For our 20th anniversary, we’re shining a spotlight on our Gandi Supports partners.
These projects will be the main benefactors of our Gandi 20th anniversary collector t-shirt design contest, using the hashtag #PrintMyGandi.
The three winners of the t-shirt design contest will each get 10 copies of their design and will each choose the project to which proceeds from the sale of their design will go, from among the Gandi supports projects partnering with us for our 20th anniversary.
What’s more, the top winner of the contest will also win a Fairphone, the ethical phone that cares for the environment and the well-being of its inhabitants.
Who’s hiding behind the HAND acronym?
HAND stands for “Hackers Against Natural Disasters.” Concretely, it’s a group of astute, hyper-inventive, hyper-engaged people who pass their time making useful gadgets for people stuck in the aftermath of natural disasters.
The origin of this particular mania comes from, among others, the boundless involvement of their president Gaël Musquet, originally from the Carribbean—a region regularly disrupted by natural disasters (hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes …). In the face of these types of events, he quickly decided he preferred action above being a victim, and provided his talents as a tinkerer to the development of tools that can help victims. Surrounded by people who share this vision and tinkering spirit, he formed HAND.
They transform cobbled together bits and pieces into sensors, communication relays, drones, probes, antennas, and who knows what else that, assembled together help prevent harm in some cases and most of all to communicate other cases. What could be more important to someone trapped somewhere, after finding shelter, to let their family and loved ones know the state of their health?
And they do not ask permission to do anything, whether that be IoT (Internet of things), web development, electrical engineering, and even amateur radio, from the first spark of interest in something, it soon becomes a challenge to master that area of expertise in order to use the best parts. This group of activists even participates regularly in an annual full scale event in the Antilles—Caribe Wave. Organized by UNESCO, Caribe Wave is a sort of tsunami drill for inhabitants. These events provide the opportunity to put into practice some of their creations, improve them, and redeploy them.
Supported project
The goal of the Gandi supports program is to support projects (principally from assocations and NGOs) that work for the common good (the planet, animals, minorities, etc.) or to promote the free software industry. This support translates into assistance in the form of Gandi products, advice, and experience in order to bring real help in accordance with the needs of the project in question. HAND is part of our supported projects program.
To help support the efforts of HAND, Gandi provides them a free domain name as well as hosting for their website, the main means of communication they have to the wider public. If you’re interested in getting involved with what HAND does, you should be aware that they’re looking for talent of all kinds all over the world (not just coders), check out their page here.
And you can also reach out to the organization to let them know you support their work by contacting them at contact@hand.team.
Tagged in Gandi 20gandisupports
