10 years ago, we set up EDCLUB Movement. Based on the revolutionary SOLE education theory piloted by Pof. Sugata Mitra in India (see link to TED Talk below), we wanted to test how far access to the internet, combined with active mentorship, could expand the education potential for children in disadvantaged communities.

Back then, that looked like four children in Huruma Slum (Nairobi), one computer in the local chapel, and twice a week Skype sessions with one teenage mentor at secondary school in the UK (one of our founding members who had previously lived in Kenya and had close pre-existing links with Huruma slum).

Since then, this has expanded to involve approx. 1000 children from disadvantaged communities ('mentees') in Kenya as well as Zanzibar and Malaysia; an established computer lab in Huruma with 24 computers; and approx. 400 teenage mentors from 13 different secondary schools across the UK, the Amsterdam International Community School, and Oshwal College (Nairobi).

And the results we have seen have been extraordinary. Through the relationship built between each mentor and their mentees, we have seen the confidence, language skills, literacy and overall education of the mentees provide them with opportunities (secondary school, university, jobs etc) previously unseen in their communities. For the mentors, many of the bonds created with their mentees have had a profound impact and have given each mentor an insight to life far beyond secondary school in the UK.

However, 10 years of daily use has taken its toll on our computer lab in Huruma. We desperately need to replace the computers and upgrade the lab itself to provide a workable learning environment for the mentees.

Please please help us continue to support this programme so that future generations of mentors and mentees can benefit from the EDCLUB Movement.

We will also be hosting a ticketed event on 27 September in London in aid of EDCLUB. For more info on this please reach out to our organising committee: Molly Macaire, Nell Macaire, Char Corfield, Rose Redfern and Alexa Ngini.

Watch Prof. Sugata Mitra's TED Talk here: https://ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud?subtitle=en&trigger=15s