Repairing Unwanted Laptops for Children in Need

A #NoTimeToWaste project for a sustainable future 

In an interview with Kristi Shumka we learn about his group's charitable sustainability project providing working laptops to children in need

Please describe briefly your work and what is its purpose.

Our work revolves around helping out children in need of the school Trnka located in Dobříš. We are aiming to help through gathering, fixing up and then donating old unwanted laptops with the purpose of enabling children in need to learn valuable skills such as coding which can later in life help them land a job.

Where did your inspiration to choose this particular topic come from?

People involved in the project were originally introduced to the topic thanks to our teacher Patrick Scherer during the Computer systems class, who at the time along with Veronika Douchova decided that it would be a nice opportunity to join one of our class assignments with #NoTimeToWaste.

What would you like to influence with your work?
While I do not want to make a mountain out of something trivial, I do want to emphasise the importance of an opportunity. I hope that through providing such basic materials we can help other people to create opportunities for the betterment of these children’s lives.

What did you learn during your work on the project? What you feel proud of?
Small actions can make a big difference. People can forget sometimes how easy it is to do a good deed, most of the time it turns out that we don’t need to go too far out of our way to make someone’s day better. I truly believe that what these parents and teachers are trying to achieve is admirable and I am glad of having the opportunity to help them achieve their goals.

Anything else you would like to say/share?
The last time I visited Trnka school I was there to help set up the already gathered laptops, and I found it difficult to describe the impact it had to learn that a big part of the repairs to the building were done by the parents and teachers themselves, the very same people who despite their normal day job and finding the time to teach at the school, somehow thought that it wasn’t enough and had to pick up the handy work as well.

Looking back at that moment I think all I said was “Oh, nice”, while eating some of the pizza they got us as a thanks for helping them set up (the pizza just helped cement the fact that they’re amazing people btw). I didn’t realize just how strong these people are, a type of strength which inspires, it is these kinds of individuals ready to give back so much to the community that entice society into moving forward

I only wish that those children can have the opportunity to become just as inspiring individuals as the very same people that are trying to help them, if not even more.