Slide # 25 : Water For People funding letter

Water For People funding letter

Even as they applauded his technology, however, some people wondered if Negroponte was crazy. Giving laptops to starving Africans? Don't they need food, clean water, and clothing, first? Why not give them Rolex watches or mink coats? I'm afraid those people are watching too little of "Asia Business Report" on BBC Newsworld and too much of the infomercials and letters like this one. It's the "Water For People" funding request that hit my mailbox the other month. I don't say problems like Eliza's in Malawi are not real. Malawi's average income is $600 per year, and Eliza, as a recent orphan, is poor within her own culture and in real jeopardy. Eliza's real, but so are the people in Malawi who have much more than $600 per year, people of little concern to charities, and of much interest to corporations.