The recent U.S. election has shown that ordinary citizens coming together can change the status quo. Now is the time to harness that goodwill and help the children of the developing world who have been left behind. Some of the world’s poorest countries spend less than $20 a year on children’s education and one in three children won’t complete fifth grade. Participation in One Laptop per Child’s Give 1 Get 1 program will help bring a modern education to these children and empower them to build a better future for themselves and their families and their communities and societies.

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a nonprofit whose mission is to provide laptop computers that are sufficiently affordable and connected to the Internet to every child in the world. OLPC first launched Give 1 Get 1 in 2007, raising more than $35 million to fund the delivery of tens of thousands of laptops to children in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mongolia and Rwanda. To date, OLPC has distributed more than 500,000 XO laptops in 31 countries and is on its way to delivering one million laptops by the end of 2008.

Starting today, individuals can support the OLPC Foundation through two options:

Give 1 Get 1 – By paying $399 for two XO children’s laptops – one to give, one to get. The laptop you give will go to a child in developing country. The laptop you receive can be used by you or a deserving child or friend.

Give a Laptop – For those people who want to give only, you can donate as many laptops as you want to give at $199 each.

Those in the US can go to http://www.amazon.com/xo and those who live outside of the US can visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/xo.

Originally posted on November 17, 2008 @ 11:38 am