Nicholas Negroponte started the One Laptop per Child program after he experienced what a difference a laptop could make for a family in rural Cambodia. By providing laptops for children in developing countries, a whole new world of educational possibilities is opened up. Investing in children’s education is what many countries need to do in order to escape the poverty cycle.
In 2008, TED flew to Colombia with Mr. Negroponte to deliver laptops to children in areas that have been cut off from the outside world for the past 40 years, when the FARC began a revolution. The Minister of Defense of Colombia, who recognizes that an educated population is beneficial for strategic defense, made the trip possible. In this trip alone, 650 laptops will be delivered to the region making a total of 3,000 of these laptops in Colombia.
Thanks to One Laptop per Child, half a million children around the world have laptops and there are a quarter million more on their way and an additional quarter million being produced. These laptops are especially beneficial because they are designed to help children learn about learning. They give them tools to interact with the world and have new experiences they cannot connect to in any other way.
To learn more about the organization, visit http://laptop.org/en/index.shtml
--Jessica Milstead
Source: ted.com
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