This CNN Hero upcycles old computers to open new worlds for young Kenyans
It’s all hands on deck. One computer, one job. And all hands are busy.
A team of volunteers has been busy designing and building a custom-made computer for a young Kenyan. The Kenyan computer was born from the hackathon “I’m Kenyatta” in 2016. The goal of the event was to create a laptop that was completely recyclable and to teach young Kenyans the joys of self-learning.
The Kenyan computer, made by the organizers and volunteers, can store all of the student’s learning data. This means that they can even store their homework, as long as it fits on a floppy disk or a thumb drive.
The laptop has a battery that lasts nearly four working days.
In other words, this laptop can teach the young Kenyans how to search for information online, learn about online storage services, use email, and much more.
After the hackathon, it was obvious that they had created the first self-learning laptop.
Now, the Kenyan Computer Foundation is using the laptop to make other learning aids to help young Kenyans. In fact, the laptop was designed so well, that it can be used by the entire school, so they can learn at any time.
The laptop was made using 3D printers and other 3D software, and its design was inspired by one of the famous Japanese design tools, which we call “Turtlebot”.
The Kenyan Computer Foundation and its volunteers are still figuring out how the laptop will be used. The laptop and its contents will be available for everyone to see online.
“For us, the main focus is to teach and empower children and youth in Kenya to live with confidence in technology. We want to teach them the joys of self-learning and self-awareness,” said Niamh Lynch, the project manager who is leading this project together with two young software developers (one of which is her son) and a computer engineering graduate student.
“This laptop is going to revolution
