I attended a public secondary school and throughout my time in school, I never saw a computer. We only did theory but never practiced with an actual computer. So I picked up an interest in computers and ICT. I had to fight my way through learning how to use a computer. I would sit in cyber cafes, watch people type and keep looking until I became pretty knowledgeable.

I attended the Daystar Leadership Academy (DLA) and Pastor Sam Adeyemi taught us a lot about helping and empowering people. My pastor also used to talk about reaching out to students so I thought I could impact them by introducing ICT to students in public schools. Before this period, I had already volunteered with some NGOs, so I understood what it takes to be a volunteer. I wanted to volunteer my own services and do the little I could to help kids. I approached one of the NGOs I had volunteered with before and told them what I wanted to do. They liked the idea so we started with 20 kids. I put them in an air-conditioned place to make them feel like ‘honourables’, away from their regular classrooms.

We needed about 20 laptops so we could give each child a laptop. Buying them was very expensive and a few friends donated some laptops. I repaired them and each child had a laptop to work with. A lot of friends volunteered, and we had them train the kids on how to use Word, PowerPoint and Excel. I had other friends who are professionals in their fields train the students on soft works, financials, project management, career development and so on. So besides ICT, we also trained them on other important areas of life.

The whole experience has been life changing for me, and I learnt a lot from the kids. These kids mean a lot to me as well as everyone who volunteered. After the training, the best male and best female during the training received their own laptop. We’ve got wonderful support from friends and family and even the church. Next year, we plan to move from 20 kids to 1000 kids. I’m confident we can achieve that goal.

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Contact details for Tech For the Street Initiative:

Email: info@techforthestreet.com

Phone number: 08027714171, 0809 484 3221

Website: www.techforthestreet.com