Buy A Computer This Holiday Season and Help Change the World
This holiday season, Nicholas Negroponte wants to change the world by giving children in poor countries little green learning machines. In order to accomplish this he is asking you, the American consumer for a little help.
Negroponte, who started the One Laptop Per Child Project, is asking American individuals and charitable groups to buy two of his XO laptops and donate one of the them to children in poor countries.
Participants in the Give One Get One program pay $400 for two laptops - one for their own use and the other to be donated.
Participants who take part in the Give One Get One program receive a year of free wireless Internet access at hundreds of public hotspots operated by T-Mobile.
Since the Give One Get One program began in November, the foundation has received about $2 million in orders every day. That works out to about 190,000 laptops, with at least half donated to children in developing countries.
The One Laptop Per Child program was originally designed to offer computers to third world countries for about $100 each. However foreign governments haven’t placed as many orders as expected. So OLPC has asked American individuals and charitable groups to buy the machines to help out.
The mission of One Laptop per Child is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. This is a lofty goal, but one worth shooting for.
This holiday season is all about giving to others. So if you have children, or are thinking of buying a computer for a child, this program is a great idea. At the end of the day you’ll be giving back twofold; helping both an American child, and a child in a poor country.
This if nothing else will be a great case study of how technology and the American consumer can help to change the world. The program is running until Dec.31st. For more information, or to take part in the Give One Get One program go to: Give One Get One.
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