I have no personal experience of the Universal Learning Centre but I came across it today because I moderate comments at dadamac.net and someone posted this one:
Haiti, a legitimate cause
Hey, I'm seeking help for the kids of Haiti. I'm doing my part for a non-profit organization in which the main focus is to creating oppurtunities for the children in haiti. If anybody wants to give money then this is the site: Donate to Haiti or Help Haiti They give children in Haiti books and teach them. Yes, they're a real cause. Please help us
I confess my first responses were
- That it was probably a scam
- That people who were donating would already be donating through the channels they know and trust
- That Haiti and disaster relief aren't much related to what Dadamac is focussed on
However, when I when to the site I found that it wasn't disaster relief, but part of an ongoing educational programme. The site says:
"Universal Learning Centre (ULC) is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization whose goal is to reach out to developing countries by providing them with public centres for learning materials and access to information in an effort to increase the availability and improve the quality of education in those countries."
and
"ULC operates on the premise that quality education is the foundation necessary to enable people, especially those with access to lesser resources, to elevate their economic status and improve their quality of living. Thus, the availability of superior learning materials such as books, audio-visuals, computers and internet access, workshops, language courses, and other media will assist people in developing countries in their quest to improve their quality of life."
They are also interested in collaboration. So - access to education and educational opportunites, with a muti-media approach and interest in Internet acess - maybe we do have overlapping interests after all.