Empower, Engage, Educate in Rural Kenya!

Imagine you're a fourth grade teacher who is supposed to teach a unit on digital literacy, but you have no computers. Do you have students just look at pictures in their textbook and expect them to understand?

Thanks to a Ford Motor Company Gratitude Grant, support from Level Up Village, and donations from DONORS LIKE YOU, we have purchased chromebooks that we are bringing to our partner schools.  Students are delighted to open up the chromebook and to see the screen come to life.  Using the keyboard, they begin to learn how a computer works and the many functions it provides.  Kids like playing games and our staff have educational activities for them to do on the computer while they begin to navigate the device.  Once they have begun to master the basic acitivities, many of the students participate in Level Up Village classes like Global Water Scientist.  Through this class, they learn about water cycles, how filtration systems work, and the importance of clean water. They create video letters to share with a partner in the U.S. and they watch their friends' videos.  It's a fun way to learn and it connects them with the wider world.

"I like seeing my partner's video.  I noticed that he doesn't  wear uniforms in school like me, but he has a brother like I do." says Kyalo

Recently our Board of Trustees and Staff engaged in Digital Dreaming Sessions.  We discussed ways to bridge the digital divide through providing our rural learners with access to computers, basic computing classes and upper level STEM classes. Once our new building is completed, we will be creating an EdTech Lab in our Learning Resouce Center and a Maker Space in our new LRC Annex.  We will be holding robotics, coding, animation and graphic design classes while helping students and community members learn how computers can help with businesses, agriculture, and the arts.

Monicah, our Technology Program Assistant, loves seeing how excited the students become when using the computer. "It brings me joy to see the students light up when they learn how to make a function happen."

Along with bringing chromebooks to students at their school, we still have students visiting our solar-powered Learning Resource Center for a variety of computer classes including computer basics and STEM classes with Level Up Village.

Bridging the Digital Divide would not be possible without you.  Your support means that we can provide computers to students in rural community. Teachers are pleased too since it gives them another tool for teaching.  Thank you for enriching and empowering our students and teachers through your donation!