Comment by vertis | Hacker News Reader

Comment by vertis | Hacker News Reader

A few years ago there was a program[1] on ABC (Australia) about South Africa detailing some of the mismanagement of public funds. Mid way through the story they introduced a young woman from Tembisa who had finished school and had the marks to go to university, but not the money.

A group of about 10-12 of us contacted ABC and asked how we could help. The journalist connected us together and we self organized to fund her university and accommodation.

The university was very helpful, setting up a bursary for us to pay into and helping to get her settled into her residence and course (Teaching).

I had to buy her a computer, and that was a frustrating process. I couldn't ship one from here mainly due to shipping batteries being problematic. I ended up enlisting the help of a computer shop and having them verify that I wasn't using a stolen credit card.

That was 4 years ago. She's very close to graduating, she struggled with English subjects early on, but now it's just practicals and she can go out into the workforce.

Moral of the story, you can help, and you can make a difference if you put your mind to it, even when no easy path exists.

[1]: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/cry-freedom-promo/4881242 (The relevant section is 28:43 into the episode)

Edit: Grammar

Edit 2: Link to program

I had some experience maintaining refugee computer labs in Kenya at Kakuma. I befriended some guys who liked Linux and hacking. I also just reached out to other Kenyan colleagues and had them send along the laptop. This was normal when I worked abroad. Not sure if person to person networking like that is encouraged, but I too tried bc I saw a person who needed the resources to match their ambition.

Ironically, that refugee eventually won a lottery visa to the US, but that's another story.

Thanks.

Why was buying a computer problematic? SA has computer shops, has had for decades. I bought a zx81 there. Am I missing something?

Buying a computer in SA to SA from Australia is difficult, yeah.

I'm afraid this just isn't reality, voting down won't change that. SA is backward but it's not that backward. It has e-commerce, you can buy things online. It's had the web since the mid 90s. Eg first search attempt, incredible.co.za . It just isn't difficult. SA has poverty, as extreme as poverty can be, it's horrible, it's heartbreaking, but it's not all like that. This is a bugbear, ABC, BBC, crap media outlet of choice more interested in creating a story than accurate representation. I wouldn't trust them with my coffee.

I'm sure it's not difficult if you're in SA, it was hard from Australia, because quite a few of those ecommerce sites won't take international cards (to protect against fraud).

We got there in the end.

Also, ABC is anything but a crap media outlet. A vision of SA from outside that may not tell the whole story, sure, but they do great investigative journalism.

No, it is not difficult at all, and it wasn't 10 years ago: kalahari.net was launched in the late 90's or early 00's. The steps are no different from anywhere in the world - find an e-commerce site you like (there are dozens that sell computer equipment), add computer to cart, pay with credit card, enter shipping address.

I didn't mean to indicate that it was a problem with buying a computer in SA. Rather that buying from Australia was problematic.

Aside from the roadblocks, such as preventing the use of international cards, there was also just not knowing who was reputable.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com