Osman is a young man who believes education provides a voice for the voiceless. We first met him at our first Refugee Code Academy event in Phoenix, Arizona. We connected with all of our students, but Osman sought us out. He had this light about him, humble brilliance, and we connected with him. After basketball games, coffee, and Phoenix drives, and showing him and his friends what society is like in Arizona he opened up to us. He told us his deep desire for higher education. We started seeking higher options to get him enrolled in community college, and we ran into wall after wall. When then asked ourselves why isn't there education in the camps? We researched this and what we found baffled us. We made it our mission to bring higher education to the refugees who are forgotten.
“A refugee is not who you are, it is what you are, it should only be temporary.
We deserve an education, we deserve a voice.”
- Osman
The greatest humanitarian crisis in our lifetime
There is an abundance of higher education content being delivered both online and offline, but only 1% of refugees attend university compared with 34% globally . This is unacceptable, and we decided to provide innovative approaches to deliver this education alongside UNHCR.
We decided to go into the third largest refugee camp in the world to set up a coding academy. The Nyarugusu refugee camp holds over 300,000 refugees that many of us have never heard of. Protracted refugee situations are common, refugees can find themselves living in a camp for up to 20 years. We believe providing technical education in refugee camps is pivotal for both the resettled economy and refugee state economy for decades to come.
We started Refugee Code Academy in Phoenix Arizona at the height of the refugee crisis. Our Co-Founder, Omron, had just traveled through East Africa landing in Italy in France for a European Innovation Academy. He saw the plight of African refugees, and after returning home in Phoenix he saw that same issue growing. Soon we launched our own event locally, which brought international attention and were invited to work in World Humanitarian's Hack for Humanity.
After The World Humanitarian Summit, we saw first hand how the solutions to the refugee crisis are elusive, and that integration and employment for refugees remains difficult. This inspired us to take one step further in our mission to provide hope to refugees in the form of a tangible skill set.
Now
We recently teamed up with on the ground partners to set up the higher education platform refugees in East Africa. We need help in rolling out this platform, and distributing computer programming for higher education to give refugees skills they can use to create a better future.
You help build the solution!
We are raising $5,000, and this is how you can help reach our goal!
Support:
- $25 - Join our tribe of global innovators
- $50 - Team skype where we share inside our adventure
- $100 - Give one student the gift of coding education
- $250 - Sponsor one laptop in our computer lab
- $500 - Sponsor two laptops in our computer lab!
- $1000 - Sponsor our VR Video!
- $3600 - Sponsor our computer lab!
Share:
You are a key part as we launch our project! Where we will set up on-site class rooms, giving those who may never have access to higher education in their lives an option.
Our focus
i. Education: Through our partnerships with online coding schools, and on the ground educators, we are able to provide world-class coding education that is focused on African coder development.
ii. Remote Jobs: Through partnerships with technology companies we are able to provide projects that can be done remotely and make cash or money payments.
iii. Computer Lab Development: Through our partnerships we would develop a mobile, durable & sustainable computer lab funded by our organization (with help from our awesome supporters like you!)
Transparency
We need $1,400 for logistical expenses: permits , transportation, food, accommodation etc. And $3,600 for the computer labs sent directly to our refugee camp.
Your donation will help build a coding lab to give access to computer programming education. We are providing additional value by developing relationships with international tech companies.
The Best Perk
We are bisas, but everyone who donates to our campaign will get a personal video in VR of what it is like to be one of our coders in Africa. 
“By educating tomorrow’s leaders, we are giving refugees the intellectual tools to shape the future”
Help us change this community through coding, and compassion. Let’s not ignore the biggest humanitarian crisis of our era. Support a refugee today!
Meet our Team
This is not our first international. We are a team of global citizens utilizing our resources and connections to work together to bring together share the voice of the voiceless. Collectively our work has been highlighted on TechCrunch, Unicef, World Humanitarian Summit, ASU, Tech for Good, MD+DI, Demo Africa, and others. If you have any questions we are happy to share our experiences, and also learn from our community.
