Projects For All Brings Solar Powered Internet to Uganda
Projects For All Brings Solar Powered Internet to Uganda (September, 2015) – Nonprofit organization ‘Projects For All’ has announced the second build of ‘Project Hello World’, an initiative which provides Internet access and digital education to underresourced African Communities.
The installation of four solarpowered outdoor computer stations called ‘Hello Hubs’ in the central and western regions of Uganda will start on 28th October 2015, and complete on 10th December 2015, connecting thousands of children and adults to the internet. This initiative is in partnerships with Lessons for Life Foundation and in collaboration with Pangea Educational Development. Project Hello World’s first build, in 2013, saw the installation of a Hello Hub in Suleja, Nigeria.
The initiative, which aims to reach more than 2 million people within the next 5 years, will continue to expand across Africa and the Middle East. The Hello Hubs bring internet access and digital education to communities in SubSaharan Africa, where over 134 million children are not in school. Project Hello World partners with communities and educates adults and children in the installation and maintenance of the hubs, ultimately enabling the community to take ownership of the stations.
The children of the first Hello Hub have quickly adapted to the new technology and can regularly be found playing the Hub’s preprogramed math and science games, often sharing a screen between 14 or more children. "Our aim is to empower at both the individual and community level," said Founder & CEO of Projects For All, Katrin Macmillan. "The hubs link children with ementors in London via Skype, provide children and teachers with educational software, arms adults with new skills and enables community selfsufficiency. Having access to the internet for the first time is like having an oracle in the village, you can research, and solve problems.” "To help a women's group in Suleja understand just how powerful a tool the Internet can be, we asked them to submit questions to ‘ask the Internet’.
The women asked questions from family planning, to looking at world maps for the first time, and finding online lesson plans," explains Macmillan. “Our Board member Sugata Mitra has demonstrated just how impactful childled digital education is, and Hello World is how we can affordably scale education to reach all children.” Drew Edwards, CoFounder of Pangea Educational Development said; "Project Hello World means access to the infinite opportunities of the internet. The innovative design of Hello Hubs foster collaboration in communities in way that invites every member to participate, eliminating innate barriers or exclusion".