Computer Aid teams up with AIDS charity

Evidence of how important Computer Aid's donated PCs can be to developing countries is shown by the IT charity's recent partnership with the Berkshire-based CfBT Education trust. The organisations have teamed up to donate 141 PCs, 32 laptops and 43 servers to schools and community organisations to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The PCs, donated by CfBT, will go to towns such as Kiberia in Kenya - recognised as the largest slum in Africa and home to some of the most deprived communities in Kenya. One of the group’s key projects is the Primary School Action for Better Health (PSABH) HIV education programme which aims to provide teachers and schools with the tools to educate pupils about HIV/AIDS prevention.

You can read the full story on ZDNet UK here.

Pub quiz a huge success

Thank you to the teams who took part in our charity pub quiz - the event raised £1,600 for Computer Aid International - and saw us crash through our original target of £10,000... with five months still to go!

Thank you also to CNET Networks UK who supplied five 20Gb iPods as prizes for the winning team. And of course the bar staff and the manager at De Hems, Soho - a wonderful pub who gave us their whole upstairs bar for free for the evening.

The coveted iPods went home with the team from Brands2Life who narrowly beat the teams from Octane, ZDNET and silicon.com - with little more than a point seperating the teams. Other teams taking part on the night included (in no particular order) the lovely people from Berkeley PR, Fishburn Hedges, IT PR, Octopus, Hill & Knowlton and the team from GCI UK. Thanks again to everybody who made the evening such a success.

Everybody seemed to have a great night - with plenty of drink flowing - and once the serious business of the quiz was out of the way the evening provided an excellent opportunity for networking and mingling.

Now we're just wondering what event we could organise to trump this...? Suggestions please...

Great news - Two major sponsors on board

We've just had some brilliant news. We've secured a major sponsor for our Computer Aid International fundraising appeal. Ricoh have signed up after some excellent discussions during which we realised the commitment they feel for issues such as sustainability and bridging the digital divide are very much in line with our own.

They have agreed to sponsor us to the tune of £4,000 - which is enough to kit out two complete computer suites in African schools. It's a wonderful gesture and we really can't thank them enough.

It's brilliant to have them on board and their generosity and belief in this project sets us ever closer to reaching - and hopefully smashing - our grand total.

And in another development CNET Networks UK - publisher of silicon.com and ZDNet - has agreed to meet all the costs of the trip to Africa where we will see our hard work, and the generosity of sponsors such as Ricoh, deliver real results.

This means all of the funds raised will be going directly to Computer Aid International. This is a wonderful way for CNET to get involved in this excellent cause.

Our company is at the very heart of the technology industry in all that we do and we're fortunate enough to work in very exciting and successful times. However, we are also perfectly positioned to show how technology can make the most incredible difference to parts of the world it has barely touched to date.

By making it possible for us to raise the money for Computer Aid International CNET is making a huge difference to future generations.