Ashton-Under-Lyne based charity West African Development (W.A.D.) was established in 2005 with the aim of improving the quality of life of Africans and other ethnic minority people living in Tameside.
In July 2020 PCrefurb trustee Steve Lafferty delivered three laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots and SIMs to W.A.D. after the charity shared with us the disadvantages experienced by many of those they support. W.A.D. worker Hakeel Qureshi told us:
“During the lockdown, we identified several families, especially those from the refugee and asylum-seeking community, as being digitally excluded and not able to access online public services. Where some individuals would have been accessing library services, they were no longer able to do this along with some other children at home who have not been able to engage with their school during the lockdown. Having access to the laptops loaned to them, that have been kindly provided by PCrefurb, will enable these families to be educated and be more knowledgeable about the opportunity to apply for support, order prescriptions online, engage with other GP services along with children being able to engage with their school and catch up with home work, things that most families take for granted.”
The laptops provided to W.A.D. were kindly donated to PCrefurb by Salford-based project Inspiring Communities Together. Our team of volunteers refurbished and tested the laptops, installed new operating systems and software and completed PAT testing. To provide Internet connectivity, our volunteers conducted research into the most cost effective way for W.A.D. to make this available to the people they support. As the laptops will be loaned to multiple families with no broadband, we recommended Wi-Fi hotspots and 4G SIMs which we sourced and provided along with the laptops.