President William Ruto has honoured Nelly Cheboi with a mention following her recognition by CNN as this year's hero for her work in creating computer labs for Kenyan schoolchildren.
Ruto lauded Nelly Cheboi during his speech at Jamhuri Day celebrations in Nyayo National stadium on Monday, December 12.
“We also congratulate 29-year-old, Nelly Cheboi, the founder of Techlit Africa who this morning was declared the CNN hero of the year, for her work in creating computer labs for Kenyan children to access opportunities in the digital world,” the President said.
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“Congratulations Nelly for connecting and inspiring thousands of Kenyan children.”
Nelly Cheboi, 29 quit a lucrative software engineering job in Chicago in 2019 to create labs for Kenyan schoolchildren with her nonprofit organization.
Nelly Cheboi's work
Her NGO TechLit Africa focuses on giving thousands of students in rural Kenya access to refurbished computers and the opportunity for a better future.
Cheboi accepted the award with her mother, who she said: “worked really hard to educate us.” At the beginning of her acceptance speech, Cheboi and her mother sang a song onstage that she explained had a special meaning when she was growing up.
As CNN Hero of the Year, Cheboi will receive $100,000 (Ksh 12.3 million) to expand her work. She and the other top 10 CNN Heroes honoured at Sunday’s gala all receive a $10,000 (Ksh1.2 million) cash award and, for the first time, additional grants, organizational training and support from The Elevate Prize Foundation through a new collaboration with CNN Heroes.
Cheboi will also receive the Elevate Prize, which entitles her to a grant of $300,000 (Ksh37 million) and additional assistance for her nonprofit organization worth $200,000 (Ksh24.7 million).
According to CNN, Cheboi was given a full scholarship to Augustana College in Illinois in 2012 despite growing up in poverty in Mogotio, a rural township in Kenya.
When she started her studies there, she had little to no computer experience and struggled to type her handwritten papers onto a laptop.
But when Cheboi enrolled in a programming course that was necessary for her mathematics major in her junior year, everything changed.
“When I discovered computer science, I just fell in love with it. I knew that this is something that I wanted to do as my career, and also bring it to my community,” she told CNN.
