I want my computer to go wrong again!!

I love it when my computer goes wrong. Yes it's a pain when technology doesn't do what you know it should. And when the screen goes blank and no keys work, then you know it has to go back to the shop. But the shop where I bought mine is in a community centre in the middle of Beaumont Leys, an estate with plenty of poverty on the outskirts of Leicester.

The young people who attend at Cooke E Learning’s Computer shop have been excluded from school. They are paid to attend, but fined out of the same money if they kick off, and paid more if they do well. These kids are excellent at doing the wrong things. And the heights of anarchy are so much more fun than doing as you are told. They know exactly how to de-rail any lesson you have planned. They have 1001 strategies to move the conversation off track, into the rough, onto the unacceptable. The energy is thrilling, but it moves against you like a sea that is sparkling and deadly.

When my computer goes wrong I get to donate to a project that helps those kids. I get back a working lap top, and they get to go to a different kind of school. A place that has loads more time for them, a wide range of activities to get them involved in, and a pathway to further education that is too alluring to ignore. When the class clown/idiot who has always lead you astray your whole life has decided they will train to be a chef and run a pub when they are older, then it's time for you to shift your goals. Suddenly there is a type of teaching that talks your language, shows you your achievements, rewards your transformation and gives you new goals and the skills to pursue them.

I really wish my computer had given up while posting this. They are sick of seeing the same laptop from me. They said that if it goes wrong again I will have to buy one of their reconditioned computers. That would be such a shame to have to buy a huge chunk of transforming lives with a free PC thrown in.

It feels great to buy from social enterprises because your money goes so much further. Check out www.socialsaturday.org.uk to find something you really really want, with a huge chunk of social impact thrown in for free. See it as a win win, win win, win.