Deutsche Post DHL and the non-profit organisation One Laptop per Child (OLPC) have teamed up todeliver over two thousand laptops to Haitian school children.
The computers are especially targeted at displaced students and schools that have beenhardest-hit in the earthquake-stricken country.
DHL provides its transportation network and logistics expertise for delivery of the refurbished“XO” laptops, a unique laptop developed by The One Laptop per Child foundation. The laptops areconnected, rugged, hand-cranked or solar powered and will allow students and children to use themat home, in school or for university studies.
The first set of computers was transported to Port-au-Prince on Monday and will now be deliveredto four local communities in Haiti, DHL said in a statement.
“Since the devastating earthquake, DHL has provided a significant amount of support for thedistribution of relief goods via its Disaster Response Team into Haiti,” said Rainer Wend,Executive Vice President Corporate Public Policy and Responsibility. “As the specialists ininternational express shipping, we are now delighted to partner with The One Laptop per Childfoundation and support this effort.”
The OLPC movement aims to ensure that all school-aged children in the developing world are ableto engage effectively with their own personal laptop, networked to the world. The mission is tostimulate local grassroots initiatives designed to enhance and sustain over time the effectivenessof laptops as learning tools for children living in lesser-developed countries.
Deutsche Post DHL operates the warehouses for OLPC in Dallas (Texas) and Shanghai (China). Byusing a single provider with the scale of DHL, OLPC partners with DHL for its express, air and seafreight requirements as well as warehousing needs. DHL to date has delivered thousands of laptopsfor OLPC from its warehouses in the USA and China to various mission agencies, governments, NGOsand partners across the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
In January 2010, DHL deployed its Disaster Response Team (DRT) to Haiti at the onset of thedisaster and was one of the first organisations to provide on-the-ground logistics support to theinternational relief effort.
