February 2, 2008
Giving AND Getting!!!
This idea from OLPC Foundation was originally brought up on ElaineVigneault.com. I could not for the life of me find the post, but trust me, she posted about it. I thought it was an AWESOME idea for my son for Christmas. He gets a very affordable laptop and another child in the world gets one too ~ A charitable buy one get one free!!
Well, if you had not heard, the promotion was a hit!!! That meant there was a backlog. A BIG BACKLOG! The organization was fabulous though. We received several emails along the way with tracking information. Which was great. It just arrived today. This entire experience was perfect. It taught him many things. Patience. Humility. Charity. AND now GRACE. He waited so long he treasures it. IT REALLY IS A FLEXIBLE, WELL-CONSTRUCTED STATE-OF-THE-ART LAPTOP!
It functions wirelessly. It has a backlit screen. It has educational software. I could not have asked for a better laptop for a kid. The keyboard is rubberized. It is durable. It is easy to use.
Since many children in the developing world live “off the grid’’ (in places with poor or non-existent power infrastructure), the XO laptop is designed to be extremely power efficient. The batteries operate for up to 2,000 recharge cycles (four times the lifetime of a typical laptop battery). It contains no toxic heavy metals, and can be hand charged via a crank, pedal or pull-cord—or recharged by a directly connected solar panel.
For $200.00 a child in another part of the world is learning about this vast educationally rich pool called the internet while a middle-class child like my son who would not have been able to enjoy the privilege of a MacBook Air
in this particular economic climate is able to learn on the internet too!
I believe the promotion is over now, but I am not for sure. SO, check out the site. Click here for more information. Donate if you can. It is superb.
Imagine a world full of possibilities. Imagine kids ~ your kids, our kids, kids of the world united, educated, healthy and fed in all of the ways that count. I like that thought.
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UPDATE: Elaine sent me the original post! Check it out here!!! THANKS Elaine!
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2 comments:
Thank you for writing about this. I found the post for you:
http://www.elainevigneault.com/giving-kids-laptops.html
It's so great you got one of these for your child (and one for another child far away). My nephew got his late, too. And he loves it as well. These things are great!
Did you see the article in the NY Times about them? The writer didn't really seem to 'get it' and was actually kind of offensive I thought. (I meant to blog about it and maybe I still will...) But even so it's just great the things are getting so much attention. It's such a fantastic idea!
Elaine,
You REALLY are the bomb. I did not see the NY Times article but will head over there now. THANKS for the original post. Whenever the nay-sayers give you a hard time, envision my kid with his XO eating a veggie dog! You change lives!
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