Kibra Academy Students Reflect on Computer Class

Kibra Academy students unload a van full of desktops donated by Kensington Cares. Now, students will be able to have more individualized use of the equipment.

Our team of teachers is now finishing up our third week of instruction at the Kibra Academy and major headway has been made. We’re teaching seven classes a day, commencing promptly at 8:30 am and finishing at 5 o’clock. The lab is established, students have a grip on Microsoft Word and the class is now navigating Microsoft Excel. This week, twenty new desktop computers from Kensington Cares arrived and will be set up on the periphery of the classroom. The future computer class will thus be able to hold more students and each student will have more individual time with the machines.

With the help of two other teachers, Maria and James McElwain, we also introduced the nursery school students to the computer lab, planning creative exercises for them. Experimenting with programs such as “Paint,” these young kids exclaim “We want fish!” to ask the teachers to draw fish for them on the laptops and when we play sample music offered by Windows, they jive and dance together in their seats.

Teacher Maria with some of the pre-unit children on break time. She's teaching them the English words for various colors.

In an effort to concretize information with the older students, we administered a written and practical computer test at the end of last week. There was a wide range of performance, some students still slow and clumsy using the mouse and others maneuvering font size, type and color with ease. I talked to some of the students who succeeded on the test to learn of their thoughts on the course.

Fatuma Ismail, form one, and Husna Ali, form two, achieved high scores on their first computer test.

Fatuma Ismail

For Fatuma, the computer class the Children of Kibera Foundation is offering is building upon knowledge that she began to acquire in primary school where she was fortunate to have occasional access to a computer to play games. Now at age seventeen, math is her favorite subject she’s catching on quickly to Excel. Like many of the other students, she’s enjoying typing but also at times finds the process of learning to type frustrating slow. When she leaves the Kibra Academy, she would like to be an accountant.

When asked if she has any suggestions for the teachers, she says, “Keep it up. You’ve helped us so much.”

Husna Ali

Husna is sixteen years old and a second year at Kibra. This class is her first exposure to computers and typing is her favorite activity so far. As an aspiring engineer, she’s taking the computer class seriously and makes sure to review her notes. She looks forward to improving her typing skills.

Willis Onyango (far left), form two, and Francis Omega (far right), form three, demonstrate an aptitude with computers and are eager to continue learning programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel.

Willis Onyango

For seventeen-year-old Willis who had not used a computer before this month, typing is the most exciting part of the course, but not necessarily easy. He’s found the course exciting but also challenging, especially as we embark on more complex programs such as Excel.

Francis Omega

From day one, Francis, a nineteen-year-old in form three, openly expressed his desire to understand computers, always paying close attention and often being the first to ask questions. Earlier this year, Francis’s neighbor, a doctor, allowed Francis to come over and use his computer. He taught him the basics such as turning on the computer, the uses of icons and how to type. Now Francis takes advantage of class and break time to review Microsoft programs as well as explore other functions of a computer.

“When I was little, I heard my friends talk and I heard about computers, and I was anxious,” he says. “Now, dealing with computers as a whole, I just love.” He goes on to talk about the dynamics of the class: “I think the relationship between teachers and students is great. The interaction is good and the teachers are friendly.” The suggestion he has is to have more time in the lab. In addition to computers, he’s passionate about physics and chemistry and hopes to one day become a pilot.

Teachers and students work together to set up the new desktops on the periphery of the room.

Rather than going home, these pre-unit children stay at the Kibra Academy after school to play in the yard together.