When I heard about University of Pennsylvania bringing “Technology-Based Learning to Nicaraguan Community School for Children of Coffee-Farm Workers”, I couldn’t help but cringe and feel sympathy for the small community that is about to be a subject in a research project.

There is a misguided, well-intentioned belief in the Western world that whatever is good for us must also be good for the rest of the world. In recent years this has manifested itself in the form of cheap, inexpensive computers and laptops for developing nations.

While I do understand the value of such technology, it shouldn’t be seen as the solution for the world’s ills. Some communities have so many needs and problems - the last thing they need are teaching aids that have questionable application, unsustainable support, and no obvious benefit to the community or the children they are supposed to help.

Many rural communities in poor nations, not just in Nicaragua, have priorities:

• Clean water to cook and drink from.
• A sewage system so stop the spread of diseases like Dengue and Malaria.
• Good teachers to empower and support the children and their families.
• Easy access to life-saving medicine like antibiotics.
• … on and on …

The more sinister and untold story behind “blessing” poor communities with technology is that some communities become dependent or think they need it, while they can’t even sustain it nor should they even require it.

I have been to a community in Nicaragua where there was a dusty school room full of broken computers that were donated and the principal was asking for replacement machines. New computers isn’t what they needed, but the school believes that this is something they should have - despite the fact that their school does not even have a decent book collection or gym equipment for kids.

In doing your part to help the world’s poor and suffering, you really need to understand the context and issues of the people you are trying to help. Laptops and other technology can work, as long as it fits with the people you are helping - otherwise you may end up doing more harm than good.

It is my hope that University of Pennsylvania approaches this research as proper research and reports honestly on the affects of technology on a rural community. The impact on cultural and educational values is going to be significant, and I hope what the University has planned is worth it.

Read the press release on University of Pennsylvania’s website.

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