Building international bridges between India and Kenya
Today, we want to talk about a group of adorable kids from Kenya and their teacher who showed us a reality of codePannu vision, to take programming to remotest parts of the world.
The teacher
In early 2021, codePannu was looking to hire trainers (we still are!) who can teach scratch lessons. One applicant from Kenya instantly caught our attention, because we had no presence in the continent.
Though her resume did not match our requirements, we decided to have a chat with this interesting applicant, Florence Muchangi, a computer Science graduate working as a school teacher in Kenya. She explained the inadequacy and the struggle for kids in her region to get access to basic programming knowledge. She wanted to about become a trainer at codePannu, so she can use the knowledge she gains, to teach her school kids too.
Our lost intent
codePannu always intends to reach kids across the globe, particularly remote lands that lack education infrastructure. Her aspirations were definitely in-line with our values and we looked for avenues to get her onboard but had to hold off due to administrative reasons. We were absolutely sure that we would find a way to help her students, but we had no direction. Months rolled by and the idea remained on side-lines.
The solution
Meanwhile at codePannu, being vernacular inclusive, we were reflecting on how to overcome language barriers while teaching kids. We observed kids effortlessly making friends with other kids who don’t speak their language, and are more open and inclusive than adults. We believed that they mostly interacted with other kids through visuals, rather than relying on a formal language. Using this reflection, we designed scratch tutorial videos with comprehensive visuals and only background music, without any language.
How we bridged the gap
On the day we released the tutorials, we reconnected with Florence and shared the videos, hoping this would help her greater cause. Now, kids at her school would have a chance to self-learn.
The result
After about two months, we received a series of projects from Florence. Kids had downloaded the mobile version of scratch and used our tutorials to learn and create those projects. She hoped that we like it. In fact, Scratch mobile version is quite different and the kids still deciphered the tutorial lessons and created projects.
It was an absolute ecstatic moment for codePannu as an organization. Our values, vision, purpose and outcome all had a pristine confluence. We shared our bliss and joy with Florence. She was as amazing as the kids.
Our learnings
That day, as a team we learnt that,
- If our values align we should take the chance and do what we can, it would bring the results someway, someday.
- While we are completely unaware, teachers in many parts of the globe are quietly using every available resource to provide the best possible knowledge to the younger generation.
We were extremely fortunate to meet one such uber cool teacher. What is your most memorable experience with your teachers?