This CNN Hero upcycles old computers to open new worlds for young Kenyans
A lot of people may not have heard of Kenyans Online Academy, but we here at Kenyans for Change do! The organization has had a profound impact on the lives of thousands of kids across the country. With the help of its program leaders, children have been empowered to create their own community, and learn on their own. It has also educated thousands of Kenyan children at an early age.
At the heart of the program is an app, a computer game called, “Mama Kenya”, or Mama Kenya, which plays a key role in teaching, and encouraging community building in a classroom-based model.
And now, an organization in Kenya is looking to upcycle old computers and get them into classrooms.
The initiative by the Kenya Teachers’ Association (KTA), to upcycle old computers and turn them into teacher’s aid, is one of the innovative ways to help teachers to stay in the classroom and build strong relationships with students.
The KTA’s initiative is aimed at enhancing the literacy of students and strengthening the capacity of primary schools to teach effectively. Some of the materials collected over the years by the organization could have been easily destroyed by the many hands that would have taken them from the classrooms to the garbage bin.
But Kenyans Online Academy (KOA) believes that the collected items are not just recyclable, but are truly meaningful and valuable to the children who use them. The KTA wanted to give the computers to the teaching staff who could then use them in the classrooms to build a sense of community in their students.
One of the first computers donated to this cause by KOA was donated to the Department of Primary Education and Sports of the KTA and given to the Head Teacher, Mr. Adugyemmane. It has since then been used as an additional teaching aid in the classroom where the children’s creative writing and spoken word is being taught.
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