Kenyan in race for top CNN honours

A US-based Kenyan teacher has joined CNN’s exclusive club of heroes. The leading television channel ran a documentary, ‘CNN Heroes’, on August 14 featuring Mr Jude Ndambuki’s computer-for-trees work with his Help-Kenya project.

Mr Ndambuki is now close to be nominated for CNN’s top environmental conservation prize and stands a chance of winning the channel’s ‘Defending Planet’ top prize of US$ 200,000 (about Sh16 million). 

Last month, CNN followed Mr Ndambuki to Kenya to complete the documentary, which saw the crew film his Help-Kenya project, which has to date donated 2,000 computers to primary and secondary schools in the country. For every computer received the beneficiaries are expected to plant 50 tree seedlings.

So far donated

This means that for the 2,000 computers that he has so far donated since 2001 there are about 150,000 trees flourishing in various parts of the country.

Donations for this year are expected in the country next month and Mr Ndambuki said this time round beneficiaries will be expected to plant 100 tree seedlings for each computer received.

“The idea of tying the gesture with the planting of trees is to make the young recipients appreciate to give back to the community. I chose conservation of the environment to instil in the students a sense of protecting the same,’’ he said.

He added there is a lot of destruction of trees in various parts of the country and this is bad news for the young generation. It was this initiative that saw Mr Ndambuki’s project being nominated for the race to claim the CNN environmental prize.

His name was among a list of six thousand individuals who were short listed for this year’s Defending Planet prize. Out of the original 6,000 nominees, only 30  are remaining in the race and Kenya’s Ndambuki is in this bracket. This will be whittled down to ten finalists.

“Once in this bracket one is entitled to take home at least US $ 25,000 (about Sh2 million who knows I may be one of the lucky few,” a beaming Mr Ndambuki said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Nation.

It was the Daily Nation, which first broke the story of Mr Ndambuki’s computer for trees project, which has now given him international recognition.

A respected chemistry teacher at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York, Mr Ndambuki says he feels humbled by the achievements

“I did not expect this, honestly I don’t now how I was short listed, it is an honour to me, my students current and former, my friends and my country Kenya,” he said in a telephone interview from New York on Monday.

He added: “Honestly when I started help Kenya project in 2001, I just wanted to help kids back at home; we live in different worlds. What the Americans are throwing in the dustbins is like gold to Kenyan children. I wanted to ensure that our children back at home are not left behind as every one embraces IT.’’

Mr Ndambuki is full of praise for a number of his students who even after leaving high school and joining universities continue to help him collect, repair and ship home to Kenya computers that he receives every year from well wishers.

As CNN was finalising the shooting of the documentary which they aired last week, Mr Ndambuki was not alone. His former students accompanied him home.

Timon Stasko now a student at Cornell University, Cory Stasko (Northern University), Miss Brittany French (St Johns College), Daniel Schloss and Maxnins Thaler (Tafts University), David N. Ndambuki (Albright college) and Alex Paris (University of Pennsylvania) travelled with their former teacher to give him support for the Help-Kenya computer project.

Miss Brittany chose to remain behind as the rest left the country for US. She will be attached at a local secondary school for a year. They visited a number of schools that have benefited from the computers and conducted free computer lessons to enthusiastic students.

Mr Ndambuki was raised by a single mother after he lost his father while in lower primary school.

“It was tough upbringing. I went to school on an empty stomach on most occasions,’’ he said.

He attended Metuma primary school in Ngelani before proceeding to Machakos Boys for his ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels before joining Kenyatta University for a Bachelor of Science degree.

He became a teacher, then principal, at a local school before going to the US to do a Masters degree from Columbia University.