For Black History Month, The Department of African American Studies would like to honor Nelly Cheboi who is a software engineer and Co-Founder of Technologically Literate Africa (TechLit Africa).

TechLit Africa is a nonprofit organization that reuses computers to create technology labs for schools in Kenya. Using her computer science skills she learned from the United States, she successfully supported her community in Kenya and has helped over 4000 schoolchildren from 10 different schools. She aims to teach 40,000 kids from 100 schools. Cheboi, 29, was nominated and recognized as a CNN Hero of the Year.

According to CNN, Cheboi grew up in poverty in a food insecure single-mother household and saw the struggles in her community as a call to action. After accepting a U.S. scholarship to attend college, she developed her love for computer science and brought it forward to her community on a physical and intellectual front. Cheboi recycled computers from former jobs and transported them by plane to Kenya where she would teach classes and provide professional development for college readiness. 

“My hope is that when the first TechLit kids graduate high school, they’re able to get a job online because they will know how to code, they will know how to do graphic design, they know how to do marketing,” Cheboi said. “The world is your oyster when you are educated. By bringing the resources, by bringing these skills, we are opening up the world to them.”