On our last day in Kampala we visited KampaBits, a school teaching underprivileged youths web design, print design and web development. It was incredibly inspiring to see how motivated and ambitious the students are. Most of them haven’t even used a computer or a smartphone before they started the class. After some training they are able to design posters and business cards and design simple web pages coding HTML and CSS. Advanced classes include web development with PHP and Drupal, animations, etc. Everybody we talked to was eager to start their own business, looking forward to making a living through ICT.
When interviewing them for the AfricaHackTrip documentary movie we found the youths to be very self-conscious and proud of what they already achieved. It was apparent that they feel the power they gained by being able to create things. We got a lot of questions about our professions like how designers and developers should work together and how to start a successful business as a freelancer.
Notably, almost half of the students are girls.
KampaBits is an NGO and a franchise of NairoBits in Kenya and is funded by various donors. Most teachers are volunteers. They are looking for more donors and also teachers. We really like the concept and with a 60% success rate it is obvious they’re doing it right.
It was a pleasure to visit KampaBits and we are very happy that the kids also had a good time as you can tell by this message we got the next day:
