Hello Tech-Savvy Friends,

In the picture you can see that I am holding a laptop and a brick here at Pisco Sin Fronteras in Peru. You are probably thinking that one of these items is completely useless, and the other is of some value. You would be correct. As a non-profit devoted to remaking the city of Pisco, the the laptop is utterly useless, and the brick has many great uses, like building people homes.

On second thought, the laptop does have some uses. If you have a large stack of papers sitting in an area of high wind, you could put the laptop on top of said papers. Or if you have a door that keeps closing, but you need to keep open, simply put the laptop in front of the door while it is open and it will stay ajar.  Also, in the unlikely event of a zombie attack, the laptop can double as a blunt weapon.

I am an IT professional trying to work with a computer optimized for windows 98 SE. The computer has 64 MB of RAM, and a 500 mhz BUS that runs a variety of cutting edge software - if we were in the year 1998.

Why am I telling you this? Well, the hope is that you, the tech-savvy do-gooder in the developed world, might be able to help us out in our work here. Here's what we need:

• Mac or PC's -- They don't have to be new, or pretty -- we'll take whatever you can donate.
• Laptops are strongly preferred -- they're easier to bring here and to shuffle with limited desk space.
• Enough battery life to last through power failures or move from desk to desk. 
• Enough RAM and hard drive space to handle Auto-Cad, Sketch-up, Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, Quicken, Microsoft Project Manager or digital video editing programs. If you have any of them installed already it would be great.

If you have an old laptop that needs a good home, you can bring it to Burning Man, Fed-Ex them to the Burners without Borders office, or drop them off in person in San Francisco:

Pisco Sin Fronteras
c/o Burners Without Borders
3450 3rd St. Bldg. 2A
San Francisco, CA 94124

Learn more about what work we do on our Projects Page. If you have any questions about deliveries, send us an e-mail at projects@burnerswithoutborders.org or info@piscosinfronteras.org.

Don't worry if it's something you consider a little too old or junkie to use at home. As long as it's made within the last 4 years or so, it's probably better than this ancient artifact of a PC. Although a newer laptop cannot double a blunt weapon in case of a zombie attack, we still feel that a new one will save us time and improve our ability to help the people of Pisco. Many thanks!

Clayton Ginsburg
Pisco Sin Fronteras IT Guy