PEDA Africa organized a digital literacy program to teach a rural community school how to use a computer, some of them for the very first time in their lives. I partnered with them, alongside other partners, to teach and equip the young minds in that classroom, and by the end of the program, I had given away four scholarships and one laptop.
Starting From Zero
Walking into that school, I understood quickly that this wasn’t going to be like teaching digital skills to people who already owned devices. For many of these students, this program was their first real contact with a computer. We started from the absolute basics, how to hold a mouse, how to navigate a screen, how to type without hunting for every letter.
Watching young minds go from unfamiliar and unsure to confidently clicking through a computer within days was, on its own, worth every hour of that partnership.
Why I Didn’t Stop At Teaching
Teaching them to use a computer felt like the beginning, not the whole story. I wanted a few of them to have a path to go further, so I sponsored scholarships for three students (+ one from PEDA) to continue learning at LAskill, beyond what the PEDA Africa program could offer in that limited time.
The Laptop That Meant More Than A Prize
Among those four students, one stood out. She kept practicing, kept asking questions, and kept showing up with more curiosity than anyone else in the group. I gave her a laptop, free, not as a prize for winning something, but as an investment in a mind that had already shown me she wasn’t going to stop learning anytime soon.
Why This One Stays With Me
Digital skills programs like this remind me why I built LAskill in the first place. Access is often the only thing standing between a young person and a completely different future. Partnering with PEDA Africa let me close that gap, even if just for one classroom, one laptop, and four students at a time.
