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<td style="FONT: 13px arial, sans-serif" valign="top" width="70%"><strong>Walter Brown wrote:</strong> <br><br>Dear Satish, <br><br>I really like your observation likening the OLPC to a vaccine against ignorance, it is indeed that. The most impressive support of the OLPC concept that I have encountered so far are two English sub-titled OLPC YouTube videos about the use of OLPC in Brazil - Teacher Tania Mara de Oliveira at Luciana de Abreu school talking about the hurdles and rewards of introduction, and little children in Porto Alegre driving their own learning process from the introduction of Brazilian fossils to the structure of viruses - moving the virus lesson on their own volition to sex and HIV/AIDS. Most impressive. <br>
<br>In Africa, I only know of Rwanda that has brilliantly committed to OLPC, in recognition that only knowledge can avoid a repeat of the human tragedy of recent history. High hopes in Nigeria seem to have been dashed by the usual scramble for opportunity by the global IT giants with their competing hardware and software, and the idea expressed by a minister that school chairs are far higher priorities than PCs. There is a small group of OLPC activists in South Africa, but the barriers against OLPC are immense - multi-million dollar state projects building a few computer labs in largely dysfunctional poor area schools, the fear of theft and even physical harm stemming from OLPC ownership, and most importantly, the usual bureaucratic barriers and "not invented here" syndromes. One blog wonders how many OLPCs could have been purchased from Oprah Winfrey's $40 million investment in one "upper class" school for girls in Johannesburg? <br>
<br>I think that the OLPC concept holds immense promise for Africa and all under-developed regions, but our decision-making processes are almost guaranteed to frustrate that the process of introduction. Still, I welcome and support all efforts, in the belief that one OLPC is worth a thousand books, and can, with the wireless mesh access that is prohibited by many of our national ICT policies and regulations, even overcome the absence of school chairs and even schools themselves. I find it a pity though, that Nicholas Negroponte's vision that OLPC is NOT a PC but a powerful tool for children rich and poor to access knowledge and learning, systematically falls on deaf bureaucratic ears in most developing regions. <br>
<br>In conclusion, I will support every OLPC endeavour as far as I can. My own focus is on developing strategies for ICT applications at the "Bottom of the Pyramid", which must and will include the OLPC concept, but will strive to get communities themselves to understand the benefits of the "OLPC Vaccine", and demand and protect this marvellous tool that can lift their children out of the vicious poverty traps by their own shoestrings, even if they can't afford the shoes. <br>
<br>Good luck and regards, <br><br>Walter Brown.<br><br> <br> </td>
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