EB2000 Computer Procurement Initiative (ECPI)
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The short term NASA contract I was employed for was drawing to a close and I was due to leave Wyoming, USA for the UK at the beginning of December 1998. It was during this period that Mahmud Farooque wrote to me, introduced the EB2000 concept and asked that I join. At that time, I felt that any such membership was inappropriate as I did not want to be associated with what I thought would turn out to be 'yet another' online Bangladeshi chat forum.
Five months passed and I found myself with a bit of time on my hands. I browsed through all the Bangladeshi/Bengali related web sites in my Internet Explorer Favourites Folder, deleting those that were no longer valid. I noticed that EB2000's site had been updated, I thought that it warranted a closer look and quite frankly, I was intrigued by some of the project proposals. However, I observed several grammatical errors and spelling mistakes so I took the liberty of downloading all the documents and decided to correct and reformat the entire web site contents. After two weeks of solid work, Mahmud Farooque and myself settled on a final, publishable version. A small EB2000 Promotional Brochure was produced from its contents.
Mahmud, pleased with my contribution to the organisation, invited me to join the EB2000 Working Committee, which I gladly accepted.
Be Wise.
There were a few projects that were practically possible, one of which was Dr. Saleh Tanveer's "Distant Learning" proposal. However, implementation of such an elaborate project would take time. We therefore felt that it would be beneficial to choose a project that would be practically achievable in the near term; to give our organisation credibility as one that meets its aims and objectives. Mahmud and I discussed the procurement of used and reconditioned computers in the UK. Logistically, computers from the UK would be far more practical for employment in Bangladesh due to similarities with electrical supply (240 Volts) and frequency (50 Hertz). I was informed that a UK based Bangladeshi by the name of Imran Isphani had been sending computer base units back to Bangladesh via Shaikh Habibuddin, a Protocol Officer at the High Commission in London. I contacted Imran and we had a few fruitful discussions about the way forward. He extended his full support, if I required it.
During my last visit to Bangladesh, August 1999, I met with News from Bangladesh's Tanvir Chowdhury who subsequently introduced me to the LEARN Foundation's activities. After a short discussion with Imran Rasheed, LEARN Foundation's Founding Director, I mentioned that I would do what I could to assist in procuring reconditioned computers for their Rural IT project.
On my return to the UK, I began the arduous task of trying to
locate organisations and companies who would be willing to donate
computers for our Computer Procurement Initiative (CPI). For the
first few months, my attempts to contact Government Local
Authorities directly fell on deaf ears and it wasn't until Mahmud
Farooque suggested that I try to approach companies who
specifically deal with Reconditioned machines did I have any luck.
That evening, following an Internet search, I came across 'Free
Computers for Education (FCFE)'; a UK based charity that is run by
a former High School Headmaster and Rotarian, Mr. Grahame Leon-Smith,
Figure 1. I spoke with Mr. Leon-Smith the following day and he
very kindly offered to donate EB2000 15 reconditioned computers for
our CPI.
Free Computers For Education
FCFE used to work closely with El Camino, a US company that bought out the UK Company known as Dataservices, the latter of which was one of Europe's largest computer recycling centres. This company has thousands of 486 and low end Pentium computers in stock, Figure 2a & 2b. The machines are cleaned, electrically tested and have had their Hard Drives professionally wiped, the latter of which is a contractual arrangement with the companies that give the machines to Dataservices, Figure 3. Dataservices themselves give a certain quota of low-end computers, free of charge, to FCFE. All the former requires is that they cover the cost for the reconditioning process of which FCFE pays for with corporate sponsorship. [Note : FCFE is no longer dealing with El Camino/Dataservices but I felt that the latter deserves a mention due to the cordial relationship that EB2000 developed with them.]
Figure 2a & 2b : Monitor & Base Unit storage area at the Dataservices Warehouse
Figure 3 : The Electrical Testing Area in the Dataservices Warehouse