Empower, Engage, Educate in Rural Kenya!

The last phase of installing solar panels at the Kenya Connect Learning Resource Center (LRC) has finally been completed! This final upgrade included an additional four panels, two batteries and a charge controller. For the past two years, we have been upgrading the solar power by installing additional pannels and batterries to reduce the dependency on electricity from the village which has been quite unreliable due to frequent power outages. This last upgrade has realized our dream to make the LRC  completely energy independent.  We are now excited that technology classes and other proffesional development programs at the LRC can continue without any worries of disruption by power failure. With the LRC being fully green, we are happy to highlighlight the following ongoing training programs.

Level up Village  (LUV ) STEAM program: Since the beginning of the year, 30 students from Kambiti Primary School have been learning cutting-edge 3D printing technology alongside partner school, New Canaan, in Connecticut, USA.  By using Computer Aided Design software (CAD) both classes of students have been creating designs and printing them using a 3D printer. During the course, students get the opportunity to share their designs with their partners and collaborate in making changes to their designs through an online CAD platform. Along with the course work, they have been sharing their class experiences and culture through video journals. At the same time,  60 more students  from Mbaikini and Makaalu Primary Schools have also been involved in a different LUV program on coding. They are learning how to create their own games. The exposure of these students to the LUV courses has opened up new learning perspectives for them. They are developing strong analytical, innovation and problem solving skills that they will need in tackling 21st century challenges.

“Learning to create my own games using scratch has been so exciting. I never knew it was possible to create and make changes to a sprite to do exactly what I wanted!” Somba - student from Mbaikini Primary School.

The teachers for these students have reported an increased level of confidence as well as a higher level of engagement in regular classes at school.

“Since my students started taking LUV classes, I have seen a great improvement in terms of their engagement in class and their creativity. The students are bold to ask questions and want to know more on what they are learning in class”. Damaris -Teacher from Kambiti Primary School

Technology  and Proffesional Development classes: The number of students learning computer literacy skills has kept on growing. Currently, 30 students from Makaalu and another 200 students from Wamunyu Junior Academy are  taking computer  literacy classes at the LRC.  The students are learning basic computer operations, word processing and  how to use the Internet. At the same time, teachers have been attending webinar classes on proffesional development after a fortnight.

Access Program. Since the start of the year, a group of 20 students have been participating in English Access program at the LRC offered by the U.S. Embassy in Nairobit. The program aims to empower students with English language as well as leadership and computer literacy skills.These students visit the LRC every Sunday for Acess classes.

We remain grateful to all donors for making all the above programs run smoothly at the LRC. Your support is helping to build a new generation of students with a strong educational foundation to help them be more adaptive to the 21st century. We could not do it without you. Again, thanks.