Almost 21 years after he emigrated from Ethiopia to the United States, Solomon Desalegn of Stafford County returned to his neighborhood in the eastern African country.
He saw new buildings and roads in the capital city of Addis Ababa, where he was born and raised, and thought, “Wow, this is a great improvement.” Then, he visited his old high school, which had a new shell on the outside, but few changes had been made on the inside since he’d been a student there.
Teachers were still instructing “the old-fashioned way, standing in front of the board, writing,” he recalled.
There were no computers in the classroom and certainly no labs where students could learn keyboarding. In colleges he visited, professors taught computer theory and demonstrated the skills on a computer, but the students didn’t get the chance to try it out themselves.
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Meanwhile, his oldest son had been using computer apps like Google Earth since he was 6. His parents would tell him a relative’s location and the boy would pinpoint their home on the map.
Desalegn realized the only difference between his three sons and other children in the Horn of Africa was the address of their birth.
It was a life-changing moment for the Stafford man, now 50.
“You go to those elementary schools and you see all those kids have no clue whatsoever what’s out there. It’s heartbreaking and it’s difficult to express in words the emotions you feel,” he said, tears forming in his eyes.
Desalegn came back to the U.S., determined to make a difference. Between his full-time work for the Marine Corps, where he’s an electrical engineer who tests and evaluates systems, his quest to earn his doctorate degree and his family obligations to his wife and three teens, Desalegn formed the nonprofit, Educate Africa.
Last month, the group shipped 55 laptops to Wollo University, one of the institutions looted during the recent war between the government and rebel forces. Both Educate Africa and university officials had to complete mounds of paperwork to get the government to waive the typical customs fees and allow the donation.
A relative, Yonhatan Goitom, helped the nonprofit register as a charitable organization in Ethiopia after it got the proper paperwork in the U.S.
Fredericksburg Personal Computer Users Group also assisted by providing a $5,000 grant to help purchase the computers, replace missing or damaged hard drives or memory and ship them to East Africa. Desalegn paid the other $2,000 out of his own pocket.
FPCUG board member Frank Fota helped download new operating systems, when needed, and has served as Educate Africa’s only volunteer, other than Desalegn, for about eight months.
The two know from their work experience that federal and local governments, as well as school systems and universities, tend to replace their computers every three years and there aren’t many places that recycle electronics. Equipment often is auctioned and sold in bulk, and Desalegn and Fota have acquired dozens of computers that way.
“But we’re not awash with cash donations, so we’re just trying to get the word out,” Fota said.
He and Desalegn are eager to partner with other nonprofits, businesses or individuals who have the time, talent and resources to take equipment possibly headed for the landfill, and make it part of a “necessary life-changing educational experience” in Ethiopia and …….