Millburn teen Alexander McBride arranges to have laptops delivered to students in Africa.
Alexander McBride wants people to send him their laptops, but he has a good reason: The 17-year-old high school junior helps refurbish potentially usable computers — they must still be supportable by Microsoft or Apple — and send them to a girls’ school in the African nation of Tanzania, where students range in age from late teens to early 20s. He does this through Laptops 4 Africa, an initiative he created with a group of his Millburn High School peers. They are in the process of obtaining 501(c)3 status for the nonprofit.
Craig Leisher works for The Nature Conservancy, and travels to Tanzania for work about six times per year, when he delivers the laptops.
Alexander’s father James says that 21 students have received laptops so far, mostly in Tanzania, but also in Kenya and Zambia.
Laptops 4 Africa is looking for more laptops, and is aiming to get them over to Africa more quickly. “My goals for the future are mainly to increase the efficiency of getting them to the girls’ school because, at the moment, we can only bring six per trip,” he told a meeting of the Millburn Board of Education.
McBride says that while he welcomes donations of unwanted laptop computers, supporters may also make monetary donations to assist with repair and shipping costs. People interested in donating may email mcbride4laptops@gmail.com.