[Sri-lanka] how to obtain OLPCs for Sri Lanka Girls School

[Ann Kato]

Dear Ruvan,

Thank you so much for your very informative and encouraging email. It is 
wonderful to learn that there is an OLPC Foundation in Sri Lanka and 
that this technology will soon be available to a certain number of schools.
My husband and I are trying our best to sponsor the Sri Sumangala School 
but of course, it is beyond our means to finance 100 computers.
We would be extremely grateful if you would consider our school for 
support in your next OLPC initiatives.
If there is any further information you require, please do not hesitate 
contacting us. We will next visit the Sri Sumangala School in November 
of this year.
With many thanks, Ann and Gabor Kato
> Dear Prof. Kato,
>
> On behalf of the OLPC effort in Sri Lanka let me thank you for your 
> initiatives in the Sri Sumangala Girls' School project. Thank you also 
> for contacting us re. the OLPC effort in Sri Lanka.
>
> Currently we are in the process of just setting up an OLPC Foundation 
> through which the first consignment of OLPC's are expected to arrive 
> in Sri Lanka within the next month for a Pilot project for just 9 
> small schools (1 in each province) in Sri Lanka. As such, this would 
> be our very first experience with this promising technology, and our 
> consignment being limited and earmarked for a specific project makes 
> us unable to expand it to include Sri Sumangala Girls' School for the 
> moment.
>
> We are however seeking to expand the present initiative by asking Sri 
> Lankan companies to consider this seriously as part of their CSR, and 
> have got together a very active set of entrepreneurs promoting it in 
> Sri Lanka. I will pass on this request to them (i.e. the OLPC Sri 
> Lanka Foundation), so that as we expand this programme, complementing 
> your initiatives at Sri Sumangala Girls' School would be a reasonable 
> choice for support. As you know, at the moment there is no obvious 
> channel through which to obtain OLPC's except by ordering in bulk 
> through such a foundation (this being one of the biggest stumbling 
> blocks to more wide spread use of OLPC in countries like ours).
>
> Thank you again and best regards,
>
> Ruvan (Weerasinghe)
> For OLPC Initiative in Sri Lanka.
>
>
> Ann Kato wrote:
>> Dear Sir/Madame,
>>
>> My husband and I sponsoring the Sri Sumangala Girls’ School in Weligama 
>> on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. The school, with 2700 students from 
>> grades 3 to 13, was severely damaged during the tsunami. Thirteen of the 
>> girls died and over half of the girls lost close members of their 
>> families including parents, brothers and sisters.
>>
>> We have been aiding the school by providing books, writing material, 
>> computers and offering prizes for the best students in each class. We 
>> visited the school in 2005 and again in 2008 to develop a closer contact 
>> with the students and staff and to have a better understanding of their 
>> needs. The girls dream of being doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers and 
>> engineers. They are very motivated, curious and eager to advance their 
>> education.
>>
>> To sustain our program, we have been seeking financial assistance in the 
>> way of donations. Our primary goal is to provide computers to this 
>> school. They have at present approximately 15 out-dated computers and 
>> they do not have a laptop in the school. Recently a friend of ours 
>> purchased an OLPC on e-bay in the United States and we realize how 
>> revolutionary this type of computer could be for this devastated school.
>>
>> We are writing to inquire how we can purchase 10 to 20 OLPComputers so 
>> that we can start to equip the Sri Sumangala Girls’ school.
>>
>> I would like to thank you in advance for your consideration of my request.
>>
>> Ann C. Kato
>> Professor, Dept. of Neuroscience
>> Faculty of Medicine
>> University of Geneva, Switzerland
>>
>> e-mail: Ann.Kato at unige.ch
>> Tel : +41-22-343-2592
>>
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>>