Pedal-Powered Computers for Rural Villages

Pedal-Powered Computers for Rural Villages
A U.S. nonprofit group works to bring a $200 computer, and social empowerment, to villages in Laos and other countries. Transcript of radio broadcast:
27 September 2008
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

A nonprofit group in San Francisco, California, is trying to take bicycle-powered computers to rural villages around the world. The computer was developed with villagers in Laos.

The group is the Jhai Foundation. Jhai, j-h-a-i, is a word in the Lao language that means "hearts and minds working together."

Lee Thorn is the chairman. He says there are tens of thousands of dead computers in rural villages. He says villages often receive computers that they do not know how to use or how to keep working.

So Lee Thorn worked with another Lee -- Lee Felsenstein, an early developer of personal computers. The result is the Jhai PC. The small computer costs about two hundred dollars. It does not use much electricity. The battery that powers it is recharged when a person pedals a bicycle.

Memory-storage devices called flash drives are connected to the computer to hold information. The Jhai PC has a steel cover designed to resist water and weather. The foundation says the computer is built to work for ten years.

In addition to Laos, the group is in contact with villages in Vietnam, India, Ghana and other countries.

The foundation offers to help villagers learn to make the computers themselves with local materials. The group looks for a business person in each village who will create a ten-year business plan. The plan must include hiring people in the village. It also must include maintaining the computers and paying for electricity and a connection to the Internet.

The Jhai Foundation provides business and computer training. It also provides classes for teachers on ways to use computers in school. The group has received awards from the United Nations.

The group also works with villagers on other ways to improve their lives. Fifty-one villages in Laos are in a coffee farmers cooperative. The foundation is helping the farmers sell their coffee in the United States.

Lee Thorn started the foundation ten years ago after visiting Laos to begin a process of reconciliation. He calls it the opposite of war. He was in the United States Navy during the Vietnam war. On an aircraft carrier he loaded planes with bombs to drop on neighboring Laos. Later he and Lee Felsenstein were active in the antiwar movement.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Karen Leggett.


----------------------------Google Translate
踏板驱动的计算机乡村
美国非营利组织的作品，把一个200美元的电脑，和社会权力，以村庄，老挝和其他国家。全文电台广播：
08年9月27日
这是美国之音特别英语发展报告。

非赢利性组织在旧金山，加州，正试图采取自行车供电计算机乡村世界各地。计算机开发与村民在老挝。

该集团是Jhai基金会。 Jhai ， jhai ，是一个词在老挝语言，意思是“心灵和头脑一起工作。 ”

李索恩是董事长。他说，有成千上万的死电脑在农村。他说，村庄往往收到的电脑，他们不知道如何使用或如何继续工作。

因此，李索恩与另一李-李费尔森斯丁，早期开发的个人电脑。其结果是Jhai电脑。小电脑售价约为200美元。它不使用电力得多。该电池的权力是充电当一个人骑自行车踏板。

记忆存储设备称为闪存驱动器连接到电脑进行资料。该Jhai PC所具有的外壳设计抵御水和天气。该基金会说，电脑是建立工作了10年。

除了老挝，该集团正与村庄在越南，印度，加纳和其他国家。

该基金会提供帮助村民学习，使自己的计算机与当地的材料。该集团寻找业务的人谁每个村庄将建立一个10年的商业计划。该计划必须包括雇用村民。它还必须包括维护电脑和支付电费和一个连接到互联网。

该Jhai基金会提供业务和电脑培训。它还提供中小学教师就如何使用计算机在学校。该小组已收到奖项由联合国。

该集团还与村民的其他方式来改善他们的生活。有51个村庄中老两国是在咖啡的农民合作社。该基金会正在帮助农民出售他们的咖啡在美国。

李索恩的基础开始十几年前在访问老挝，开始和解进程。他呼吁它对面的战争。他是在美国的海军在越南战争期间。在他的航空母舰飞机装载炸弹落在了邻国老挝。后来，他和李费尔森斯丁积极参与反战运动。

，这是美国之音特别英语发展报告撰写的克伦莱格特。