BOGOTA, Colombia--In one corner of a massive warehouse, workers pick through bins of computers, keyboards, and mice, painstakingly cleaning each part.
There's a special room where peripherals such as mice go for washing and another where they go for drying. Once the hardware is reassembled, often with a few new parts added to the mix, the first set of testing takes place, to make sure all of the hardware functions as it should.
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In another area, the newly rebuilt systems get their collection of software--Windows 2000 and a several-generations-old version of Office. Then the machines go through another round of testing to make sure they are working properly, before being wrapped and packed in broken-down Styrofoam and being shipped out to destinations throughout the country.
Even printers are refurbished--and not just inkjet, but years-old dot-matrix printers that have long since been pushed out of the commercial market. It's all part of a project known as Computadores para Educar, which refurbishes thousands of computers each year for Colombia's schools.
Although the effort has given more than 9,500 schools their first PCs, some have begun to question whether the approach is the best way to go. Even the nonprofit agency itself has started to supplement the 20,000 or so computers it refurbishes each year with a separate manufacturing line that creates new machines.
One of the greatest strength's of the program is the rigor of its refurbishing process. Microsoft officials who toured the plant this week said the facility was among the best they had seen. Program officials say that a recent study found that the mean time before failure of their machines compares quite well against new machines, even though theirs are far older.
Among the criticisms is the fact that it costs about $160 to refurbish a PC. That figure is lower, say, than in Africa, but higher than in some other countries. It also is no longer so much less than a new PC, which can be had, sans software, for as little as $280.
One factor in the high cost for the program is the fact that the demand for the computers is so high that the program refurbishes nearly every donated PC that meets its minimum specifications--at least a Pentium II processor and 128MB of memory. As a result, the organization often has to supplement old parts with new. The parts that most frequently need replacement are system memory and hard disks, although new speakers and floppy drives (yes, each machine has a floppy) are often needed as well.
Other say the machines are just too slow. Among those with that view is Dario Montoya, who heads the national SENA job training program.
In an interview after graduating a new crop of students from its SENA's IT skills program, Montoya said the refurbished computers won't help the country get the software developers it needs to truly compete.
"At this very table six months ago, I had the minister of communication and the minister of education," Montoya said. "I told them that Computadores para Educar must change."
Although the program has distributed around 100,000 computers, he said that 60 percent are now more than 6 years old. "They are obsolete," he said. "We cannot continue to fool ourselves that was a good model."
Cecilia Maria Velez, Colombia's education minister, said she thinks a mix of technologies is best. "We think that it's very important for quantity to use refurbished computers but we think it is also important to have other kind of machines," she said.
The Internet question
For her the question boils down to whether or not the machines can connect to the Internet. "The point is connectivity and capacity to use connectivity," she said. "That is the line."
Velez pushes back when she gets complaints that the machines are too old." I fight with them," she said. "Before you haven't anything; now at least you have this slow thing."
A teacher from the Funsa school, which has benefitted from the program, brought some students to see the facility here on Tuesday. Asked about the debate of old versus new, he said it all depends on the students. With elementary school students, he said, it's all about getting more time to interact with the machines. In those cases, more machines is better, even if they are older. By high school, though, he said the needs of students are simply outpacing the machines.
Maria del Rosario Guerra, an economist by training and now the country's communications minister, said she wants Computadores Para Educar to hit a critical mass of schools with their first computers in the next couple of years. "After that, Computadores para Educar must move to work toward new strategy."
A herd of cattle blocks the road toward the rural village of Corinto.
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)CORINTO, Colombia--It was easy for the kids at the rural school to see I had arrived.
Even if they didn't see the van carrying myself and Microsoft executive Orlando Ayala, it was hard to miss the 20 or so soldiers that accompanied us in a convoy.
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The military escort was not just a sign of the esteem that Ayala is held in--though the Colombian native is something of a favorite son here--but rather an indicator of the danger that remains in the area in an around Corinto. Though its just 30-some miles from Cali, the area is not far from rebel strongholds.
At one point on our way there, the road was blocked by a herd of rather skinny cattle. Though on its face amusing (and definitely a Kodak moment), their presence was unsettling to even some of the Colombians in the van. Such incidents can be a diversion to initiate a kidnapping. Thankfully the cows were just cows.
Though the trip into the countryside had some risk, it feels important to write about people that are trying to move forward, even as the conflict remains close to their homes. The visit was particularly powerful for me, having known someone in high school, Terry Freitas, who was later kidnapped and killed near the Colombian-Venezuelan border.
