This CNN Hero upcycles old computers to open new worlds for young Kenyans
by Aisha Mohammed, GIS
As part of this new series, CNN Heroes shares stories of ordinary citizens leveraging their ingenuity to make a difference.
My name is Amaka and I live in Mbagua in the Central Region of Kenya. When I was 6 years old my father bought three-wheeled kerosene-driven tractors and was able to make a living as an agricultural worker. But in 1996, when I was eight years old, his small plot of land was covered with soil. That’s when he found himself the sole owner of a 1,000-acre piece of land.
The first thing Amaka did was to transform the land into agricultural fields and vegetable gardens in a matter of months. The second thing he did was to plant mango trees. The third thing he did was to make a mobile clinic from the back of a four-wheeled truck that he rented out.
“When we first went out there, the land looked empty,” he says. “But after six months, we began to see fruits and crops grow.”
The mango tree Amaka planted to make the mobile clinic. (Amaka Mohammed )
My father’s small plot of land
Amaka wasn’t the only one who began to make a living out of the land he had inherited. Since he was able to turn his land into beautiful agricultural crops, other people began to show interest in purchasing it.
It’s the kind of story you’d expect to hear in the pages of the New York Times. But Amaka’s story is a rare one. It’s the kind of story you’d expect to hear in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post or the New York Times. The kind of story that people want to share in the pages of a CNN Hero.
Amaka’s story is a rare one. It’s