OLPC Iraq/news

On October 7th, the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) for the province of Muthanna celebrated their second XO distribution. Muthanna is a remote, agricultural province on Iraq?s Saudi Arabian border, very poor and sparsely-populated. Nevertheless, Dick Torborg of the PRT reports that the second deployment ? which brings the total number of XOs in the province to 200 ? attracted an impressively large gathering, including provincial leaders and local media. Torborg says the kids and school community were in high spirits. There are plans to locally distribute a minimum of 200 additional machines by the end of the year.

The OLPC team in Iraq consists of Torborg, together with representatives of Iraq?s Director of General Education and members of the Yakthah Institute, a local NGO. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad will soon be posting an Internet article on the event.

Iraq is a priority country for OLPC, so it is gratifying to see our program take hold and gather strength there. Darah Tappitake, Robert and Matt will continue working with the PRTs and other potential partners, such as International Relief & Development (IRD), to bring XOs to children throughout the country.