Episode 4: It Started Under A Tree, WatotoCoding - Teaching Kids to Code

Welcome to the Citizen Coder Podcast. In this episode I talk to Leonard and Costanza, Two people building a non-profit to teach a community of kids to code in the harsh conditions of Nairobi, Kenya. We talk about the challenges and struggles, successes, and what it takes to build something from scratch where modern infrastructure doesn’t exist. Let’s dive in.

Leonard Onyango was born & raised in Kibera Slums, he is amongst the lucky students who got sponsorship to pursue further education in the midst of harsh conditions. He taught basic computer skills and graphic design in different colleges. Along the way, he discovered great platforms like Coder Kids, Endless OS, Roblox, Autodesk - Tinkercad and many more which inspired him to pursue his interest in giving back to the marginalized communities through teaching kids IT in creative ways.

Costanza is passionate about using technology and gamification to make education more accessible. She has a masters degree in education from Trinity College Dublin and currently lives in Italy. Aside from her day job, she dedicates her spare time to volunteering remotely for Watoto Coding for their social media strategy, their funding campaign, and their website.

Show notes:

Watoto Coding links

Website that has a button to donate www.watotocoding.com

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/watoto-coding

Twitter www.twitter.com/watotocoding

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/storozetu/

Buy a ticket to enter our giveaway and support the charity (prizes ship worldwide) https://giveaway.watotocoding.com/

Resources to learn coding

Scratch Jr https://www.scratchjr.org/

Code bella by blue studios https://play.bluestudios.io/code-bella/

Tinkercad https://www.tinkercad.com/

Make a watering system using Arduino https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/neetithakur/automatic-plant-watering-system-using-arduino-uno-8764ba

HTML/CSS workbook by Sam Taylor https://www.amazon.com/Coding-Workbook-Sam-Taylor/dp/1718500319

Tools used to run the nonprofit

Kofi https://ko-fi.com/watotocoding

Todoist https://todoist.com/

Notion https://www.notion.so/

Birdesk https://birdesk.app/