Following the tragic demise of Cyrenians Cymru the Unity in Diversity community drop-in group is now run independently and entirely by volunteers on a very limited budget.

We are in urgent need of whiteboards for our ESOL/training sessions. Additionally we need any unused ICT equipment such as; laptops, desktop computers, tablets and smartphones/mobile devices etc.

We are very keen on re purposing old equipment and have many skills to achieve this within our group. Using alternative operating systems such as Linux can make an old device perform much faster. Ideally we would like a number of machines connected to the Internet for community members to access and understand how to use the government’s Universal Jobmatch website which is particularly difficult even for native English speakers to use. We also plan to have our most competent ICT experts train fellow community members in digital literacy which ties in with the proposed translation of our directory of services in to their respective languages in order to make the myriad of existing services accessible to those who have yet to develop their English language skills.

Following a recent survey of how our community members use mobile technology we learned that the vast majority of people are able to find places/services using map apps and to watch tutorials on YouTube, including English language lessons. Feedback from our survey clearly demonstrates how useful/vital smartphones can be.

Responses in our survey:

Survey Question: Has your phone helped you to find places in Swansea?

• I found Morriston hospital
• I ask local people also I check my phone as well
• I visited my friend
• My place in Morriston
• I went to the Liberty stadium
• It helped me find the library
• Yes library and hospital
• Gower College
• I found community groups.

Re purposing equipment would give those with the skills the opportunity to demonstrate and apply their knowledge and provide a sense of purpose to those who are often assumed to have no skills – which is an absolute myth!

So if you or your organisation have upgraded your devices and have unused equipment lying around please give us the opportunity to make good use of it.

If you feel you could help please contact: wayneyare@gmail.com