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<div>Dear Manu,</div>
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<div>You may recall that my sister, Usha, (who is well-versed with NGOs in India with special emphasis on rural India )and I (Senior Advisor to the Provost at State University of New York) are interested in the laptop project in India. I contacted you earlier inquiring how to engage with you on this project.
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<div>We are disappointed at the level of discussions and engagement taking place on the digest and elsewhere for volunteers like us who want to help move this initiative forward. Like Nicholas, we are interested in making a difference. We have no other hidden agendas.
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<div>When we first heard about this project, we were excited beyond measure. We have contacts in rural India and are aware of the challenges and issues in penetrating these markets. I am sure you will agree that India is bureaucratic to begin with and we don't need more bureaucracy.
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<div>We feel we are not getting direct answers to our queries as to how to truly engage rural communities in this important initiative. While fonts and technical glitches and multiple language programs are important, your volunteers should first know about your penetration plans and how they can help. Creating more digests or wikipedia is not the solution to keeping volunteers excited and engaged because talk is cheap!
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<div>So - bottom line - we want to help fulfill the vision of NN. We want action, not more discussions. Otherwise you will wear down the enthusiasm of your volunteers and they will look elsewhere. </div>
<div><br>I look forward to hearing from you.</div>
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<div>Usha Gowri</div><span>
<div>Uma Gupta</div>
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<div><br>---------- Forwarded message ----------<br><span class="gmail_quote">From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Arjun Sarwal</b> <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:arjun@laptop.org" target="_blank">
arjun@laptop.org</a>><br>Date: Oct 25, 2007 8:00 PM<br>Subject: Re: [OLPC India] India<br>To: Usha Gowri <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:usha.gowri@gmail.com" target="_blank">
usha.gowri@gmail.com</a>><br>Cc: <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:manu@laptop.org" target="_blank">manu@laptop.org</a>, Carla Gomez Monroy <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:carla@laptop.org" target="_blank">
carla@laptop.org</a>>, Nia Lewis <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:nia@laptop.org" target="_blank">nia@laptop.org</a>>, <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:india@laptop.org" target="_blank">
india@laptop.org</a>, "Prof. Nicholas Negroponte" <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:nn@mit.edu" target="_blank"> nn@mit.edu</a>>, Matt Keller <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:Matt.Keller@wfp.org" target="_blank">
Matt.Keller@wfp.org</a>>, <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:olpc-india@laptop.org" target="_blank">olpc-india@laptop.org</a><br><br></span>Dear Ms Gowri,<br><br>We appreciate your concern with regard to people just looking for information as to when and how; to have to look through a lot of technical posts on the mailing list.
<br><br>We are in the process of developing a database and mechanisms on the wiki to co-ordinate efforts of organizations/people wanting to get involved with OLPC in India. <br><br>You might also want to have a look at the 'Give Many' program (part of the G1G1) starting in November., which allows you to buy 100+/1000+/10000+ laptops
<br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://laptopfoundation.org/participate/givemany.shtml" target="_blank">http://laptopfoundation.org/participate/givemany.shtml</a><br><br><br>Also, I'd recommend all related queries to also be copied to
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:olpc-india@laptop.org" target="_blank">olpc-india@laptop.org</a> which is the email id for the OLPC- India foundation, which would be spearheading distribution efforts in India.
<br><br><br>Thank you for your interest.<br><br>Regards,<br>Arjun <br><br><br> </div>
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