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This image was taken from http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Peru/Arahuay

Your Name: Carlos Ochoa Your Group Name: Moose Your Group Members Names: Mandy, Jessica and Carlos Your Article Citation: OLPC in Peru [|http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Peru?arahuay

Go back in time prior to the project/idea you read about. Describe where the need for this idea or innovation came from, additionally think about who saw the need for the innovation.  It came from the OLPC. They have as a goal to provide laptops for children in developing nations. With a social justice vision in mind, the $100 dollar Laptop Per Child program hopes to improve the lives underdeveloped countries by trying to narrow the digital divide.

Give a summary of the project include relevant locations, organizations, people and technologies It is in a rural school in Arahuay, Peru. It is located about 100km from Lima, Peru. The name of the school is "Colegio Apostol Santiago." The laptops were given to 46 children and three teachers. Nicholas Negroponte, Google, AMD, and Intel, and the Peruvian Minister of Education were the people and organizations involved. Carla Gomez, a Mexican educator and the Huascavan Program Pedagological Team were also involved.

What technology did/does the project employ? It employs laptop technology. || Children slam the keyboards when the laptops are booting. ||
 * Intended Outcomes Every child in Third World Counties will have a laptop || Unintended Outcomes or Potential Unintended Outcomes (+ and -) Town authorities warned that children should not take their laptops
 * Some children have become self-motivated || home because they could get robbed.

How did this project promote or conflict with a goal of social justice? It tries to give children from Third World Countries laptops, so that this technology narrows the technology divide between industrial and developing nations. I feel that in a Third World country such as Peru, giving laptops to children is not really teaching them about their communities' needs and reality. Pablo Freire talks about teaching being done more effectively when teachers use the students' reality to teach. For example, the day the Minister of Education was scheduled to come to the school, he could not because all his teachers across the nation were on strike, including the ones at Colegio Apostol Santiago. My point being, how can laptops help children when their needs are not at the level of being a global community, but are still at the level at which the bare necessities of life need to be met.

How could this connect to practice in Maine? This connects to practice in Maine because it is related to the idea of equity. Since many families in Maine live with incomes below poverty level, Maine's laptop initiative is somewhat similar to the initiative in Peru. Families in Maine are sometimes more concerned with getting by than they are with technological advances. Children may be able to bring laptops home from school, but may not have internet access at home which renders the laptop almost useless.

For More Information: please include three relevant links that your classmates might use to learn more about the topic, project or organization you read about. 1. [|Map of Arahuay, Peru] 2. [|Spanish Language News Article on Project] 3. [|Video of Peru (newscast)]