In Corinto, I saw students thrilled by the opportunity to use decade-old technology and a mayor and principal pleading for the more modern computers that could make an even greater impact. I was also struck by the teacher who helped the students with the computers--a zoologist who moved back to Corinto to help improve the education in the town where she grew up.
I also had a chance to tour the factory where workers painstakingly refurbish the computers that end up in places like Corinto. The program, Computadores para Educar (Computers for Education) refurbishes more than 20,000 computers a year. Although the machines are typically a few years old (the minimum specs are machines with Pentium II processors and 128MB of memory), a government study found that the computers the program refurbishes have roughly the same time before failing as new PCs, in part because of its rigorous process of cleaning and testing.
However, that painstaking process is costly, and the program often has to supplement donated computers with new parts. As a result, some say the $160 it costs to refurbish a computer may not be the best use of funds, when new machines, capable of running the latest software, can be had for around $280. It's a fascinating debate, and I plan to describe the program and its challenges more in a post that will go up in the next day or so.
I also doubt I will forget the torrential rain that came out of nowhere as we visited the peace park in Medellin, started by well-known Latin singer Juanes, who is also from Colombia. The rain was probably the hardest I have seen in my life, but lasted just five minutes or so. A few minutes later, the kids taking tennis lessons at the park were back outside playing around.
A Colombian boy plays in a heavy rain at Juanes de la Paz park in Medellin. The downpour lasted just five minutes.
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)BOGOTA, Colombia--Like many cities in Latin America, Bogota is a study in contrasts.
At the fanciest hotels, you can find an iPod dock waiting for you in your room. At the tony R cafe, in the wealthy northern part of the city, the waiters take orders for cappuccinos with iPaq handhelds. A Sony Style store features flat-screen TVs up to 52 inches, provided you don't mind plunking down 13 million pesos (about $7,150).
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But you don't have to go far to see a different side of the city. When I headed just a few blocks south of the central plaza, Plaza de Bolivar, the notion of an electronics store takes on a whole new meaning. There, in the working class Alto De Los Cruces neighborhood, I spotted a sign that said "Electronicas," which turned out to be for a small shop whose main business is fixing radios and televisions.
I stopped in to get a closer look and met a man picking up his television, which had been in for repairs because the remote control had stopped working. He carried the 20-inch set away by hand, but with a smile on his face.
"Twenty thousand pesos, it's cheap," he told me, after handing over what translates to a little over $10.
The reality is that although there is plenty of technology in Colombia it is concentrated in relatively few hands.
Sure, there was a teenager strumming away at Guitar Hero III inside the Nintendo store in the posh Atlantis mall here. But unlike in the U.S. where there is often a shortage of Wii consoles, here there is a shortage of people who can afford the console, which sells for 1 million pesos, or roughly $550.
In Colombia, only about 10 percent of the population have their own PC, which amounts to about 4 million PCs for the entire country. The penetration of broadband Internet access is about at the same level.
In big cities, at least, there are the loads of Internet cafes where people without a PC can get on the Internet to send and receive e-mail. Cell phones, too, are ubiquitous, with plenty of corner stores where people can top off their phones with additional minutes.
Indeed, in its wealthiest areas, I was struck by how much Bogota was like many international capitals. There were the big American-style malls, one complete with a Cinemark Theatre and Hard Rock Cafe. Dunkin' Donuts is a more familiar sight in Bogota than in the San Francisco Bay Area. Instead of a Starbucks on every corner, though, the city is dotted with its homegrown version--the Juan Valdez Cafe.
Television, too, reminded me of home, even the Spanish channels. There was the usual complement of Sunday morning fare--cartoons, infomercials, and religious programs mingled with news and sports. Plus, the hotel had a large complement of English-language channels from names like Fox, TNT, and MTV. I even saw former CNET correspondent Hari Sreenivasan reporting live from Texas.
But the reality of Colombia is vastly more complicated than this initial view. It's about the decades of civil war with guerrillas and paramilitary groups. It's about those maimed and disabled by the conflict, the 3 million people who have been displaced as well as the challenge faced by a country still trying to forge peace even as it works to reintegrate more than 47,000 former combatants.
So far, I have gotten the merest glimpse of this part of Colombia--the banner hung near the Bogota airport urging an end to the kidnappings by FARC, the displaced woman and her child asking for money in the middle of the road as we drove through the city, or the dogs sniffing for bombs at the entrance to the mall.
In the coming days, though, I will have the opportunity to see those who have been victimized directly by the conflict as well as former combatants and see some of the technology projects that are trying to heal wounds and provide educational and economic opportunities.
I am certain that the image that will stay with me as I leave Colombia will be far different from these initial views. Stay tuned.
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