Tue, Dec 25, 2007 - Page 7 News List

One Laptop changes lives in Peruvian village

'XO' CRAZE In a bid to turn its primary education system around, Peru has made the single biggest order to date, at 272,000. Paraguay is second, with 100,000 computers

AP , ARAHUAY, PERU

Mendoza, the psychologist, is overjoyed that the program stipulates that kids get ownership of the laptops.

Sitting in his dirt-floor kitchen as his mother cooks lunch, Kevin, an aspiring trumpet player, draws a soccer field on his XO, then erases it. Kevin plays a song by Caliente, his favorite combo, that he recorded off Arahuay's single TV channel. He shows a reporter photos he took of him with his three-year-old brother.

A bare light bulb hangs by a wire from the ceiling. A hen bobs around the floor. There are no books in this two-room house. Kevin's parents didn't get past the sixth grade.

Indeed, the laptop project also has adults in its sights.

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