Willy Mwangi: Mukamaka Community resource centre
Willy Mwangi, a 16 years boy old finished class 8 at Muslim Primary School in Kawangware, a slum near Nairobi where Mukamaka Resource Centre is housed. After getting 119 points in his class eight exams, Willy decided to join Kivuli Centre as a trainee mechanic. He lives with his parents and a younger brother near the school. The centre was opened in the school when Willy was in class seven and he started using it immediately. During his free time the trainers in the centre would teach him how to operate a computer. At other times he would watch movies on television with other pupils. Now Willy can operate a computer very well. He can type, print and download items from the internet. He pointed out that though the internet has not yet been installed in the centre, the skills, knowledge and the familiarity he got in the centre helped him a lot to start browsing the internet because as he says: When I first came here, I did not even know how to catch a mouse. This centre gave me the confidence to walk into the cyber and open a computer” He revealed that the skills he has acquired in the centre include computer use, drugs and diseases like HIV/AIDS. He confessed that: “ The knowledge I got here has helped me in many ways about life outside school and how to avoid problems like drugs and diseases like HIV/AIDS. I have educated my brother and my father. I have even made my father stop smoking. I put pressure on him using the information I learnt about the dangers posed by smoking. We also asked questions on how to handle parents with AIDS’.

