Coding for Refugees - Help rebuild a classroom for 250 students

I. What is our story?
When we first travelled to Kakuma refugee camp in 2017, we were shocked: 200,000 people who had fled war and persecution from surrounding countries live here, in the middle of the Kenyan desert. But even though living conditions are extremely hard, many people in Kakuma were brimming with confidence, courage and motivation! We met refugees who selflessly offered computer courses to other residents and dreamed of having their own computer centre. Enthused by their activism and convinced that education is the most sustainable form of self-help, we decided to support them. Together, we drew up plans for a computer centre and a curriculum for computer courses. Today, about 250 refugees take part in our courses every month and the small group of computer-loving refugees has become our reliable partner, the NGO Solidarity Initiative for Refugees (SIR) (in the video above, SIR's programme leader Deline shows you our computer centre). 

At the heart of our programme is the "Code Dust" course, which teaches advanced programming skills. The students of this course are accompanied by programming experts from all over the world, selected by us, as mentors. We place particular emphasis on achieving gender balance among the participants of our courses.  

II. How do we use your donation?
Recently, the technical defect of a battery caused a fire. Fortunately, there were no casualties. But the damage was severe since one of our two classrooms burnt down. Through this appeal for donations, we want to finance the reconstruction. We will do this in collaboration with local partners to create economic opportunities within the refugee camp. Furthermore, we seek your support in covering the running costs of the center.

More information is also available on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our chairman Leon (leon.birck@source-network.org).