By Helene Yhuel | Fundraising and Marketing Officer
In our last report, we interviewed the Young Leaders and asked them what they would like to do at the Coding Club during the following sessions; they have expressed the desire to meet "people who actually do coding", so when we chatted with Luke and Somir - two coders who set up a school in Bangladesh - at the GlobalGiving AGM, we thought that the boys would love to meet them! Luke and Somir founded the charity Computers Are Free For Everyone in Dhaka. They were so kind as to come to SYLA on their free time, to present the work they do to the boys and offer them a fantastic coding session. With the presentation of the coding school in Bangladesh, the boys realised how useful programming skills can be; they can even improve job opportunities for people living in the poorest areas of the world. Our Young Leaders were very impressed by Luke and Somir's achievements; they built a whole school from scratch and have now enough students to create a second one. Moreover, the boys discovered a new platform, Arduino, and were amazed when they saw that they could turn a light on and off through coding.
This session made them even more enthusiastic about the Coding Club, and their progress during the last few weeks have been above all expectations. Timothy, Tola and Amari have celebrated the conclusion of Python II, and are now in a position to scaffold the newer members. They have started to work on HTML modules and this increased experience with new products helps to improve problem solving skills, as well as self-confidence. Our Young Coders are now less dependent on their Club Leader and are perfectly able to work with their peers to develop strategies and ascert what methods work best. We can even notice the positive effect of the Coding Club on the newest members. Mishawn, who joined the Club this term, had very low self esteem; with coding, he discovered a new kind of activity, completely different from sport and literacy sessions, and it was a unique opportunity for him to have a fresh start and learn something from the beginning. He realised he could actually progress very quiclky and became much more confident, which is helping him at school and in his everyday life.
This is the kind of story we are going to multiply now that we have additional equipment and staff to improve the quality of the sessions. We have purshased 13 laptops, and Divanio has started to assist our Leadership Instructor Orrel every Monday, so that more boys can join the club. With you help, we will soon reach our goal: enable 50 South London boys to learn programming!
Thank you so much for your support so far. As you can see, you are contributing to a life-changing project for many children. You can be as proud as our Young Leaders!
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