One child one laptop

With one week left to go the countdown has become exciting. We leave on May 14th and head to Ghana with an exciting range of tasks that include purchasing goats, donkeys, carts, and much more. We will also be exploring the possibilities of establishing solar powered laptops in the schools and starting this initiative in a second village. It will be an amazing array of experiences, mostly good I hope:)

This afternoon I received two demonstration laptops for school children. These can be electrical, or solar powered, and are extremely durable, provide acess to the internet, but also to thousands of books and other learning tools even without the internet. Designed to reach remote communities in the developing world, the XO laptop, distributed by 'One Laptop Per Child' (OLPC) provides simple laptops to schools in remote communities. It is made of durable plastic, is dustproof, water resistant and will last a child 5 or 6 years. OLPC is a non-profit organization, and these little computers can provide learning opportunities around the world.

Thanks to friend Luisa Vasquez, this non-profit company became aware of Project GROW and supplied us with 2 laptops to demonstrate to education personnel in Northern Ghana. I have been playing with one ever since and I see great potential. For those of you who are interested, google 'one child one laptop' and you can read all about it.

I will be updating this blog as I prepare to leave as well as in Ghana, so stay tuned, and join me on my personal journey with Project GROW! From time to time, my colleague, Jan Gattrell, UBC librarian, will no doubt contribute her own comments as we share this exciting journey with all of you!