Computer whiz, 10, breathes new life into old devices to keep them from landfill

A London boy with a self-taught talent for repairing discarded computers is getting help from people in his neighbourhood who are donating to encourage his passion.

Arlie Hamm, 10, has been installing software since he was six, but recently started taking apart hardware and rebuilding the units. He says he wants to prevent the computers from becoming e-waste, with the ultimate goal of donating them to people or organizations in need.

"Most families that don't have a computer probably need it for some work things and school, like homework and IT. I just think it would be good if they had one to do all of that stuff," Arlie said from his family's living room, where a handful of computers, monitors and PC parts were spread out.

Supporting the effort is Arlie's father, Jeffrey, who recently posted to social media that his son was looking for old or defunct computers to repair. He said the response has been overwhelming.  

"I've been surprised by it. Others in this area not only donated their old computers, which still work or need repairing, but also hearing their stories have been great. There was one nice story of a mother whose son followed the same path [as Arlie] and now works for Disney doing technology stuff," Jeffrey said.

The largest donation Arlie received was nine PCs from the Home Hardware Building Centre at 1780 Dundas Street, with store owner Chuck Bergeron handing them over to the boy on Tuesday. 

"It feels great. It's two birds with one stone. I know they're being recycled properly now, and they're also going to help a young boy, follow his passion and it's great," Bergeron said.

Since starting to repair and reconfigure computers, Arlie said he's worked with operating systems like Windows XP, 7 and even Windows 98. He's also come into contact with a few issues while doing repair jobs.

"With one of the computers, the hard drive failed and it wasn't working. I just went up and got a replacement for it, and now it works," he said. "Sometimes the hard drive is missing, there can also be no RAM."

He also said knowing how computers work and how to put them together and take them apart isn't too tough once you get down to it.

"I have put together a computer [from scratch] once before and if you know all the places to put it, it's pretty easy 'cause there's not many parts. It's pretty easy to put them all in," Arlie said. "Repairing them is even easier."

The experience has made it clear to Arlie that he could be very happy working with computers for the rest of his life, of course, "if it stays the same and doesn't get harder," he said.

In the future, the father and son duo hope to keep going. A Facebook page created by Arlie is soliciting donations, and will be used to re-home the devices to people in need.

"I hope people in the community consider donating computers to Arlie. [Thrift stores] told me they don't often resell computers, so they end up trashed. This gives the computers a second chance," Jeffrey said.

Arlie also encourages others to enjoy computers as much as he does. 

"If they're trying to go down that path, they should definitely try it, 'cause they would probably get into them."