Joyfully Overwhelmed
“The world’s greatest untapped resource is the intellect of the poor.”
I've shared this quote many times. Our decision to host a summer coding bootcamp in Kenya is an attempt to understand this better.
The last few weeks have revealed this to be more true than we could have imagined. To find students, we put the word out through friends, colleagues, and our connections at SHOFCO and Youth Voices Community. We thought we'd struggle to fill our spots... but we could not have been more wrong.
In the span of just a few weeks, we have had over two hundred applicants for our Kenyan coding bootcamp.
Take that in with me. Two hundred.
And the interest list continues to grow.
This is definitely something that is bigger than just us.
It's pretty ambitious what we are trying to accomplish. 10 weeks of full time, live-in web development instruction in rural Kenya. Starting in just 6 weeks.
We need to buy tents, solar batteries, bunk beds, and most importantly, computers.
We need 11 more students sponsored.
I can feel overwhelmed by it all. But when I read their applications, it's all worth it. In these applicants I see the struggle to not just survive, but thrive and give back to their communities.
A refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who spends his day teaching introductory computer skills to other refugees. He wants to take our class so he can go back and teach it to his community.
A young man in a family of six children, raised by a single mom, sharing a single room in the Mathare slum. His greatest desire has always been to teach computers to other young adults.
The daughter of a rural village tailor, who could not stop thanking us for our "kindness in being willing to teach these computer skills." Or the other young woman who spoke of how proud her family would be to see her get this schooling that she could never afford on her own.
The applicants are a beautiful variety of need: Farmers, designers, students, teachers. From rural villages and the dense slums of Kibera and Mathare. From not just Kenya, but Rwanda and Ethiopia and Congo.
When I read their applications, I see the way this opportunity will transform their lives. It could bring their family out of poverty. But even more importantly, it will transform their communities. Because these students want to learn so they can pay it forward. And that brings me great... gladness.
We would love for you to experience this with us.
We are looking for 11 more sponsors for our students.
Perhaps you know of a business or a group of friends that would be willing to sponsor a student. For $1600, you can partner with them and track their journey through the program. This cost will cover their computer, their food, and 10 weeks of lodging and instruction.
We need computer coding mentors to help encourage our students and offer advice to new learners.
We need financial resources to pay for tents, solar batteries, bunk beds and blankets.
We need laptops. We'd love to send each of our graduates home with their own when they finish the program.
We just can't do this on our own. And our dream is to build something much bigger than `ourselves and this summer.
$1,600 sponsors one student
(or $800 to sponsor half of a student’s tuition)
The river running through Nairobi's Kibera slum. This used to be their primary water source. Many of our applicants are coming from here.
The farmhouse at the Shire property.
A SHOFCO water station. Kibera residents come here for clean and fresh water. SHOFCO is one of Kenya's most recognized NGOs, providing wraparound services for the millions living in Nairobi's urban slums. SHOFCO has been helping us find quality students for our program.
Sunset at our site, with Lake Elementaita in the distance.
