Saturday, June 30, 2012

Lots of Thinking.

Hey friends.

It has been a while since I posted anything of worth and I am excited about having a two week break so that I can actually write some words. I am heading to Sydney on Tuesday and then Melbourne  later that week, so I am looking forward to the friends that I get to see and have coffee, lunch and dinner with and the change in scenery.

But I have been thinking a lot lately. A lot of 'What If's' really.

What really got me thinking was the release of the new iPad and thinking about how disposable new technology is to the first world. Something new comes out and we go and get it - it is both exciting and sickening to me. I admit that I buy into the hype of new technology because secretly I'm a geek and love it, but my wounded heart finds it so hard to stomach. It is insane to me that we go and update our apple products with every release even when the old one isn't broken - it's just not new. Of course, I'm not speaking about people I know because that just doesn't happen in my world of people, but it does happen a lot.

Then, I read a blog post by my wonderful friends, Dave and Michelle and their 2 kiddos Olivia and Charlie, who are working in India and have committed to working there till mid 2014! Their blog is http://mollysindiatrip.tumblr.com/ (FYI).

Anyways, Dave wrote this about a month ago:


"We have decided to buy an iPad to be used at the project. The children need to get familiar with the latest technology.  Learning on 10 year equipment is setting them up to be 10 years behind the rest of the world."

IT'S. SO. TRUE.

When I was in India, there was virtually no technology available to children, let alone children from the slums. Them seeing cameras from the white guys pointing them towards them were as technical as things got.

So again, it got me thinking. What If?

What if we, instead of selling our old stuff, or passing them on to the children to use (and really - does every child need their own personal device?!). But what if we passed them on to a great ministry, in a developing country to get some good use out of them and start building into their future, not 10 years back to the past?

I agree with Dave.

I also think that we have to set people up for success. It's great donating our old things that we no longer want or require, but is sending over 10 year old equipment the best for them? I don't believe so, I also don't think it sends a message of value. But, that's another story.

So what is a way that we can gather our old (but not that old) technology, get it all nice, refurbish it maybe, and send it to a place that needs it?

What are some places that might need it?

The world is global and we are all in different places, but I think that we could get something done, don't you?!