Technology to help developing countries
When we think about giving help to, developing countries, we often think about giving money so that these countries can build schools and hospitals, buy food and medicine, or find clean water supplies. These seem to be the most important basic needs of the people we are trying to help. However, it's far from enough. Ladies and gentlemen, we've got to come up with some better ideas to help them.
I was very surprised, then, when I read about a plan to make cheap laptop computers for children in developing countries. A man called Nicholas Negroponte invented a cheap laptop computer, which can run without electricity. He decided to invent this computer after he visited a school in Cambodia.
The laptop which Mr Negroponte has designed is a little different from the normal laptop computers you can buy in the shops. One difference is that it will be covered in rubber(橡胶) so that it is very strong and won't be damaged easily. As an electricity supply can be a problem in developing countries, the computer also has a special handle so that children can wind the computer up to give it extra power when needed.
These special laptop computers will cost less than 100 US dollars and Mr Negroponte wants to build as many as 15 million machines in the first year of production. The idea is that these computers will help the children's education as they will be able to access the Internet. These computers might not help the people in developing countries immediately, but by improving children's education they should help people to find their own solutions to their problems in the long term.
Another idea to help children in developing countries is to recycle old mobile phones so that they can be used again. In the UK, and probably in many other countries too, millions of mobile phones are thrown away every year. The waste created by throwing away these old phones is very bad for the environment, so it seems to be an excellent idea to recycle them. In this way we will be able to achieve two important goals at the same time. We will reduce the waste we produce and help others. In other words, we will be able to "kill two birds with one stone", and that is always a good thing.
