21 November 2008

Zimi's Story ~ One Child's Laptop in South Africa

MIT Sloan MBA student Amanda Peyton from the Sloan Entrepreneurs for International Development (SEID) club has been working with One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) this past semester. Today at SEID "office hours" at the MIT Muddy Charles Pub, she told us about this new bit of OLPC promo, a delightful little video featuring Zimi, a South African laptop user who is asking you to Give One & Get One (like I have)...

2 comments:

debio said...

"I come from a place you've never heard of..."

Really? I think most people have heard of South Africa.

Plus, is using the wealthiest country on the African continent (even though it of course suffers from endemic poverty) really the best place to use? Of course there is need in South Africa, but compared to the rest of the continent? It's kind of like giving money to someone to help them fill up their luxury SUV while two streets over people use donkey carts to get by.

Wouldn't something like Sudan, DRC, Mozambique... anything -- be more impactful?

Joost Bonsen said...

Well, as I understand it, one of the VP candidates for the US presidency didn't even know Africa was a continent. I had some Texan proudly proclaim to me that "South African's don't know about big places. I'm from Texas." Idiot. SA is over twice the area of Texas. Most people are ignorant, unfortunately.

But yes, there's a real need for accelerated dissemination. That's why I "Gave One & Got One".