We are looking to fund the salary of a computer trainer to teach current & former street children in Burundi. We have helped our partner, New Generation Burundi, build and equip a training room. NGB has been given 30 old laptops by a local college that was closing down. NGB's staff has started teaching basic computing to the 80 street kids in their care, and an internet room has been opened. $9,000 will pay the salary of a qualified trainer for 2 years who will be able to teach many more kids.
New Generation (NGB) pays uniforms and modest school fees for the former street children to go to local schools. But they have missed some years of schooling. The schools do not have any computers, even in secondary school. Burundi is now the poorest country in the world (income per head of $276pa according to 2015 World Bank data). It receives very little foreign aid. It has also suffered genocide (1993), civil war (1993-2006) and serious civil unrest (2015). Hence education levels are low.
If NGB can help the children to have good computing skills, then it will more than make up for their missed school years and prepare them for the modern workplace. With a full time trainer, NGB will be able to offer lessons to more street children. It will also be able to offer lessons to local people at a low cost, which will both improve local knowledge levels, and also generate some income for the charity. If these fee-paying lessons are successful enough, then this may pay for the trainer.
By helping these children today, you are helping to secure a better future, not just for them, but for Burundi. This is a post-genocide country with a whole generation suffering from the scars of that war. By working with the most vulnerable in society, we hope they will grow up to be the next generation of young leaders who will have a positive impact in this country, in their communities and in their places of work.