اردو
  • Young Saudi woman donates laptop to ‘blackboard Microsoft’ Ghanaian teacher

    Ghanaian school teacher Richard Akoto, using only a blackboard and chalk to provide his students with a detailed illustration of Microsoft Word. (Supplied) Ghanaian school teacher Richard Akoto, using only a blackboard and chalk to provide his students with a detailed illustration of Microsoft Word.

    A young Saudi woman donated a laptop to a remote school in Ghana after a photo of a Ghanaian school teacher- called Owura Kwadwo, better known as Richard Appiah Akoto- using only a blackboard and chalk to provide his students with a detailed illustration of Microsoft Word spread on social media.

    Amira al-Harthi, who is pursuing her PhD studies at Leeds University in the UK, sent him a laptop “as a small gift to him and his students’ after reading about the teacher’s equipment shortage.”

    “I always understand from the teachings of Islam that useful knowledge is crucial for the benefit of the self and humanity,” PhD statistics student Amirah aL-Harthi said.

    She said she came across the picture on Twitter and was shocked and inspired by the teacher’s creativity and his student’s determination to learn about the program without the use of a computer.

    “I realized that these feelings were not enough and I had to put them into action. I thought about the potential that these students have, and how, given the opportunity, they could be scientists and geniuses who may change the world someday,” al-Harthi said.

    The Saudi student said that when she first decided to send the laptop, she could not find the address of the school. With the help of another Saudi student, Naif Harbi, she was able to track down the school’s location.

    Harbi was one of the first to start a campaign urging others to donate laptops and school supplies, to this school.

    The school teacher whose picture went viral on social media, said “I’ve drawn monitors, system units, keyboards, a mouse, a formatting toolbar, a drawing toolbar, and so on. The students were okay with that. They are used to me doing everything on the board for them.”

    Akoto expressed his gratitude through his personal Facebook account which showed pictures of the students holding the donated laptop. He added that the device will be put to good use to teach the children basic computer skills.