Kenya connections

Lorraine Williams from Plan UK visited Tharaka, a remote district in Kenya to learn about the challenges and potential of using communications technologies in the fight against poverty in the area.

“I was in Kenya to assess the potential of using Information Communications Technologies to help communities improve their lives.

“Five and a half hours by car from Nairobi, Tharaka covers a wide geographical area. The district not only lacks roads, it has no running water and it is off the national grid.

The computer hidden beneath a dust sheet

“The first stop was at a polytechnic for 16-18 year olds in Kamatuntu where students can attend tailoring and woodwork classes, but not computing. The only computer is hidden beneath a dust sheet. One of the staff at the school told us that she had IT skills and that many of the students were keen to learn. There is only one problem: there is no electricity.

“Lack of infrastructure is a huge issue for many parts of Africa. We understand that the Kenyan government has set aside almost 80million Kenyan shillings to hook the main town Marimanti in the area up to the national grid, the progress is slow, and schools, homes and businesses away from the towns will not benefit.

“After Kamatuntu we followed a steep and exceptionally rough track to Ntujia primary school where a surprise awaited us – a solar-powered laptop computer. Unfortunately, the teacher who knew how to use it has left the area and the computer lays there unused.

Felix at the Dominion Computer School with some of the students

“Our last stop of the visit was to the recently established Dominion Computer School, a single room with two computers linked to a solar panel. Felix, the founder of the school, first saw a computer at university three years ago. After he graduated, he set up business in Nairobi and with the profits he decided to return home and set up the Dominion School to help young people.

“It is estimated that over 600,000 schools in Africa need assistance with new technologies.

“And although the challenges are considerable: electricity, costs, skills, technical support, hardware robust enough to withstand the climate, security and content relevant and useful for the local communities, the students, young people and adults I met are all very enthusiastic about the opportunities ICT could offer them and are working with Plan, together with the consortium of African governments, New Economic Partnership for African Development, to ensure they are involved in the process.”