Note: The following is best read after reading this blog post, to which I am responding.
The way I see it, if we’re going to help third-world countries get on the path to the first-world, it’s undoubtedly going to take clean water and an adequate food supply, but it’s also going to take education. If these countries abdicate their imperative dedication to their youth in bringing them on par with children in developed nations, then they are facing grime fates as nations. So, to accomplish this feat, take a look at what perhaps not all, but a large of majority of children in developed nations I’d go so far as to say depend on in everyday life: technology.
Now, children in these less fortunate nations may have gotten along fine without laptops — as would children in developed countries — but this is because they are used far too often for superfluous activities, as we have the means for teachers, schools, textbooks, and all other things needed for education. But when used otherwise, these laptops open up a world of free knowledge and discovery available through the internet that could be at the fingertips of third-world children across the globe.
The $100 laptop is an investment in both the future of these nations’ youth and a resultant investment in the future of their country, and it’s going to go a hell of a lot further than one textbook for an entire village of children.
I totally agree with your blog post that clean water and an adequate food supply, health care, housing would should be top priority’s, not a laptop for every child in some poverty stricken country’s, Even though it is a great idea and the learning experiences for the kids would be great, programs could be loaded on the laptops to teach them to read, if they don’t know a word click it, sounds the word out for them, along with other learning tools.
After reading the blog you are replying to he also had some great questions, like how will these children charge the laptops, (maybe some sort of cheap solar charger could be built into the computers frame) when water and food is a problem electricity is probably not available yet and if it was how would they afford it, in these country’s will they even have internet in the area never mind the family’s being able to afford it, internet or water & food? If I lived in one of those places no clean water, food, schooling, health care and medication, or all very limited and my child came home with a laptop, I think I would take it and try to sell it for the best of my family so we could maybe eat good for a Day, week, or even a month only because that is really more important to a very poverty struck Family/Country.
I didn’t do my research and these blogs don’t really say were these laptops will be going or how it works, but in my opinion after the basic’s are set up a school should be built if none, and yes then give each child a computer to use at the school, when they leave for that day the computers would then be plugged in recharged over night and ready for the next day’s use. Taking a laptop home in a very poverty struck country in my eyes could cause more problems than help and may even be dangerous to a family who has one, Others may steal the kids laptop not through there fault but to feed their family or anything. If and when these laptops are given to a kid, they should wait until there is enough so every kid in the community gets one to offset the set of a material thing maybe worth a lot or even little of money to someone.
One other comment a school type/like place should exist in whatever community the children are receiving the laptops. In a certain time frame give that school internet then set it up so the poverty struck community’s can all get wireless internet through the school, or at least a wireless community based wireless network. Also who will fix these computers when they break or fail or the software messes up because the children do not know how to use it good enough and mess everything up?
Technology is great and could really help these places but before we go passing out laptops one for every child, which is a great idea, we should put in guidelines and help with basic living stuff.
Clean water, Food, Health care, School type place to learn, and electricity, not your normal type but renewable energy like example windmill or solar(which would work great in most of these poverty struck third-world country’s to give the school electry so laptops can be charged from there and such. There is basic technology out there now that can help these communities, countries, if just taught and implemented.
I am sure the people of these communities would be more than willing to help make all this happen if taught as they go, these people are not stupid they can learn just as much as any of us, they were just brought up in these poor circumstances with little or no chance to get out of it.
Where will the money come from you ask?
Well donations per project or non profit organization for this type of overhaul, from people like you and me, Other richer countries that give money to the poverty struck third-world countries, take a certain percentage and give it directly to these non profit organizations set up for this computer/ infrastructure program to make sure the money goes to help the poor people and communities and does not go in the pockets of the government or for their army’s, main city’s and into the poverty struck areas, instead of every child a computer start by selling that child’s computer use the money for the basics mentioned above then gradually bring in the computer program, our money is worth a lot more and goes a long way in these third-world countries not to mention the Volunteers that could help and teach, plus this could give family’s a chance to earn a little money and experience to keep everything up and running so they can become somewhat self sufficient not to mention all the people in the world that are willing to volunteer in these places to help also.
What seems like a large project broken into a bunch of small project’s done one at time doesn’t look so big and little movements may seem to take a long time but it is better than no change at all.
Sorry for the long rant I know it was only suppose to be a comment. Great post
Comment by Dana Connelly — March 20, 2009 @ 11:03 am