EB2000 Computer Procurement Initiative (ECPI)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 3 : The Electrical Testing Area in the Dataservices Warehouse At the same time, I drew up plans for the logistics of shipping. Prof. Shahidur Rahman, an EB2000 Working Committee member from Nanyang Institute of Technology in Singapore, e-mailed me contact details for Captain Moin Uddin Ahmed, Figure 4, the Regional Representative of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation in the UK. At first, I hoped to use the Bangladesh High Commission as a Central Point of Collection for any computers procured prior to shipping. However, those plans were subsequently dropped after locating FCFE/Dataservices who had an infrastructure available to store and ship the computers to any location in the UK for a minimal charge. Besides, I was advised by a few of our members not to get the High Commission directly involved as it may slow down the process. His Excellency, A. H. Mahmud Ali, the UK's former Bangladeshi High Commissioner concurred with the advice given by our members and suggested I keep him appraised of our progress but that I should not get the High Commission directly involved.
Figure 4 : Captain Moin Uddin Ahmed, Regional Manager, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation Admittedly, I was hoping that the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation would completely waiver shipping charges due to our organisation's voluntary alignment. Captain Moin Uddin informed me that, as this effort was voluntary in nature, free passage could be possible. However, as the 'Bangla Mia' approached UK shores, time was short and I decided that we should simply pay any shipping charge. Capt. Moin Uddin did say that he would arrange for the absolute minimal Sea Freight charges of approximately £400. The total charge for inland haulage was £50 [originally misquoted - actually should have been £95] from Dataservices, West London to the docks in Hull, Northeast England. This shipping quote in total translates to a cost of £33 or $47.85 per machine, which were a mixture of low end Pentiums 75's - 100's. I was told that the 'Bangla Mia' was due in port and at the middle of May. I passed on the information to my contact at Dataservices, Beth Stelling, Figure 5, who arranged for the computers to be shipped to the port where the 'Bangla Mia' was due to arrive. This was an incredibly frustrating time as I was promised the funds for shipment and as the deadline approached, I began sending e-mails almost daily to find out what the situation was. It seemed that all my messages were ignored and only after it was too late did I receive an e-mail from an employee of LEARN who informed me that they decided that the computers, being low specification machines, would not be suitable for their purpose.
Figure 5 : Beth Stelling; EB2000's initial, but since retired, contact at Dataservices During my initial discussion with Imran Rasheed, I offered my assistance to procure machines for his project and was literally snubbed. At that point, I thought his response was legitimate because, although he knew nothing about me, Bangladeshis be they Resident or Expatriates do tend to promise a lot and never deliver. I also must blame myself for what could only be perceived from my perspective as a total misunderstanding. In my many e-mails to LEARN, I mentioned that Sea Freight charge could amount to around £400 but I also mentioned that I would do my best to get this charge waivered. Undeterred by this setback, the search was on for another
recipient.
The first group of potential recipients that sprung to mind was
Grameen, Rotary Club,
BRAC and the Bangladesh Government. After a
one-on-one discussion with His Excellency A. H. Mamhud Ali, he
kindly offered to send all official EB2000 communications to
Bangladesh via the Foreign Ministry courier. I drafted letters to
Grameen, Rotary and BRAC but fell short of offering the 15 'free'
machines to them. Instead, following a meeting between Mahmud
Farooque and the Honourable Secretary for the Ministry of Science
and Technology, Mr. M. Fazlur Rahman, we decided to try for an ambitious alternative by
approaching the Bangladesh Government directly.
It came to our attention that the immediate past (Awami League) Government
identified that they wish to put at least 3 computers in each of
the 12,000 Secondary Schools in Bangladesh. Within what time frame
was unknown to us. Dr. A. J. M. Abdur Rouf, the Science Adviser to
Mr. M. Fazlur Rahman, wrote to Mahmud Farooque spelling out that
although the Honourable Secretary praised our efforts, the Ministry
was in no position to take on any joint project with EB2000 due to
lack of staff. He indicated that once the positions in the Ministry
for dealing with such a venture were filled, they would contact us
to establish a collaborative effort for a Computer Procurement. He
then went on to advise us to offer the computers to any one of the
NGOs in Bangladesh.
