LAUREL , Maryland ( CNN ) -- Seth Owusu knew at a young age that he wanted to help his countrymen . Seth Owusu shows children in his native Ghana how to use a computer during his visit in June . `` I came from Ghana , '' Owusu recalls . `` It all started when I was in primary school and we had some missionaries come to the school . '' The visit touched Owusu , who was 8 years old at the time . He tried to figure out why these missionaries had journeyed so far . `` I could n't understand why somebody would travel thousands of miles just to come to a very rural , poor dirt road , '' he said . `` I thought it was great . I wanted to transfer that feeling to somebody else . '' That passion followed Owusu when he immigrated to the United States at age 24 . He began working at hardware store , where he was tasked to pick up and deliver items . Owusu used a small bar code scanner to enter information about the items he 'd pick up , his first encounter with a computer-like device . `` I had no idea what a computer was , '' he said . After work one day , he went home and decided to learn as much as he could about computers . Just after he graduated from a technical college , Owusu established Entire Village Computer Organization , a small nonprofit organization that donates refurbished used computers to schools . He runs EVCO with the help of four volunteer staff members in Ghana . Watch Owusu and children with the new computers » . EVCO goes much further than simply dropping off the computers in villages . `` We make a three-calendar-year commitment because we do n't want it to be a teaser , where it 's working two months and after that , it 's gone , '' Owusu said . He says technicians go to the schools if there is a broken computer , and they also show teachers how computers can be fixed if they fail again . Owusu and other members of EVCO spend hours in each village , not only installing and teaching about computers , but also giving motivational speeches and teaching about other topics . `` In the donation ceremony ... we have everybody there , '' Owusu said . `` We talk about how the Internet has revolutionized everything ; how we live in the global community . We talk about staying in school . We talk about HIV/AIDS . We talk about kids ' behavior , peer pressure . We talk about a whole range of things . So it 's a community affair . '' Before each trip to Africa , Owusu picks up and refurbishes donated computers , doing most of the work himself . The garage and his shop in the basement of his home in suburban Maryland are crowded with piles of CPUs and monitors . But most of the work goes into planning his trips , he says . Much of his free time is spent combing through applications from various villages and working out logistics . `` Before we visit a village , it takes about six months , '' he said . `` My wife , she thinks I 'm crazy ... I work eight hours and I come home , and the moment I sit down ... I work for the next eight or 10 hours . '' Owusu traveled to Ghana again late this spring and was able to incorporate a new program -- this time for younger children who have traditionally been left out . `` There 's nothing we can give them , other than little school supplies and soccer balls and things like that , '' he said . The new program , Photos and Fun , lets the children take photos and display them in classrooms . `` Most of these kids have n't ever seen a digital camera before , '' Owusu said . Last year , EVCO also began to donate computers to villages in Nigeria . Owusu hopes to add one more African country to the list each year . `` If we can go to a country and plant the seed there , this program can take care of itself , '' Owusu said . `` We can be a major player in education in rural communities and help the people who need help and can not get it . '' EVCO has donated 120 computers and visited 18 villages in Ghana and Nigeria . Owusu says the nonprofit group has seen an improvement in villages and a higher interest in education in schools that have received EVCO donations . `` The first school we donated to in 2005 ... the population was 700 when we donated the computers . Two years later , the school grew to 1,300 students . In order for Owusu 's dream to come true , he has had to sacrifice many things . `` I sold my house in 2006 to support one of the trips , '' he said . He works in the `` Geek Squad '' department at a Best Buy electronics store in Washington . He says his employer has been very accommodating , but because of the economy , his hours have been cut . He recently decided to step down from his supervisor position because it was too demanding and he was n't able to put in the hours needed to spend with EVCO . But for Owusu , it 's all worth it . `` It 's been amazing , '' he said . `` It 's been just amazing . ''
Seth Owusu grew up in Ghana , where he was inspired by missionaries . After he moved to the United States , he trained in computers . He is a computer science graduate of MIT and has worked for Google as an engineer since 2009. He and his staff see more interest in education in villages that receive donations .