Around 60 laptops have been donated in just two weeks of the project starting
A Father-and-son team have set up a project to refurbish old and unwanted laptops and give them to children to help with lockdown learning.
Andrew Smillie and his son, Noah, 13, started VoG (Vale of Glamorgan) Laptops for Kids just two weeks ago to refurbish old laptops and redistribute them to children for remote learning.
Mr Smillie works as a sound engineer for BBC National Orchestra of Wales and has always had an interest in working on computers.
He said: “I’m not an IT technician, but I know my way around a computer, I know how to set it up from scratch, which is all I need to do for this.”
The process involves sanitising the laptops, wiping the hard drives and installing software that turns the laptops into Chromebooks.
“The great thing about that is that the computers don’t have to be super new, super high spec to get something out of them, it means that kids can use them really easily for their google classroom stuff and joining in class work,” said Mr Smillie.
Andrew’s oldest son Noah helps him refurbish the laptops and it has been a good bonding experience for the two of them.
“It’s lovely because he’s always desperate to do stuff on the computer with me whether it’s playing games or whatever, but to sort of have a real project that we can work on together is really nice,” said Mr Smillie.
The redistribution of the laptops is still being worked out, but Andrew is working closely with the Vale of Glamorgan Council to reach the standards required for redistribution.
Mr Smillie said: “With the appropriate safety testing then hopefully I’ll be able to pass these on to the council who already have a list of schools that have children in need of these machines.”
The inspiration for the project came from Mr Smillie’s children. “I’ve got three kids who are all home-schooling right now and it’s really hard work for them and for us,” he said.
“It made me think how difficult it would be to do this home-schooling without having each child on a device or just a kid staring at a smartphone and trying to do work on it.”
The details were posted on a Facebook page Andrew started and across other local groups and immediately the messages started coming in. Since the January 21 Mr Smillie has received around 60 laptops.
He is also trying to set up partnerships with companies who provide their staff with laptops who no longer need the older devices.
“If we could find a company that would deliver like a hundred that would be brilliant,” he said.
Ideally, the laptops would be made in the last 10 years, and Mr Smillie says if a laptop has a webcam it is a good indicator that it is new enough.
Additionally, he wants to receive working laptops, with chargers if possible as the project isn’t funded and does not have the resources to physically repair broken laptops.
If you want to donate an unwanted laptop the link is here: https://www.facebook.com/VoGLaptopsForKids
