IU group to distribute ‘$100 laptops’ to South African schoolchildren

A group of IU students and alumni will travel to South Africa this June to distribute laptops to schoolchildren as part of One Laptop Per Child’s internship program.

Recent graduates Joe Delehanty and Joseph Shikany, seniors Joe Peoni and Savanah Franklin, and sophomores Carolyn Commons and Gordon Lang will spend several weeks in the village of Haenertsburg, in the South African province of Limpopo. They will dispense XO laptops, a low-cost, energy-efficient alternative to PCs and Apple computers, to primary schools in the region. They will also help build sporting facilities and assess the local water system.

Nicknamed the “$100 laptop,” each XO laptop comes equipped with “antennae ears” for wireless Internet capabilities, a built-in camera, microphone and speakers for video chatting and a touchpad that serves as a mouse and a drawing tablet. The XO laptop is also eco-friendly, as it does not contain hazardous or toxic material.

“Overall, they’re waterproof, shock resistant, dirt resistant,” Lang said. “They’re definitely made to withstand extreme conditions that you’ll find in Africa or Asia or South America.”

Senior Paul Commons currently leads the IU chapter of One Here ... One There, a nonprofit organization driven to foster growth in sub-Saharan Africa through primary education. He also works as co-president of the organization. Through fundraising and private donations, he said he and other members raised $60,000 for expenses for last year’s IU trip to Limpopo, an act he described as difficult.

“From my perspective, last year’s trip was hell,” Paul Commons said. “The scope of the project is unbelievably difficult between the financial constraints, cultural interaction, project management and technical issues. We didn’t have all the answers, and we hit a lot of barriers. In the end, I learned more from working on that than any other school project or anything for that matter in my entire life.”

Schools interested in collaborating with the One Laptop per Child program must submit a 750-word proposal and obtain official support from either a local or national official or a non-governmental organization. Out of more than 220 applications from universities across the world, the IU chapter was one of only 30 selected for deployment. Before arriving at their respective countries to distribute laptops, the 30 chapters must attend a mandatory 10-day workshop in Kigali, Rwanda.

One Laptop Per Child was founded in 2005 by computer scientist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte. Despite its success, the organization has been met with criticism, such as questioning the necessity of providing children in developing countries with laptops. In addition, a One Laptop Per Child ad featuring the voice and likeness of late musician John Lennon caused outcry, despite having been endorsed by Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono. The critiques have not phased the group.

“This laptop provides a learning tool to these children that they don’t have,” Peoni said. “Most of these schools don’t have an adequate amount of books or learning utensils. To say that these laptops aren’t a necessity to children in a developing country is like saying that school isn’t necessary.”

While there aren’t definite plans to resume the program next summer, members of the IU chapter said they are hopeful.

“We’d love to continue this,” Carolyn Commons said. “It’s really all about funding. That obviously comes first. Once we know that we can sustain and maintain this current project, then continuing another deployment would be awesome.”