StreetLITES Africa was a

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

working with schools in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

to help educate and care for

street children Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policyma ...

. The "LITES" is an acronym of: ''L''earning, ''I''nformation, ''T''echnology, ''E''mpowerment and ''S''upport to street children in

and

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. It is now closed and has been wound up.

Established goals

The charity described their work as empowering agencies to provide computer resources alongside their existing outreach programs. They collected redundant IT hardware and other educational goods with the aim to place them with agencies who are working to help abolish poverty.

Funding and partners

Funding was provided mainly by donations from the public, the charity also worked with partners in the UK and Ghana, for example Refurbit Hull, in the UK and the Apostolic Church in Ghana.StreetLITES Africa, Easter 2006 visit
accessed 25 January 2007 Central to the project was the

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

"Fresh start initiative" which provided the Microsoft Windows licences for the computers.

History

The charity was started in 2004 after a visit to Ghana by a group, four of that group now form the trustees of the charity. On their return they decided they could do something to help the needy in Ghana, they observed the abundance of computers and software discarded in the west, and the lack of this provision in Ghana. They contacted local companies and discovered that it was viable to ship computers to Ghana, as a charity. Since the early days many visits have been made to and from Ghana and the UK, the most significant as a charity occurred at Easter 2006, when a delegation visited the various agencies they had partnered with provided with computers.

Future projects

The charity had a direct sponsorship project where members of the public sponsored children associated with the agencies the charity is partnered with.StreetLITES Africa, Orphan Sponsorship
accessed 25 January 2007

References

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External links