Kenya’s Young Women Carry out PC Clinic in the Slums

By Henry Neondo

August 12 was an international Youth Day , a day set aside for the celebration of young peoples’ energy, imagination and initiatives and recognize their crucial contributions to enhancing peace and development.

It was adopted in December 2009 by the United Nations General Assembly through resolution A/RES/64/134 proclaiming the Year commencing this International Youth Day (12 August 2010) as the International Year of Youth.

In Kenya, 85 young women, aged 18-35 years and who pursue studies in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have since that day been carrying out a free personal computer (PC) clinic in the sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest slum, Kibera where estimates indicate that between 800, 000 to 1 million people live in 630 acres, mostly in informal settlements.

Facilitated by Real Dreams Programme, the African Centre for Women in Information and Communication Technology (ACWICT) and the International Youth Foundation (IYF), the youths visited Raila Education Centre in Kibera where they undertook basic maintenance, installed anti-viruses, repaired and installed hardware, system tools like disk management, disk clean up and network trouble shooting. They also installed software for missing operating systems and general clean up procedures on the 30 PCs at the centre.

Ms Joan Amugune, the Deputy Principal of the Raila Educational Centre said the gesture by the youth will have far reaching impact to the centre. She said the centre daily caters for over 260 slum youths who visit the facility to do internet search, make library references and get a quiet place to their study as most come from single-roomed homes where rooms smaller than 6 by 10 metres is shared by between 8-10 members of a household.

According to Constantine Obuya, the Executive Director of  ACWICT , the Real Dreams Programme---a partnership led by Samsung and the IYF, seeks to increase economic activity in Africa by promoting job skills and preparing the youth for the successful, long-term careers.

Started in 2009, the programme aims to empower 4, 500 young people in the African region with the right opportunities, tools and training needed to realize their dreams. 

According to  Kenya’s Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030,  of about 500, 000 youths who annually graduate from the country’s tertiary institutions, only 25 per cent gain employment in the formal sector. Of these, only 29 per cent  are women, notwithstanding the fact that women form 51.7 per cent of Kenya’s population.