Nothing could be more true for students and faculty at the University of Jos in central Nigeria.

Within the next few weeks, the African institution will receive over 300 late model used computers and networking equipment, 70 percent of which were donated by Iowa City residents.

"Universities in Africa are hard-pressed to find equipment," said Cliff Missen, director of the WiderNet project, a non-profit project at the University of Iowa that works to improve digital development and communication in developing countries.

"We saw that equipment was going to landfills that still had good life in it," he said.

Missen decided to organize a computer-donation project after spending 1998 teaching at the University of Jos as a senior Fulbright scholar. He discovered that Nigerian universities with 16,000 students were sharing 50 computers.

"I saw a great need for computers and computer technology," said Missen who will travel to Nigeria on May 6 and help the institutions install the computer equipment. "Out of that experience grew the WiderNet project."

The WiderNet project is supported financially by the MacArthur Foundation, Microsoft Corp. and other national companies. Its primary focus is on teaching the faculty, students and staff at African universities about a variety of communication system topics.

Last Christmas that mission reached a new level as Iowa City residents and university departments donated more than 300 functioning computers, including monitors, keyboards, mice, printers and the necessary cables, to the project.

"It makes my day, every day, it's just a fantastic joy," Missen said of the generous donations. "People are so eager to help out. It really reflects the best of Iowa."

About 20 volunteers began loading the equipment into a 40-foot-by-8-foot cargo container last night. The shipment, providing equipment to several Nigerian universities, will leave Iowa City on Monday.

"They are ecstatic," Missen said, describing the recipients' reaction to the gift. "I get an e-mail every couple of days saying, 'When are the computers coming?' "

Missen said the equipment is valued at about $200,000 in the United States but is probably worth about $500,000 in Nigeria. The universities will split the $5,000 in shipping costs to transport the cargo container.

"I think this is going to have such a huge impact on the universities," said Saweda Liverpool of Nigeria. She is a master's degree student studying third-world development support at the University of Iowa.

"There are so many people who are willing to use computers, want to use them and need to use them. This will just have a huge impact on the students and the staff," she said.

Liverpool was helping test the computers before packing them Friday, while Abiodun Oluyomi, 26, of Nigeria helped organize and load the equipment.

"It is nice that in one way or another, you can help people down there," Oluyomi said. "If there is no need, there is no help. Computers are just not readily available, as they are here."

Reprinted with permission (c) 2002 The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa