Mate,

Just go for it.

It is unlikely to cost you more than $200pm after you buy it.

You are helping someone who needs help.

You will feel good for it.

It's hard to say. There's no hard and fast rules when you do stuff like this, and this is because some people can be helped while others live in utter poverty because they're disrespectful little pieces of ****, and you can't change them.
Cambodians are especially hard to work with, because there's a culture of taking advantage of foreigners in this part of the world.
But that said, don't let it put you off, because if you look at who helped the Cambodians most it was foreigners who had balls, who where willing to take a chance and stick it out, like the doctor who founded the Kantha Bopha hospitals that treat like 90% of seriously ill Cambodian kids. Sometimes the worst part of failing is not even having been ripped off by the people you're trying to help, but dealing with the shame of feeling you've been stupid. So be prepared for that, just be aware of what type of culture you're dealing with, and find your way around it and know that many people will respect you, even if you fail.

Thanks all for the input. We're heading out with 20 or so old PCs in April to try and set up a computer lab for the free school. I'll take a look at what's possible. Interesting stuff - at least I'm going in with eyes open if we do this. No comments have really surprised me particularly, but it's been great to get a wider base of opinion. Although I've been in Asia 10 years, the last 6 have been in Singapore, so I'm kinda cheating where I live in Asia-lite

Wadells wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2018 9:08 am Thanks all for the input. We're heading out with 20 or so old PCs in April to try and set up a computer lab for the free school. I'll take a look at what's possible. Interesting stuff - at least I'm going in with eyes open if we do this. No comments have really surprised me particularly, but it's been great to get a wider base of opinion. Although I've been in Asia 10 years, the last 6 have been in Singapore, so I'm kinda cheating where I live in Asia-lite

Some tips:

Bring spare parts, bring covers (everything will be full of dust within a year and one by one the machines will stop working), bring Khmer Unicode Templates (preferably ones fitting on top of the keyboards you bring), check if the school has enough power to power up 20 machines (most schools only have a 5-10A main switch), and bring money for the monthly electricity bill, the cables, connectors, the new switches, etc etc. Consider bringing UPS's for the computers. Schools registered with the ministry are entitled to a free internet connection provided by Metfone. If your school is registered, you might want to get that. If the school director tells you you can't he probably had it installed at his house already.

And bring boots on the ground...

And please report back about the state of lab in 12 months time.

Kammekor wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2018 9:38 am

Wadells wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2018 9:08 am Thanks all for the input. We're heading out with 20 or so old PCs in April to try and set up a computer lab for the free school. I'll take a look at what's possible. Interesting stuff - at least I'm going in with eyes open if we do this. No comments have really surprised me particularly, but it's been great to get a wider base of opinion. Although I've been in Asia 10 years, the last 6 have been in Singapore, so I'm kinda cheating where I live in Asia-lite

Some tips:

Bring spare parts, bring covers (everything will be full of dust within a year and one by one the machines will stop working), bring Khmer Unicode Templates (preferably ones fitting on top of the keyboards you bring), check if the school has enough power to power up 20 machines (most schools only have a 5-10A main switch), and bring money for the monthly electricity bill, the cables, connectors, the new switches, etc etc. Consider bringing UPS's for the computers. Schools registered with the ministry are entitled to a free internet connection provided by Metfone. If your school is registered, you might want to get that. If the school director tells you you can't he probably had it installed at his house already.

And bring boots on the ground...

And please report back about the state of lab in 12 months time.

Thanks, Kammekor - really helpful. We're looking at a sustainable link with a school in Singapore. Phase 1 (April this year): standalone PCs and scope out the place in detail. We'll hopefully return next year for a PC refresh if possible and to maybe work on cabling, if appropriate/ possible.

When it comes to electric cable, you have to make the arrangements this year . Most probably only the director's office has some power sockets, so installing sockets for 20 PC's will take some effort and resources. Don't expect anything to be in place, most probably it won't be, and the school director is probably reluctant to use his school budget for this - so you should bring budget. If the school director is reluctant to use school budget, you might want to reconsider if it's a fruitful operation anyway.....

Consider bringing a small beamer. Teaching students while on 20 pc's will drive any teacher crazy if there's no option to have all the students look at the teacher's screen at the same time.

And finally:
Make sure all PC's and other equipment are clearly marked before you install it in the school. Use a non removable paint, or another definitive method to make 100% clear it was all a donation. Mark everything, even the smallest items you provide. Do it just for the benefit of the children in the school.

As Kammekor says, you will need UPS's. The power voltage is up and down like a yo-yo, and can/will cut off without warning.

Although it might sound obvious, make sure that there is suitable (for the students' ages) educational software installed on the computers.

I donate computers at some orphanages in Myanmar and I also provide ongoing support at other orphanages which have received donated laptops or PCs. At those orphanages, the generous people/organisation who donated the hardware didn't pre-install educational software - they only installed Microsoft Office etc.

So the laptops remained unused by the students 'cos there was no useful software for them.

When I donate computers in Myanmar, I pre-install with free programs that do not need an internet connection, such as Mavis Beacon Typing, Encyclopedia Britanica, as well as an English and basic Maths educational programs that I wrote, plus English language games, songs etc (The computers are used primarily for English language learning)

You should also install an application such as 'Reboot Restore' ,which rolls back the installed software to the last install 'profile' when the computer is rebooted - this removes any crap that has been downloaded or installed by the students. (Reboot Restore can be overridden if you definitely want to install a new application).

Malwarebytes is also a good and free program to scan and remove viruses, trojans and adware.

Thanks again for the input. The IT guy from work is coming with me so I should be able to manage all that - we should be able to come up with a standard image/ profile for each PC. Thanks for the tips. He's coming partly to provide a higher level of technical knowledge, but also to add 4x sets of baggage allowance. We're both taking our families so that we can take the stuff with us on the plane. When I've been before with clothes/ books etc., I've just told the customs guy the truth when walking through customs. Any reason not to say they're computers? Stick to books and clothes for the orphanage, or ok to tell the truth?

The tuk-tuk idea is evolving. Plan now is to give it to the guy at the school (that we trust and have been working with for 6 years) and he rents it out for a flat fee for days and evenings. That way we retain control of the tuk-tuk and hopefully recoup the funds quicker to move to #2, thus providing (hopefully) 2 jobs per tuk-tuk in the community. Details to work out but hopefully that makes more sense than the original format. He will open a separate bank account for the rental fees collected. Again, all input welcome as these ideas evolve.

"He will open a separate bank account for the rental fees collected."

I'm sure he will.

Anyway, good luck with your project. It almost sounds too good to be true.