Computers for Trees

Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., is a long way from Kenya, but the memory of life in the under-privileged African nation remains fresh in the mind of Jude Ndambuki. The 51-year-old chemistry teacher knows that meeting basic needs in Kenya can be a challenge, so getting access to technology is extremely rare.

In a CNN interview he said, "The children in Kenya have very few resources; even a pencil is very hard to get. Being one of the kids who actually experienced very dire poverty in Kenya, I feel any part that I can play to make the life of kids better, I better do it." It’s the very reason he became a teacher.

Ndambuki and his family came to the United States in 1997 after befriending American exchange students who helped bring him here. After work one evening, he saw a discarded computer. He brought it home, only to find out it was in perfectly good working condition. It then occurred to him that there could be many others like this one in area landfills.

"It all came together," recalled Ndambuki. "Kids in Kenya need to know technology. It's the way of the world, and they will be left behind without it. I am determined to prepare them for office jobs instead of field work."

Through the Help Kenya Project, Ndambuki has been able to send 2,000 refurbished computers to kids, some of which, who have never even laid eyes on the machine. In exchange, he asks that 100 trees be planted for each. So far the schools have planted 150,000, which help to replenish energy culled from the nation's forests.

Help Kenya Project makes a massive delivery each year, providing each school with five new machines. "It's like giving the kids new life," he said. "Computers are getting new life, and trees are being planted to bring a new life, too. It's all connected." Perhaps there's a second life waiting for that old laptop of yours.

Photo courtesy of ExtraKetchup, via Creative Commons and Flickr.