Recycling computers responsibly in our global community!                         

Welcome to wings for West Africa!

         Our Mission:

           Wings for West Africa is dedicated to the promotion and support of students, teachers and administrators in rural

           schools in West Africa by providing them with computer technology and support. Wings is committed to the development

           of opportunities for educational and cultural exchanges between African and American schools.

         Our Geographic Focus:

           The global digital divide increases the tendency of the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. While the Internet has 

           become central to development especially in Europe and North America, Africa lags far behind. Africa has over 10% of the 

           world’s population but less than 1%  of its Internet users. (The Associated Press 2000).  61.1% of North Americans had 

           access to a personal computer in 2004 compared to 1.0% of Africans (Telecommunications Union World 

           Telecommunications Indicators Data Base 2004). While the Internet threatens to increase existing socio-economic

           disparities  and,  potentially,  global stability, it  also  presents an opportunity for developing countries to bridge that gap.

                                       Students in poor countries tend to be highly                     Without a computer all school records must be

                                   motivated. Those attending rural schools in                       copied manually. Lessons must be written out

                                   Senegal, West Africa often walk for many miles each        each day by hand on the board due to insufficient

                                   day. Some even go without lunch in order to attend.          textbooks and inaccessible copying facilities.

         Our Work:

            With the help of its partners…

•   Wings collects, reformats, refurbishes and ships computers to schools in communities which lack access to the Internet.
•   Wings trains teachers in the use of information technology to support the established curriculum and the installation   and  mmaintenance of computers.            
•   Wings develops self-sustaining programs through small user fees charged to outside users.
•   Wings supports community development by making school computer centers accessible.
•   Wings creates opportunities for educational and cultural exchanges between American and African schools.
•   Wings respects the environment by keeping donated computers out of landfills.