$100 Computers

Posted in Ideas by Dom on December 15th, 2007

So I’m trying to get one of these “$100 computers“(that aren’t $100, who knows…). The idea is that we have this “educational link” between our school and this school in England, where we communicate about differences in culture and curriculum and all that other business. Except the mail and phone systems are crap and so email is the only semi-reliable thing there is.

The problem with email is that it’s a 2hour bus ride away and costs money per minute for usage. I’ve gone once with my headmaster, now about a month ago, and that’s where I saw how he’d never dealt with a computer before, let alone the internet. So the costs he would incur by trying to learn or be taught how to use a computer and the internet would be quite a large chunk of his pay or the schools income. Yeah, I can travel for free and use the computer a lot faster and thus save a lot of money but in a year when I’m gone that won’t help anyone, and thus it isn’t “sustainable”(this international aid buzz word). I need someone else to know how to do what I’m doing.

So my idea is get one of these super sweet and cheap laptops to try to teach him atleast how to use a computer and maybe some theory behind the internet and then when he goes to town to email he won’t have to ask how to erase, or backspace I should say.

The problem is I can’t afford the $400 for two, and honestly I would like both to come to me if I was going to pay that much, but that’s not how it works. So I’ve sent them an email explaining my circumstance and asking if they can just assist me, to be Malawian about it, and let me purchase a single computer to be sent here. Keep your fingers crossed for me though, because they claim to not be able to answer all emails. We’ll see.