North East ISD has donated 66 used AlphaSmart laptops to benefit children in Kenya through the AlphaSmarts for Africa national campaign. The district traded in these older units for a discount on new equipment, knowing that the battery-operated computers would continue to benefit children more than 8,000 miles away.

An AlphaSmart is a durable, portable keyboard. NEISD uses them to support keyboarding, word processing, writing and vocabulary activities with elementary students. Newer AlphaSmart models purchased with the trade-in discount will also be used at the district’s secondary schools.

AlphaSmarts for Africa has focused on the delays in getting low-cost computers to children in underdeveloped countries. Many children in Kenya have not used a computer and can only learn about technology through textbooks. Because part of the country cannot rely on electric power, the district’s donation will be especially helpful since the laptops operate on AA batteries.

Before the children receive their laptop, new batteries and updated software will be installed, plus any repairs will be made, if necessary. The laptops will make their way to the AlphaSmarts for Africa headquarters in Wisconsin, then go through the port of Mombasa to Garissa, Kenya, where the Generation for Change and Growth and other Kenyan aid organizations will distribute them to schools in the region.

In just three months, AlphaSmarts for Africa has collected more than 3,700 laptops to send to Kenya.