Our direct approach to the Rotary Club of Bangladesh met with no
response, even after sending the District Governor Elect an
official letter of introduction via His Excellency, A. H. Mahmud
Ali c/o the Foreign Ministry in Dhaka and three e-mail reminders.
Meanwhile, both Professor Mohammed Yunus, Director of Grameen and
Major General (Retd.) Mohammed Sahool Afzal, Director of
Information Technology at BRAC responded in person.
Prof. Yunus wrote a personal letter declining our offer as he
mentioned they required high specification machines.
Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Afzal of BRAC, on the other hand, responded very positively and asked for additional information. Within 12 hours of sending an e-mail to BRAC offering the computers to his organisation's activities in development, Gen. Afzal accepted the 15 computers. He asked that I inspect the machines, Figure 6a & 6b, and inform him of our progress. During a trip to London, I met with Beth Stelling and toured the Dataservices warehouse in person. I also met with His Excellency, the High Commissioner to keep him appraised of our efforts and Capt. Moin Uddin Ahmed to finalise shipping arrangements. The 'Bangla Kokholi' was initially due into harbour around mid July but due to a lengthy delay at Algeria, their estimated time of arrival was pushed back to mid-August.
Figure 6a & 6b : 15 Pentium Base Units, Keyboards & Monitors, brought down for inspection It was my intention to drive from one end of the UK to the other to supervise the loading of our cargo and meet with the Captain of the 'Bangla Kokholi' and her crew. This was not possible, as I had other pressing commitments to attend to. I left for France to study a Masters Degree at the International Space University on the 10th August 2000. After a few weeks, I found that the 'Bangla Kokholi' was redirected by the Head Office of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (based in Chittagong) and did not arrive in the UK. Frustrated with the lack of progress, I contemplated asking BRAC if they would be willing to pay for the shipping, just to get the machines to Bangladesh as soon as possible. Prior to doing so, I contacted both Shaikh Habibuddin and Imran Isphani once again and asked for their assistance. I decided to pursue as many avenues at the same time in the hope that one of them would come to fruition. I wrote to Captain Kamal Mahmood, Technical Flight Director for Bangladesh Biman, and asked if it were possible to ship these machines by Biman, if necessary, one at a time. Mahmud Farooque expressed his concern about this mode of transportation and (quite rightly stated that) the whole point of this exercise was to test out the logistics of shipment for an organisation who wished to procure machines in far greater quantity then we were shipping. However, at that point in time, my patience had run dry and I replied to Mahmud by saying that I didn't particularly care if the computers were carted from Zia International Airport to BRAC's Information Technology Institute by Rickshaw; so long as they got there! It was the 24th December 2000 and I found myself on a Bangladesh Biman Flight from London to Dhaka. By total co-incidence, the Captain of the Flight was no other then Captain Kamal Mahmood. I asked to be introduced to him and we spent a significant part of the 12 hour flight talking about the ECPI and how Biman could possibly assist. Captain Mahmood mentioned that he would do his best to assist. On my arrival in Dhaka, I tried contacting Maj. Gen. Afzal and finally got in touch after a week. This was basically due to the Eid-ul-Fitr, Christmas Holiday and Weekend. I finally met ECPI's recipient and apologised in person for the lack of progress. Gen. Afzal was sympathetic and just asked that I send the machines as speedily as possible. I refrained from asking him if BRAC would be willing to pay for shipping because of my recent conversation with Captain Kamal Mahmood and the fact that we could possibly ship the machines totally free of charge. The first attempt to ship the computers via Capt. Mahmood ended in failure after I heard that a member of his family fell ill and he was unable to collect the first two machines. Just prior to this incident, I received an e-mail from Captain Moin Uddin Ahmed who mentioned that due to his busy schedule, he was not able to maintain communication and asked me whether or not I still required the services of the BSC. I replied by saying 'no' simply because of the arrangement I had with Bangladesh Biman. A week or so later, I received an e-mail from Beth Stelling who told me that the were no longer working with Free Computers for Education and that all the remaining machines that belonged to them would be shipped to RecommIT, another smaller, computer recycling company in