Last week, a group of
fourteen young people traveled to Kihuyo Primary School in Nyeri County. They
blazed the misty cold and for 4 days, they taught computer skills to 59 kids
(grades 6-8). Who are these young people? They are mostly university students
recruited by Kids Comp Camp and the Molly Kiunga Foundation.
Kids Comp Camp is an
initiative to help young learners, 9-14, living in marginalized communities and
with no prior exposure to computers catch up with current digital knowledge
driven society. The Molly Kiunga Foundation seeks to support education and to
develop leadership and life skills among refugees and Kenyan youth.
This is the second comp
camp in Kihuyo. The first one was held in May. For more on that camp, see: Kids Comp Camp: A Kompyuta Mashinani Initiative
For the August camp,
the main topics included:
v Introduction
to the Internet, how to connect to the Internet, browse webpages and websites,
use search engines, and communicate with others using email, other online
media.
v Types
of computer networks
LAN
– Local Area Network.
WAN
- Wide Area Network
v Uses
of the Internet
v Common
Features of the Internet
The kids were divided
into groups of 5 and each group was assigned a trainer and a laptop. After each
session, the groups chose a project which they worked on for about 45 minutes.
They then presented to the rest of the class. The best group received a prize.
On Saturday, we
received guest trainers from Dimension Data, Kenya. They brought goodies such
as biscuits, popcorn, potato crisps, sweets and juice for the kids. They also
donated books and pens for the school.
The learning was mixed
with fun and games as evidenced by the pics below.
