[Air-L] help on africa and computer donations

[nativebuddha]

This student is looking for help. Any suggestions?

-robert

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Hello,

I am Alok Kotecha, a Computer Science major at the College of
Charleston. I am working on a paper for my English 102 class that is
based mainly on donating computers to the developing nations of
Africa, mostly Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique & Zambia.

My main argument is that developed nations donate technology such as
computers to these counties with the aim of technologically advancing
the nations, however they do not consider the fact that donating
computers is not the main thing to be done at this stage.

Below are some other arguments that I address in my paper:

1. Lack of infrastructure e.g. very few people have telephone lines
and this will stop them from connecting to the internet.  (Wireless
connections are out of question in most places due to the high set up
costs and regular maintenance required.)

2. Security would be a concern - High crime rates might mean that
high security would be needed in order to protect computers from
theft.

3. Language would be a concern as well - Operating a computer that
interacts in English my be a problem for many people.

4. Health Care - Many people die everyday form malaria and other
diseases. In these cases it is always a good idea to save lives first
by providing better health care and medical services rather then
donating computers.

Currently I have based my paper on statistics from UNDP and NYT
articles, but because this is a very recent issue I am currently
having problems finding more scholarly articles and I would
appreciate any suggestions you can provide.

Thank you,

Alok Kotecha