Plockton, Scotland, 1995 – A group pupils in a small Scottish Highlands secondary school set up Computers for Africa, with the aim of ensuring that children in South Africa should have computers.
The pupils, from Plockton High, were undeterred by the scale of the challenge and determined to see it through. At the time, Ross Cockburn was looking for a charity that could benefit from a number of end of life computers that he had saved from landfill. When he heard about the Computers for Africa initiative, he travelled to Plockton to arrange the donation.
“The pupils had decided that kids in South Africa should have the same as them,” says Ross, “and they weren’t going to get anything get in their way. They could see if from a young person’s perspective, and they kept coming up with solutions to the potential problems that the adults brought up.”
The delivery went ahead successfully, and was Ross’ very first consignment of repurposed computers. It was the inspiration for many more, leading to creation of Reusing IT.