” “"In the last 30 years, the EU has allocated billions of euros to the development of Africa. And what are the results? Maybe we have not spent our money so well. The time may have come to invent something else". Nirj Deva, a native of Sri Lanka, is a British MEP: for a long time he has been campaigning for the poor countries. That’s why he supports "One Laptop per Child", the campaign launched by the NGO of the same name to provide children in African, Asian and South-American countries with laptops powered by rechargeable batteries or crank batteries or solar power, which are strong, user friendly and affordable (about 100 dollars). There have already been talks of such PCs, which are supposed to "boost literacy and education for the children of the backward countries". The campaign was launched in 2005 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Mit) and "sponsored" by its director, Nicholas Negroponte, and the then UN secretary, Kofi Annan. From May 15th, the NGO will open a branch in Brussels (the headquarters are in Boston) and is going to "ask the EU for support to bring this PC into the schools and houses" of the African countries. (continued)
