When I arrived in the United States, I was blown away with how many learning resources were available to the students. In Africa, my entire school felt lucky if we had ONE textbook that the teachers could share.

 

      In the US, my first day in class at Lincoln-West, I was given 2 textbooks in my Math class, one to use in class and the other to use at home. At Lakewood High School, Tri-C and Denison University it was not different. I had all the learning resources I needed to succeed.

 

     The Torrens Learning Center was started thanks to the grant from the Davis Peace Projects, Denison University, Lakewood High School and so many special individuals. Knowing that many students from Kirotshe will never have the golden opportunity I had to study in the United States, I wanted to see a learning center, a library full of educational materials including books, computers and many technological equipment in my village to help improve the educational standard and lead to a better educated community.

 

     The Torrens Learning Center was officially opened in January of 2013 and has served many students to this point. Most notably, all the secondary level students had to take a week to travel to Goma where they would type their final papers. This was very stressful to the students and their parents as the trip was expensive for the average family.

 

     Last year, all the students were able to type their papers in the Torrens Learning Center. They saved money and for the first time, typed their papers instead of paying someone to do it for them.

 

     I lived in Africa for almost 16 years and never saw a computer. The Torrens Learning Center is changing lives and going beyond even that by giving access to computers for the students of Kirotshe.

 

     Something we never thought possible!