cnn
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Nelly Cheboi, who quit a lucrative software engineering job in Chicago in 2019 to create computer labs for Kenyan schoolchildren, is CNN's 2022 Hero of the Year.
Online voters selected her among CNN's Top 10 Heroes this year.
Cheboi's nonprofit, TechLit Africa, has given thousands of students in rural Kenya access to donated recycled computers and the opportunity for a better future.
Cheboi accepted the award with her mother, who she said “worked very hard to raise us.” At the beginning of her acceptance speech, Cheboi and her mother sang a song on stage that, she explained, had a special meaning when she was a child.
As CNN Hero of the Year, Cheboi will receive $100,000 to expand his work. She and the other Top 10 CNN Heroes honored at Sunday's gala receive a $10,000 cash prize and, for the first time, additional grants, organizational training and support from The Elevate Prize Foundation through a new collaboration with CNN Heroes. Nelly will also be named the winner of the Elevate Prize, which comes with a $300,000 grant and $200,000 in additional support for her nonprofit.
Cheboi grew up poor in Mogotio, a rural township in Kenya. “I know the pain of poverty,” said Cheboi, 29. “I never forgot what it was like to have my stomach queasy with hunger at night.”
Cheboi, a hard-working student, received a full scholarship to Augustana College in Illinois in 2012. She began her studies there with almost no experience with computers, writing papers, and difficulty transcribing them on a laptop.
However, everything changed in his junior year, when Cheboi took a programming course required for his mathematics major.
“When I discovered computing, I fell in love with it. I knew this is something I wanted to do as a career and also bring it to my community,” she told CNN.
However, many basic computer skills still required a steep learning curve. Cheboi remembers having to practice typing for six months before he could pass a coding interview. Typing is a skill that is now a core part of the TechLit curriculum.
“I feel very accomplished seeing 7-year-olds typing, knowing that I learned to type less than five years ago,” she said.
Once he began working in the software industry, Cheboi soon realized the extent to which computers were being thrown away as companies updated their technological infrastructure.
“We have children here (in Kenya) – including me, back then – who don't even know what a computer is,” he said.
So in 2018, she began transporting donated computers back to Kenya, in her personal luggage, handling customs duties and taxes herself.
“At one point, I was carrying 44 computers and paid more for luggage than for airfare,” he said.
A year later, he co-founded TechLit Africa with a software engineer colleague after they both quit their jobs. The nonprofit organization accepts computer donations from businesses, universities and individuals.
The hardware is cleaned and reconditioned before being shipped to Kenya. There, it is distributed to partner schools in rural communities, where students ages 4 to 12 receive daily classes and frequent opportunities to learn from professionals, gaining skills that will help enhance their education and better prepare them for future employment.
“We have people who have a specific skill and are just inspiring kids with music production, video production, coding and personal branding,” Cheboi said. “They can go from doing a remote class with NASA on education to music production.”
The organization currently serves 10 schools; Over the next year, Cheboi hopes to partner with 100 more.
“My hope is that when the first TechLit kids graduate high school, they can get a job online because they will know how to code, they will know how to do graphic design, they will know how to do marketing,” Cheboi said. “The world is your oyster when you are educated. By giving them the resources, by giving them these skills, we are opening the world to them.”
Watch the moment CNN's Hero of the Year is announced
An inspiring night of heroism and defense
CNN's Anderson Cooper and ABC's Kelly Ripa co-hosted the 16th annual “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,” which featured more than a dozen celebrity presenters.
“We are deeply honored to be here,” said actress and singer Sofia Carson, who performed a song with award-winning songwriter Diane Warren at the event. “Diane wrote this incredible anthem 'Applause' for those who lead, survive and fight and tonight we dedicate this song and performance to our heroes.”
Actor Aubrey Plaza introduced CNN hero Aidan Reilly, who launched his nonprofit while home from college during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“From his pandemic couch, Aidan and his friends co-founded the Farmlink Project,” Plaza said. The nonprofit connects excess food from farms across the United States—food that would otherwise go to waste—with those who need it. “In just two years, he… has moved more than 70 million pounds,” Plaza added.
Debra Vines, whose nonprofit The Answer Inc. supports families affected by autism in underserved communities in Chicago, was honored by actress Holly Robinson Peete, a “fellow autism mother.”
Vines says his group has provided programming and guidance to more than 4,000 families. “Join me and be a servant of change today,” Vines said as she accepted his award.
And Emmy Award-winning actor Justin Theroux brought his rescue dog, Kuma, onstage to honor Carie Broecker and her nonprofit, Peace of Mind Dog Rescue.
Two teenagers who make a difference in their communities were also honored as Young Wonders 2022:
Ruby Chitsey, a 15-year-old from Harrison, Arkansas, started “Three Wishes for Ruby's Residents,” which donates personal items to nursing home residents who otherwise couldn't afford them.
Sri Nihal Tammana, a 13-year-old from Edison, New Jersey, started “Recycle My Battery,” which keeps used batteries out of the ecosystem through a network of collection bins.
The show also honored two Georgia election workers, Shaye Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, whose lives were changed after false accusations that they had been involved in voter fraud spread on social media.
CNN has partnered with GoFundMe to allow donations to this year's top 10 honorees. GoFundMe is the world's largest fundraising platform that allows people and charities to give and receive help. Supporters can donate online to the nonprofit organizations of CNN's Top 10 Heroes directly from CNNHeroes.com. Subaru will match all donations up to $50,000 for each of this year's honorees through January 3, 2023.
Do you know someone in your community who is doing amazing things to make the world a better place? Keep an eye on CNN.com/heroes and consider nominating that person as a CNN Hero in 2023. You can also read more about many of the past 350 CNN Heroes who have helped more than 55 million people in all 50 US states USA and in more than 110 countries around the world.
