Updated July 22, 2022
Primary school Kids at Zawadi Preparatory waving hello

The Merge 2: Karibuni Mogotio, Kenya 🤗

First published on March 14, 2021
Nelly Cheboi Black Background
Nelly Cheboi (Kosi)
CEO | CNN Hero | Forbes Under 30

44 laptops, 140 desktops and five months in Kenya

Last Saturday, I landed in Nairobi, Kenya with 44 laptops. Tyler and I plan on flying back and forth from Kenya to the States a few times every year. Every time we’ve flown as TechLit, we’ve packed about five laptops per person. Forty-four is a new record!

We introduced over 1200 kids to computers in just a few months.

You’ve probably seen our stories from 2019. They were all about running an “open lab”, where kids from any economic background were entitled equal access to a computer. We introduced over 1200 kids to computers in just a few months, and here’s the kicker: we did all that with 16 computers.

Imagine for a moment the impact we will achieve with 200 computers.

Now we have 200 working computers in Mogotio! You may remember that we shipped 140 desktops through Mombasa to Mogotio early in 2020. We introduced 1200 kids to technology with only 16 laptops, imagine for a moment the impact we will achieve with 200 computers.

Thank you all!

There are so many people who helped make these shipments happen, from our generous monthly donors, to our venerable board and the tireless volunteers across the world who resonate with our vision. Thank you all for making our work possible!

Reimagine techlitafrica.org with us

We have an all-new approach to stewardship, and it starts with positivity, excitement and hope! From here on, our stories can be as deeply visual as they are powerful. Everyone: head over there, send us your feedback!

Our stories can be as deeply visual as they are powerful.

For the techies: *We’re migrating from Ruby on Rails and Bootstrap on haml with jQuery to React on NextJs through express with Typescript and tailwindcss, but we’re still on Heroku for the time-being.*

Let’s transform Mogotio, Kenya

When I started Zawadi in 2015, I had no idea how far it would go. For me, Zawadi is about holistically transforming communities by involving all segments of the population. It started with just a few kids in primary school. The future of Zawadi will enable adults to further education, from technical training to basic literacy. Now Zawadi will serve kids, youth and adults alike.

It started with just a few kids in primary school.

Next week, we start building four more floors of Zawadi. The first floor will be for the primary school, and the last three floors will each host a different community-focused nonprofit. The third and fourth floors will host Neema for the Vocational Training and Read Across Africa for the Library and Adult literacy programs. The second floor will have TechLit, with enough room for our African headquarters.

You can empower the entire population of Mogotio, Kenya.

We, TechLit Africa, are on a mission to raise $60,000 to build the second floor of Zawadi Yetu. Through techlit, you can empower the entire population of Mogotio, Kenya.


About The Author

Nelly Cheboi Black Background
Nelly Cheboi (Kosi)
CEO | CNN Hero | Forbes Under 30

Nelly Cheboi is a celebrated social entrepreneur, Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, and CNN Hero. After growing up in rural Kenya and lifting her family out of poverty, she focused on her community.