OLPC support from the Prime Minister of Australia

We at OLPC Aus­tralia cel­e­brat­ed our first birth­day with a mas­sive bang — a black-tie gala event held at the Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary Art on Syd­ney Har­bour. It was a won­der­ful night of cel­e­brat­ing Aus­tralian Indige­nous art, music, cul­ture and food. Cor­po­rate spon­sors gen­er­ous­ly donat­ed to the cause.

Of spe­cial note was our keynote speak­er. Prime Min­is­ter Kevin Rudd voiced his sup­port for our mis­sion, extend­ing deductible gift recip­i­ent sta­tus to all dona­tions made to us. Also in atten­dance was the Assis­tant Trea­sur­er and oth­er rep­re­sen­ta­tives of state and fed­er­al gov­ern­ment.

Myself and oth­er mem­bers of the OLPC Aus­tralia team were for­tu­nate enough to meet with Kevin before the offi­cial pro­ceed­ings com­menced. He took the time to con­verse indi­vid­u­al­ly with each of us. I relat­ed my expe­ri­ences in Dhaliny­buy, where every child has their own com­put­er on the Inter­net. This ratio of 1:1 access is almost unheard of even in city schools. I was pleased to see one of our anec­dotes make it into his address, not very long after our con­ver­sa­tion.

It’s an inde­scrib­able feel­ing know­ing that you’re on the radar of the high­est polit­i­cal office in the land. We are a small team and have a long way to go, but I firm­ly believe that we are on track to empow­er remote com­mu­ni­ties across Aus­tralia.