The Ubuntu online community has also been great. Whenever I need a question answered, it’s most always already been answered and nicely cataloged on the online forums. Windows forums are there too, but there is no one central forum that seems to pop up on every Google search, and many of the sites I’ve encountered require some form of tiered pay-structure and are usually riddled with ads. I don’t want to put too much weight against Windows forums however because I may have just not stumbled upon the good ones, whereas with Linux, I know the good ones, and only use those. Thus, I don’t want to say that Windows online communities aren’t there, just that I am happy Ubuntu (and Linux) communities ARE there.
I have also come to appreciate the, “one model to rule them all,” concept of Linux (and UNIX) security and settings. Almost everything is a file and you modify your system by changing file contents and permissions. End of story. Yes, I may need to learn different syntaxes depending on which file I am editing, but it’s a lot easier a concept to grasp then this hybrid-nature of files/registries used in Windows. Here I will say that in the one instance, when I was trying to learn how to write various rules governing Windows XP defining which users could modify the toolbars etc, I found no online help that wasn’t behind a pay-wall, and no free tutorials, whereas with Linux, I found all the Gnome-related lockdowns on several sites with plenty of tutorials.
Finally, from a personal principles standpoint, I am a huge advocate of Free and Open Source Software, so I get a constant feel-good factor using Ubuntu and knowing my systems are clean of pirate software (and their subsequent problems). Of course, this isn’t a perfect statement, that will have a caveat mentioned later, but for the most part it holds true.
One Computer at a Time 
Great post on some of the problems with ITC in Africa. USB viruses are the bane of all volunteers existence. Do you have all your teachers put an autorun.inf folder on the drive? At least stops the virus from spreading.
The distribution model of Linux is horribly suited for the low bandwidth experienced here, but when I used it back home in the States it was amazing! The amount of FLOSS software that is out there is amazing. Though not all of it lives up to professional standards that are definitely sufficient for everyday use. One thing I really want to do here is a photo editing class using GIMP, but the right combination of motivation and timing from my counter parts hasn’t happened yet.
Have you looked into the games available in the Ubuntu repos. Might be another good way to get people to try them out. Personal I like simple logic games like those found in the package sgt-puzzles, but there are tons of 3-D games too.
Thanks for the link to Camera.ie. Looks like a cool organization, need to look into it more.