By ROCHELLE A. SHENK, Lancaster New Era Correspondent
Two Peruvian girls work with an XO laptop provided by One Laptop per Child
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA – A Massachusetts charity aiming to deliver a universe of knowledge to children around the world has at least two partners in Lancaster County and would welcome more.
With a goal of giving the world’s nearly 2 billion poor children “a window to the outside world, access to vast amounts of information, a way to connect with each other, and a springboard into their future,” One Laptop Per Child designed laptop computers that will work just about anywhere and is offering to give one away for every computer a business or individual donates.
The parents group at the Children’s Learning Center at Landis Homes, in Manheim Township, and Manheim-based TCW Computer Systems are teaming up to participate.
The parents group and the company are donating $200 each to cover the cost of computers for children at Landis Homes and elsewhere.
Larry Zook, president of Landis Homes, called the program “a neat opportunity to benefit children around the world and provide them with access to educational information.
“It’s also a great opportunity for the children at our learning center to not only receive a new learning tool, but to also help out other children.”
And Lamar Weaver, president of TCW Computer Systems, cited two motivations for his firm’s participation: his company’s professional relationship with Landis Homes and personal knowledge of impoverished children’s needs.
“I lived in Africa for four years as part of a rural-and-urban-development program with the Mennonite Central Committee and saw firsthand how children in some of those areas could benefit from the One Laptop program,” Weaver said.
One Laptop Per Child’s goal is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child.
And the organization’s XO laptop is specially designed for children in remote and rural environments, said Jackie Lustig, a spokeswoman for OLPC. A collaborative effort of experts in academia and industry, the laptop needs very little power (a child can use a hand-crank, a pull cord or the sun to make it work), its dual-mode display can be seen indoors and outdoors in harsh sunlight, and its software is specially designed for children.
The XO also has: antennae ears that can sense other neighboring laptops and connect to them, and built-in wireless capability so children can easily access the Internet when there is an available wireless connection.
The program – backed by 12 corporate sponsors: Google, AMD, Marvell Technology Group Ltd., Nortel, Intel, News Corp. (owner of Fox News), Red Hat, eBay, BrightStar Information Technology Services Inc., Chi Lin Technology Co. Ltd., Quanta Computer Inc., and SES Astra – was originally scheduled to end a two-week run on Nov. 26.
Demand led to it being extended until Dec. 31, Lustig said.
The program, called Give One Get One because the donor of a used laptop can get an XO in exchange, also offers the option of just giving.
Zook said he found out about the Give One Get One program via an Apple iTunes podcast and an Oct. 4 article in the New York Times.
“I haven’t heard a lot of people talking about this locally,” he said.
Lustig said she was not sure if other Lancaster County organizations are participating and could not reveal them if she did.
But others are welcome.
To donate or for more information, call One Laptop Per Child toll-free at 1-877-705-2786 or visit www.laptopgiving.com
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