I wanted to share with you a photo of our students in our new computer lab!

Exciting first day exploring the computer lab

The computers at our school have been arranged in small clusters to promote group learning. This is to mirror the innovative (for a Kenyan primary school, at the least!) clustered seating that Kakenya has pushed for in the classrooms because of the fact that girls tend to learn well in groups.

Tapping away at the keyboard already.

These computers have brought such an air of joy and gratitude around both of our schools. We have had some pretty rocky bureaucratic situations in the past few weeks, but these computers have been a good way to bring people together.

In awe during the first day in the computer lab

We had to leave the truck at the chief’s camp overnight for security before we could unload the equipment. The next morning our delivery man was confused and thought someone had implied we would have to have our truck released from the chief’s camp. When I called the chief for his help, he was irate to head that we were having difficulty. The best part is that he wasn’t so much angry about someone asking for a bribe as he was for the fact that someone would dare to ask for a bribe for the release of property which was intended to help the whole community. Even people who aren’t always completely well intentioned are appreciating that these computers symbolize a benefit for the entire community.

If I am honest, it is a little funny how when people start to see me as the gateway to computer literacy they suddenly become my new best friends. But I am really looking forward to helping our organization members here and the children at the Enkakenya Centre for Excellence take that first step towards being computer literate.

We do still have an issue with internet connectivity. Thus far there is no internet service provider anywhere near Enoosaen, so we are left with slow and unreliable modems that function on the sometimes shady cell phone networks. HP has provided us with routers to network the computers with internet once we get a provider to come to Ennosaen, but it looks like that option might be costly and take eons to put into action. For now, I am really optimistic about the possibility of using an offline version of the internet – the eGranary Digitial Library, dubbed the “internet in a box,” is like a downloaded version of the internet stored on a 2TB external hard drive. I am hoping we will be able to raise funds to purchase one from WiderNet, since I think it would be an excellent educational tool which would allow students and teachers alike to research areas of interest beyond what they can find in the very few books available to them.

"We love computers so we can do this"

Here is what dome of the students are saying about the computers:

“We are happy for the computers because it has everything that you want to do.”

While we were anticipating the computers, “we were thinking we would come to use the computers for each of us to learn on and to teach ourselves to write on the computers in our school.”

They say they are excited because “you can send information or greetings to your friends.”

“We like the computers because it is easy when you want to write anything.”

a little scared, and a lot excited

I had some of the girls who had finished their homework write compositions about what they were expecting from computers. As I type, Naomy just turned hers in:

“I am happy because of computers which they had just donated for us. We will be using them on everyday. The computers are sixteen. And that is enough for us.

There will be a teacher who will be teaching us how to use them. We have started knowing how to use them. We have wrote our names, our division’s name, and our parent’s name. We will be sending messages to our lovely mum, Kakenya. I know computers are very expensive though they had just gave us.

They are very important for us to have them. They use them in many ways for example you can use them to send messages for those who are in far countries and places. For example our mum Kakenya is in a very far country so the computers are very useful.

So we must keep them in a good place and learn how to use them. When Kakenya realize the computers which have been donated to us she will be very happy. Within three months we shall know how to use them without being taught.

We will be sending many information for Kakenya for example how we are going on in our education and about our results.

All pupils are happy as kings because of this donation. For those who had donated us these good computers we should remember to say thank you. Also our parents will be happy to see their daughters using computers.

There also is a room for computers and the whole school must know how to use them. I say thank you for these computers.”

Enkakenya Centre for Excellence pupil Mary spontaneously hugs the new HP computers as they are being unloaded

Today an unusual sight rolled into Enoosaen as truckload of computers donated by HP arrived at the doorstep of the town’s two girls’ schools. Today we unloaded 16 computers at the Enkakenya Centre for Excellence and 16 computers at the neighboring Enoosaen Girls’ Secondary School. And there are even more slated for a what will likely soon be a community center run by the Kakenya’s Dream organization. Over the next week, a computer engineer will be helping us set up the schools’ computer labs. All we have to do is prepare the space, the electricity source, and some tables on which to enshrine our new toys.

Everyone gathered to watch the computers arrive

I am in awe – HP has thought of everything. There are extra printer cartridges and even backup battery UPS (uninterrupted power source) devices so that the fluctuating power sources we will rely on won’t hurt the computers and won’t leave the students with sudden shutdowns and unsaved work. An individual from HP actually donated the indispensable Microsoft Office software. The most thrilling thing for me is that HP also had the wherewithal to send an engineer to do the initial wiring and set up, and I’m not left bumbling around in a pile of wires as I had at one point expected to be. Somebody over there knows how to make a user-friendly donation.

At first confused by the computers...

Then reaching out to touch them...

Gradually the excitement sets free!

Pure joy at the arrival of the HP computers. It just melts my heart to see how excited these girls are!

The Kenyan Ministry of Education is giving ICT capacity ever increasing importance, but is completely unable to supply its schools with sufficient computers. This past year, for example, the government’s decision to make the KCPE (eighth grade primary school leaving exam) registration electronic caused utter mayhem and great strife for primary schools across the country that are almost never supplied with even one computer. Beyond this, computer courses are offered (yet not mandatory) in the government secondary school curriculum, but children at schools without computers are severely handicapped in both the job market and the college application process by not having access to computer classes. This is just one more reason that parents who can afford it will send their children to private schools which are far more likely to have technological tools at their disposal, and why those children get into the best national high schools and universities.

Enoosaen Girls Secondary receiving the computers. The deputy head teacher is pretty excited herself.

The Enoosaen Boys’ Secondary School has had a computer lab for years, reinforcing the inequality in the local educational system that girls face. These labs will help close that gap and send a message to the community that girls do, in fact, deserve the best, and that HP and Kakenya and her American organization recognize this. Furthermore, during holidays, the girls’ secondary school is planning to open the lab to community members to learn computer skills at a small fee, which will both generate income for maintenance of the computer lab and extend the opportunity for ICT skills and internet connectivity to the rest of the community.

An Enoosaen Girls' Secondary pupil helps unload

All of these factors dovetail beautifully to make sharing the gift of the computers with the girls secondary school align perfectly Kakenya’s overall interest in girls empowerment and community development.

The headteacher of the secondary school is just glowing after receiving the computers. She says you only see computers this nice in the bank here in these parts of Kenya. “We may have been the last school to get computers, but we are going to have the best lab in the district,” she is saying.

Likewise, ours will be the first government primary school in the Transmara West District to have computers, and one of only 2 primary schools in the district to have computers at all (although the other private school doesn’t have nearly as many).

Enoosaen Girls' Secondary pupil proudly brandishes one of the new HP monitors as she helps unload.