Thanks for the shout-out!

We do have projects that don't require French. In East Africa we are looking for an ebXML pro and a knowledge management pro, neither of which needs a language skill (besides English of course).

The Geekcorps stipend is quite nice. Depending on the country & the program, it can be anywhere from $900 a month to the State Department per diem rate. This would be for meals and incidental expenses as housing is provided separately.

In all the countries we work in, even $900 goes a very long way..

[1] Hi Wayan. Thanks for the note. I didn't really have that much time when I visited GeekCorps to check on other job openings, just those that I saw maybe on DDN. I do consider it something of an irony though that some volunteer would travel to Africa or South America, or some other part of Asia when non-profits have some real needs here. Local volunteers need not venture into undertakings as ambitious as information systems plans or e-commerce architectures. Tasks as simple as changing RAM or installing a new CD-ROM or hard drive, cleaning out spyware and adware, then conducting an hour-long briefing on how to avoid malware, installing printer drivers — a volunteer can accomplish at least one of these within a day's visit to the non-profit. The IT volunteer benefits too from the feeling of immediate impact, in constrast to software development that could take a few weeks to several months or even years. This is something that has been festering in my mind for several months, just that I haven't really had the time to flesh out details. Hmm, you might just have given me some impetus

Regards

True, volunteers can do these simple things and have an immediate and measurable impact in their own communities, and we always ask to make sure our Geeks have done such volunteering before.

Geekcorps sends folks to communities where there isn't knowledge as basic as changing RAM, or sometimes even a computer to change RAM in, and we build that skill and even the computers. Our goal is that when the international volunteer leaves, local volunteers do have the skills to do such tasks as you mention on their own.