Salisbury which is located in the heart of England. I replied to Beth and asked if she could hold the computers for at least one week until I found out if BRAC would be willing to pay for the shipment. Meanwhile, the scramble was on to try and find temporary storage for the computers. I tried to contact Shaikh Habibuddin via his Mobile and had no luck. Anyhow, he spoke with Imran and informed me that his workplace was too small to store any machines. The Biman Cargo Office at Heathrow was also too small. Out of options, I called Captain Moin Uddin Ahmed (Bangladesh Shipping Corporation) and asked him to get back to me with a charge for shipping via Sea Freight. On Monday, I called Beth Stelling to ask her to hold on to the machines until the end of the week and she informed me that the haulier had come unannounced in the morning and took all the machines that belonged to FCFE. Within a couple of days, Capt. Moin Uddin replied to me with an estimated quote. At the same time, Imran Isphani kindly introduced me to Muied Chowdhury, the new Executive Director of BRAC and informed him of the problems I have had pertaining to the shipment of computers. I forwarded the e-mail I received from Capt. Moin to General Afzal and received a response within a couple of days where he stated that if the computers worked out to be around £32 (Sterling), then it would suffice. The computers were subsequently collected on the 28th February and set sail from Southampton, UK for Chittagong, Bangladesh. Estimated time of arrival was the 28th March 2000. Again, I found myself in Bangladesh on the 18th February but this time I was due to stay for a period of 3 months working on a Pre-Feasibility Study for Bangladesh's plans to procure its first indigenous telecommunications satellite. I took advantage of this opportunity to contact General Afzal who asked me where his paperwork was. After an enquiry to Captain Moin Uddin, he mentioned that the pertinent paperwork would be sent to Dhaka soon. Captain Moin Uddin gave the paperwork to Captain Kamal Mahmood of Biman who left it with Tanvir Chowdhury of Global Amitech. I called Gen. Afzal who subsequently arranged to have some of his people go and collect the paperwork from Global Amitech. The computers are due to arrive in Dhaka shortly after which they will
be re-distributed to the Rural Districts of Bangladesh where Rural Children will be
taught the values of Information Technology.
Our doubts are traitors.
And lose the good we oft might win.
By fearing to attempt. (SHAKESPEARE)
During the course of this project, I was warned to be cautious
when dealing with Resident Bangladeshis. I was told that I would end up chasing my own
tail and that I would be better off on serving my own interest by looking after my own
well being. However my thoughts were, if we as Expatriates were to simply shy
away at any sign of difficulty, then those at grass roots level in
the Rural Districts of Bangladesh will surely remain in poverty for
all eternity. I in no way wish to imply that there aren't decent people here in
Bangladesh who are
concerned about the level of poverty and substandard education
in the Rural Districts. There are many concerned individuals. But every good heart
counts and those abroad to a certain extent are in a better position to assist with
areas that the Resident Bangladeshis have no scope to assist. Anyhow, I did chase my
tail to a certain extent and felt that there were some individuals I came across to be
extremely aloof and a complete waste of time. However, to my delight, this project
brought in touch with some very decent people from both at home (Bangladesh) and abroad.
It was a sincere pleasure to have made their acquaintence.
As for the technical aspects of the project, from the very beginning
of the ECPI, I noticed that some of the organisations in Bangladesh were
overly concerned about computers with high specifications. It seems
to adhere to a society that has conformed to one that is totally
engulfed with aesthetics. In my mind, there is no justification in
procuring a top-of-the-range Pentium simply to teach a student to
type, learn Microsoft Office or use the Internet. Older machines
may require regular maintenance but in this case, components for
these machines are readily available and at an affordable price.
Our research shows that both Developed and Developing countries
make use of old computers. In which case, what makes Bangladesh so
special?
The fact that the two communities have such differing points of
view is a major deterrent to sustainable contribution by the
Expatriates to the process of development in Bangladesh. These
problems must be addressed and it is the hope that EB2000's
projects such as the ECPI will contribute to removing some of that
misapprehension.
Presented by;
September 2001 |
