Ever since I heard about the One Laptop Per Child Project, and wrote about it in a September 27th article,  I was extremely excited about its potential to be a force for good by educating the poorest parts of the world. The project is the brain-child of one of my heroes, , who was also a founding member of MIT famous  Media Lab.

I am a strong believer in “education” being the “magic bullet” in that it can affect the greatest amount of real change for the little cost. Ignorance breeds an array of society’s ills and there have been many attempts to bring education to the farthest reaches of the globe with a smattering of success here and there.

The are many aspects to this story that I will be covering as they unfold however today I want to discuss the fifty children in the Andean village of Arahuay, Peru that received their own laptops which are now referred to as “XO” laptops.

It is almost like a universal language in the way that children, never having even seen a computer before, instantly take to the XOs and begin to explore its feature-rich offering. This one small box exposes them to a library, video camera, audio recorder, music maker and drawing kit.

It has been reported that it is very common to see children falling asleep with their computers in their arms. In fact, in those places where the home does not have electricity, the light from the XO screen is the only thing illuminated their house.

Now, after having their eyes opened to the world beyond their villages as a result of using the XO, children are realizing that they might not be destined to a life “in the fields” like their parents. Some have expressed a desire to be an accountant, lawyer, musician and videographer.

Wow, I am always impressed when I hear those types of things. That for less then $200, an can “ build a bridge” from the farthest, most remote corners of the world where the indigenous people living there have been insulated from the world beyond a “days travel”    

If you wish to support this very important Project, then please visit, http://onelaptop.org