[PLUG] Linux against Poverty was a success

[David Mandel]

I also tend to agree with Keith.

I like the Austin program.  These people mean well and are doing
interesting things; but they are a long ways from having a program
that does more than just giving machines away.  A quality program like
Freegeek's which was well thought out initially and then took years to
perfect does much much more than this.  Freegeek's recipients earn
their computers by giving time and effort to Freegeek.  This is not
only important to the financial well being of Freegeek, but it is much
more dignified for the recipients.  Moreover, Freegeek's recipients
get considerable training and support and support channels to insure
that their machines get used in a useful manner.  Freegeek is indeed a
great program.

I can also relate to Andrew's experience.
Charities are not easy to run effectively.
In fact, they can be extremely difficult to run.

I know I certainly learned a lot during my three years as a Peace
Corps Volunteer in Malaysia (1973-1976).  A lot of things just don't
work the way you expect - and you end up making lots of major
adjustments on the fly.

In more recent years, I have learned a lot working with Linux Fund.
We bring in much less money than we once did - which is a real concern
for the organization.
However, we have ten years more experience and we are much more
efficient with our resources than we were in the early years.

And since Andrew was discussing Ghana - one of Linux Fund's newer projects is a
joint program with FOSSFA.net (Free Software and Open Source
Foundation for Africa)
which serves all of Africa but has it's main office in Ghana.  This
offers a great
opportunity for Linux Fund, because we will be working with an African NGO that
understands the situation many different regions of Africa and how to
get the most bang for the buck.

David Mandel

On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 1:17 PM, Andrew Brookins<a.m.brookins at gmail.com> wrote:

...
>
> Full disclosure: I launched my own simple charity in Ghana a few years
> ago -- opening a computer-training school for children in a rural
> village, giving away computers.  Hopefully I am not projecting my
> experience onto "Linux Against Poverty"; but what I found out in Ghana
> was that doing useful, good charity is extremely difficult.  My
> project there made me feel good at the time, but in all honesty, I
> doubt it had much impact; it may have even had a negative impact,
> which I think is true for most simple charities.
>
> So, my rambling and potentially flammable point is that doing good
> (complex) charity requires the kind of drilling down that Free Geek
> has obviously done.  If you want to give away computers, I'd suggest
> working with them.
>
> However, not all Linux geeks in Portland should volunteer at Free
> Geek.  There's always room for another non-profit in this city.  Maybe
> it's a technology program that helps low-income and at-risk children
> get experience with computers.  Maybe it's something else -- something
> you are passionate about.  But hopefully it's not a program that gives
> away computers because with Free Geek doing its thing so well, that
> would be like reinventing the wheel.
...