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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUB: TV Kenya Kibera Coding - Swaleh
HEADLINE: In Kenya’s Kibera, a Tech Initiative Empowers Children
TEASER: A young computer programmer is passing on her knowledge and teaching children in the city how to code
PUBLISHED AT: 3/20/23
BYLINE: Saida Swaleh
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Nairobi, Kenya
SCRIPT EDITORS: KEnochs; DLJ
VIDEOGRAPHER: Nelson Aruya,
VIDEO EDITOR (S): Saida Swaleh, Fred Lichuma
PRODUCER:
TRT: 2:54
APPROVING EDITOR: KE
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original
PLATFORMS: WEB __TV X RADIO X
EDITOR NOTES:
((INTRO))
[[In the sprawling Nairobi slum of Kibera, Renice Owino, a young computer programmer, is passing on her knowledge to disadvantaged students. Owino is the founder and driving force behind the “Code with Kids” initiative, which has reached hundreds of children in Nairobi and other areas. Saida Swaleh visited Owino’s classroom in Nairobi and has this story.]]
((NARRATOR))
This is a beginner’s class for children learning how to code. All of them come from the Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Africa’s largest urban slum.
28-year-old Renice Owino is their teacher. Her focus is STEM, or Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
((Renice Owino, Code with Kids Founder)) ((In English))
“...nobody is empowering these kids with this STEM skills, and I believe that if these kids are given the same opportunity as other from different areas, then we will be bringing up a community of problem solvers, critical thinkers and lifelong learners and earners.”
((NARRATOR))
Owino says she spent her teen years in Kibera with her aunt after her mother died.
Despite having limited access to computers, Owino developed a passion for information technology, thanks to her mother and a high school instructor.
((Renice Owino, Code with Kids Founder)) ((In English))
“Somebody I used to look up to, was my mom, she was a teacher and I felt like teachers were superheroes, but in my coding journey and in my tech journey, the people who made an impact were my high school computer teacher, she was female.”
((NARRATOR))
Her lessons at this learning center are free, but she charges 5 cents in other institutions, to help pay for laptops, transport and stipend for the volunteers.
She wants her students to get the access to computers she didn’t have.
((Renice Owino, Code with Kids Founder)) ((In English))
“... as they grow up, I want them when they are doing tech or when they are in the tech spaces, to think that tech is for everyone, and I think this can happen by empowering them at a young age.”
((NARRATOR))
Owino has a special focus on encouraging female students.
According to a 2022 Kenya Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology report, graduation rates in information and communications technology (ICT) and other science disciplines for female students is low.
Experts, however, say that is changing.
((Janet Dali, Technology Specialist))
“A good percentage of the ladies we finished our degrees with, started tech a bit and then quickly moved to other kinds of business, and around that time it would have been kind of rare to walk into a programming room and find women coders, but now not anymore.”
((NARRATOR))
Back in Kibera, Owino is winding up the lesson and for many of the students, coding has earned a place in their heart.
((Renice Owino, Code with Kids Founder)) ((In English))
“I feel like moving forward things are changing, and it’s becoming more friendlier for women...”
((NARRATOR))
Renice hopes that the classes she offers have an impact not just here in Kibera, but beyond.
((For VOA News, Saida Swaleh, Nairobi))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Nairobi, Kenya
BylineSaida Swaleh
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
