CNN 2022 hero Nelly Cheboi grew up in poverty

Nelly Cheboi is the 2022 CNN Hero of the Year.

She grew up in Mogotio, Baringo and studied Computer Science and Applied Math at Augustana College (2012).

According to CNN, Cheboi grew up in poverty in rural Kenya. She watched her single mother, who she said had only completed the fifth grade, work tirelessly so that Cheboi and her three sisters could attend school.

From an early age, Cheboi realised that her family, along with others like hers in their village, was stuck in a cycle that left them little hope.

“She was working hard, and I was still going to bed hungry. I was still sent home for tuition. I was still living in a house that was flooding,” CNN wrote.

She said she knew from the onset that she needed to do something to prevent poverty from taking over.

“Looking at the poverty in the household, looking at the community and suffering, it just became so clear that I needed to do something,” she said.

In 2019, Cheboi quit a lucrative software engineering job in Chicago to create computer labs for Kenyan schoolchildren.

She is is a Co-founder of TechLit Africa, a nonprofit organisation that has provided thousands of students across rural Kenya with access to donated, upcycled computers and the chance at a brighter future.

The first school she built in Kenya is called Zawadi and has so far built 10 computer labs in rural Kenya.

She was listed in the Forbes 30 under 30 list in April 2022.

Cheboi will also be named an Elevate Prize winner, which comes with a $300,000 (Sh36.9 million) grant and additional support worth $200,000 for her non-profit.

After she started the programmes, she said she feels happy that small kids know how to do things that she learnt a few years ago.

“I feel so accomplished seeing kids that are 7 years old touch-typing, knowing that I just learned how to touch-type less than five years ago,” she said.

Cheboi said the organisation currently serves 10 schools, and by early next year, she hopes to be partnered with 100 more.