust of the old devices are better than the newer ones. This is confirmed time and again by IT experts at schools and universities (see also interviews with IT experts on our YouTube channel).
Another argument why we rely on older equipment is the decline in value of the equipment. New equipment is far too expensive for us. For a PC that once cost 1000 Euros, we can already buy 8 PCs after four years without having to accept serious or noticeable performance losses.
Last but not least, we would like to address another argument that is repeatedly mentioned to us, namely data protection. Many donors feel they cannot donate computers because there is no way to ensure that personal or corporate data is completely erased. We would like to note the following: data protection has top priority in our refurbishing, i.e. the reconditioning of our donated used hardware. We therefore perform certified data erasure on all devices that are donated to us after the end of their initial useful life. On the one hand, this is necessary to ensure that no one can reconstruct sensitive company data without authorization, and on the other hand, it enables us to guarantee future users of our used PCs and laptops that the computers are free of malware.
In addition to data security, it goes without saying that a good technical condition of the devices is also important to us. All computers are therefore put through their paces by us before shipment. Before packaging, they go through a review process in which the system components are tested and the exact device configurations are determined. If defective parts have been identified, they will be replaced. If a computer is technically sound, first the operating system is installed and then, if necessary, it is preconfigured so that it can be connected to a network on site without any problems and - very important - without much effort.
Our remanufacturing of computers is not only sustainable. The older equipment often meets the specific requirements on site better than new equipment. Your donated devices will all undergo certified data erasure. So nothing stands in the way of your donation.
We hope we could convince you with our arguments. The nurses and midwives, pupils and students in Ghana will thank you. With your help you directly support the Ghanaian education and health system. Please contact us(spenden@hita-ev.org), whether you want to donate a single computer or hundreds of computers.