Early next year, a team of 14 women from around the world will scale three of Africa’s highest peaks, united in the quest to raise money and awareness for three key issues currently facing Africa: HIV/AIDS, education and environment. One of these women is CSC’s Toni Harris, technical lead on a software development team in Tucson, Arizona.

“In January 2009, I will be participating in a charity event called 3 Peaks 3 Weeks.

The 3 Peaks 3 Weeks Challenge is an annual all-female climbing event that aims to summit three of Africa’s highest peaks in three weeks. The climbs of Mt. Kenya, Mt. Meru and Mt. Kilimanjaro seek to raise awareness for environmental, educational and health issues, and to support and encourage grassroots community organizations in Kenya and Tanzania.

3 Peaks 3 Weeks is about dedication, motivation and inspiring individuals to climb higher and push harder for Africa’s future than they ever thought possible.

To learn more and donate, visit my Web site. Thanks for your support.”

Johnny Long is one of CSC’s premier security researchers in CSC’s Enforcement, Security and Intelligence group. In his latest book, No Tech Hacking: A Guide to Social Engineering, Dumpster Diving and Shoulder Surfing, Long reveals the non-technical threats organizations face, and provides no-nonsense advice on how to address them. In addition to his research, he also devotes time to Hackers for Charity. The nonprofit organization provides technical services to charities worldwide, and donates computers and schools supplies to children in need. Johnny spoke with csc.com about how the charity started, and how it’s making a difference.

“My wife went to Uganda, Africa, and worked with an organization called AOET that is helping to empower orphans left behind because of HIV or AIDS. I saw her video footage and I was really moved, because I saw all these kids that didn’t have anything. And it intrigued me enough to go with her the following year. I was thinking I’d do some sort of manual labor, dig trenches or build orphanages.

But as we got closer to the trip I started to realize that they, as an organization, had this incredible need for computer help. In their office they would process kids that needed sponsorships. And the process that they would go through was incredibly painful, with many different computers. And I thought, man, they really need a network. So when I went to Uganda, I basically installed a wireless network in the office with some other team members. And it literally streamlined the process so that they could get more kids sponsored. So my simple basic computer skills—forget all this high-tech hacking stuff—basic networking skills were literally saving lives. And that was really powerful.

When I got back to the United States, the problem haunted me because I looked around and I saw that we had so much. Not just food and houses, but we had so much in the way of technology and expertise. And that’s where Hackers for Charity was born. The idea was to take hackers, who have amazing skills, and connect those skills with charities that need help, that can’t afford it. Hackers would come to us, and we’d put them to work on micro projects helping charity. And we’d help build their resume. That was the idea. Since then, it’s taken off so fast that I can barely hang onto it.

We’re not just doing this technology initiative where we help charities with technology. We’re building classrooms and taking donations from conferences. You know, the pens and pencils and conference bags and all this swag that conferences give away? We take that and turn it into school supplies to give to kids in underdeveloped countries. So, between building classrooms and pulling together school supplies and working on technology projects, we’ve actually got quite a movement going.

And it’s been really encouraging to see that hackers, who have gotten a bad rap for a long time, have an opportunity to show that there’s another side to them. It’s been incredible to see the work that’s been done as a result.”

To learn more, and donate, visit www.hackersforcharity.org.

“Passionate, purposeful and ingenious” could be read from the T-shirts of 100 CSC employees who participated in the world’s largest company run in Frankfurt in June. CSC Germany participated in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge, an annual series of races that promotes fitness in the workplace. More than 70,000 runners from a range of companies participated in the Frankfurt race. 

Sridhar M. Reddy, a computer scientist in CSC’s Enterprise Business Applications group, is planning a 500+ kilometer run this September to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and physical fitness awareness. Sri, who lives in Delaware, will run with his India-based brother Jayanth Reddy around the perimeter of the island of Cyprus. This is not the brothers’ first long-distance endeavor: In the past, Sri ran 1,300 miles from New York to Miami, Florida and 400 miles from New York to Massachusetts to support this worthwhile cause.

“This summer I’m undertaking a venture in the service of humanity. This will be my fourth run for AIDS awareness and physical fitness: a 500+ km run around Cyprus.

We, two brothers, Indian and U.S. citizens, are planning this run on Cyprus to promote HIV/AIDS awareness, especially the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. Forty two million people are infected with HIV/AIDS in the world, which makes it the most serious health-related catastrophe of modern times.

According to the World Health Organization, by 2010, five countries (Ethiopia, Nigeria, China, India and Russia) with 40 percent of the world’s population will add 50 to 75 million infected people to the worldwide pool of HIV disease. In addition, the United Nations estimates that, currently, there are 14 million AIDS orphans and that by 2010 there will be 25 million. Ninety percent of the 2.3 million HIV-positive children living around the world contracted HIV from their mothers, and 1,500 children contract HIV every day. This is simply unacceptable. As a global community, we must do more to help HIV-positive AIDS victims.

The Society for Education and Health has stepped forward to help me in this endeavor. They will match every dollar I raise. This money will pay for logistics, transportation and accommodations supporting the run. In addition, the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMfAR) has agreed to provide me with valuable AIDS-related literature to distribute along the run path on Cyprus Island.”

For more information, and to donate, visit www.RunningForHumanity.Org.