Eric the Red

The OLPC is now for sale to rich Westerners. For those of you who don’t know, the OLPC started out as an attempt to provide a $100US laptop to developing nations so that they can make their children more tech-savvy. you know, ’cause when I think of things third world countries need, it isn’t roads, food, schools, clean water, affordable health care or electricity, its a laptop.

So for $400US you can buy one for yourself, and send one to a needy child. The problem I have with this thing isn’t what it is, but that the money could be better spent on things that generate tangible results, like clean drinking water. Let the statistics speak for themselves:

Water is implicated in 80% of all sickness and disease worldwide, while 19% of deaths from infectious diseases worldwide are water-related and water related diseases contribute to nearly 4 million child deaths each year. One encouraging statistic noted that clean water, sanitation and hygiene interventions reduce diarrheal disease on average by between one-quarter and one-third.

Source

I’ll donate $400 for health initiatives. You should too!