[IAEP] Laptops?!?

[Adam Holt]

By Carmina, one of many Haitian-American 
bloggers/entrepreneurs/educators/open sourcerers I met in NYC Saturday, 
/willing to Take a Stand for Haiti:/


Laptops?!?

My good  friend Mike asked puzzled. And  I understood his reaction 
because I had the same one at first.

Haiti 's children don't need laptops; they need food, shelter, the basic 
stuff...

I'm grateful that others have the skills and the opportunity to go to 
Haiti and help with those basic needs.

I applaud their efforts and admire their courage: unfortunately, I don't 
have the skills  or opportunity to do so myself.

Almost a month has passed already...It's time to build Haiti back!

It's not going to happen overnight and it's not going to happen by itself.

It's starts with everyone doing a little bit, where they are, when they can.

So I'm doing the little bit I can by actively supporting 2 organizations 
in which mission I believe in.

What motivates and excites me about the One Laptop Per Child 
<http://www.laptop.org> / Waveplace <http://www.waveplace.org> project 
is its potential to impact

the next generation of Haitians,  out of which future parents, citizens, 
mayors, senators and even presidents will come from.

I see a potential to open the minds of our children to other realities, 
other worlds,  give them new dreams, broader horizons.

So last Saturday at a CrisisCamp <http://www.crisiscommons.org> in NYC, 
when I heard Adam Holt and Allison Bland, exhausted from an early 
morning train ride from Boston to NY

talked enthusiastically about this project I saw a chance to make a 
difference.

No matter how small my part would be.

Then I witnessed something awesome:  people were gathering around them,  
coming together, rallying around this project.

The ideas started flowing,  out of the box ideas.

Suddenly, a simple translation project request became a movement to 
revolutionize the educational system  in Haiti.

2 days later, we have a coloring book project under way, translation 
parties in the works, blogs, websites, publishers/authors

willing to giving us permission to make their children Creole books into 
e-books, an active and growing online community of a people exchanging 
ideas and

ready to make a difference in anyway they can. Wow! If we can do that in 
2 days, what can we do in 1 week, 1 month, 1 year!

Yes, I realize that it's a drop in the ocean, but if you could even 
indirectly impact the future of 1 child of Haiti,

Would it not have been worth your while?

You can help!

Join our community at The New Haiti Project 
<http://newhaitiproject.ning.com/group/onelaptopperchildwaveplaceproject>.

Donate 1 hour of your time to translate material from English to Creole

Start here: http://translate.sugarlabs.org/ht/ 
<http://translate.sugarlabs.org/>


[ Originally published at: http://RaiseUpHaiti.com - /Rebuilding Haiti 
by Educating its Future Leaders/ ]
[ Carmina is now translation volunteer coordinator for: 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Haitian_Creole_Translation_for_Education ]

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