Happy Easter, On a light note if Wangari Maathai and "Her" trees may be the warm face of GOOGLE as it is today, then anything is possible! I am reminded of the FPE program whereby similar questions were asked. It took more of conviction on the value of education for all children then taking the bull by the horns and going for it. If I may digress, the reality is that the children of the current political crop have grown up within the techie world, from the phones, computers and other highly sophisticated gadgets in their homes and schools. May this be also a major factor that has informed this promise by their Parents? I guess they do not know it any other way. In their world, it is like saying "someone should have 3 balanced diet meals in a day"- it cannot be any other way! However, I believe that the most important area to interrogate is the need and value for this intervention. Knowledge poverty continues to deepen as we have everyone reading this email able do so yet another whole crop of Kenyans lacking the most basic capacity and facilities. On the cost factor, recently we have had a plethora of laptops in the Kenyan market with even your regular college student being able to access one through their savings from Ksh. 15,000/ maybe even less. This means that it can be cheaper and cheap enough to make the solar powered laptop like your regular school textbook which every child must report with in school (or the school PTA provides). Today, Cucu has a mobile phone - without ever having entered a classroom, She is connected to Her people and the world. None of us would have even imagined this in the days when phones was the big house phone only. I see the need for very strong partnerships by the government and NGOs rising up to support this. Accountability will definitely require to be very high. The next "battle" and millionaires is not on tangible assets of buildings and land ownership as has been. The knowledge economy is the next titan. KONZA developments and many more that deliver the Kenya Vision 2030 belongs to the next generation and the best place to catch them is at the doorstep of the classroom. Perhaps the next big thing will now be how to harness the sun in Moyale and export it to less sunshine endowed Counties (as an income generator). Have a pleasant day. Regards/Wangari --- Pray God Bless. 2013Wangari circa - "Being of the Light, We are Restored Through Faith in Mind, Body and Spirit; We Manifest The Kingdom of God on Earth". --- On Mon, 1/4/13, Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> wrote: From: Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> Subject: [ISOC_KE] Free Solar Powered Laptops Per Child is it a Myth or will it be a reality? To: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>, "isoc@lists.my.co.ke" <isoc@lists.my.co.ke>, "Skunkworks forum" <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> Date: Monday, 1 April, 2013, 9:02 Listers, Now that the dust has settled its time to get back to work, as a country we have had numerous interventions to bring computers to schools, most of this have been based on public private partnerships. However we have had mixed outcomes with regards to the success and failure of the initiatives, i am not sure whether we have an information resource on the success stories or failure that we can learn from, none the less: 1. Is this a timely idea? What are the chances of success considering the digital villages and Nepad e-schools project experience? 2. How will the program be sustained? 3. What is the overall goal of the project and what does it mean to a child in Moyale? Thank you Amicus Sirkal -- Barrack O. Otieno+254721325277+254-20-2498789 Skype: barrack.otienohttp://www.otienobarrack.me.ke/ -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ isoc mailing list isoc@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/isoc