ABOUT ME
My name is Eden and I am a high schooler in Geneva, Switzerland. I initiated this project to have a direct impact for school children in remote areas of developing countries to improve their access to clean drinking water, initiate their digital literacy learning, and enhance their access to sport.
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Football is my passion and I have played since the age of 3. I currently play on the U19 team of my local football club and also for my school. I've also always loved technology. In 2018, for my school Passion Project, I created a website with notes and resources aimed to help students that were looking for extra help in the sciences. I also helped tutor younger students in the Middle School. In 2019, ​I completed a research project on global digital literacy which underlined for me how important digital literacy is for students in the 21st century. I am now researching a disease that effects children which is linked to poor quality drinking water from a chemistry perspective. I began to see a lot of my interests were coming together and focused on helping younger students, technology and the environment, and wanting to expand on what I had already done in these projects, I decided to create a longer-lasting project.
I decided to collect used football shoes and used devices to give to schools without access to technology. Through my former primary school teacher, Martine Coppens, who started her own school in Sierra Leone and with whom I had been involved in fundraising events, we came up with a plan to equip one of her classrooms for technology-based learning. As well, my dad, who grew up and worked in Papua New Guinea, put me in touch with a foundation which has connected us with schools there which could use our help. After starting to connect with the schools, I was shocked to learn that the children in these schools still suffer from issues related to unclean drinking water. There are cases every month and some children need to be hospitalised! I realised that computers are useless to children if they are not healthy so we had to expand our mission to include clean drinking water, but using computer learning as an important component of their water solutions. I hope these first recipient schools will be the first of many that we will be able to help.
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I'm joined in the project by friends from other high schools who are just excited to work together for helping these kids focusing on education, environment and sport.
ABOUT REBOOT2KIDS
Reboot2Kids AMBASSADORS
ALEXANDRA EATON
Hi, I’m Alexandra Eaton. I’m currently a student at the International School of Geneva, Campus de Nations. I played football for 9 years and I use the skills I’ve learned through playing on a daily basis. Football teaches us teamwork, perseverance and the value of hard work; all essential skills at any stage in life. At the same time, children really need to have access to safe drinking water in order to be healthy enough to take advantage of things like football and access to modern technology. Let's help create better futures for not only these kids, but also for all of us.
ZOE Dell'OSSO
I'm Zoe, a fellow student and environmentalist. I am the founder of GreenUp, a sustainability social media app for young people. Clean water, health and education are all such important components of sustainability. I look forward to contributing to the mission of Reboot2Kids.
VANYA SAKSENA
Hi, I’m Vanya, a year 12 student at the International School of Geneva, passionate about football and supporting girls in STEM. I believe that all children should have equal access and opportunities in areas such as science and sport, and that a healthy learning environment is the first step to achieving this. I can’t wait to contribute my skills and effort to this initiative, and hope that we can bring long term impactful solutions to these communities.
BEATRICE WALKER
Hi I’m Beatrice. I’m a year 12 student at the Institut International de Lancy and I play football both with my school team and at FC Champel. We are lucky in Switzerland to have an abundance of clean water. I really want to help less fortunate children be able to have access to football, digital literacy and clean water. I am looking forward to contributing to this great initiative and working to benefit the children.
Reboot2Kids ADVISORS
MARTINE COPPENS
My name is Martine Coppens. I am the Founding President of Education For All in Sierra Leone and also a former teacher and coordinator at the International School of Geneva. I lived and worked in DRC, Chad, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Liberia, Ivory Coast, New York and Geneva.
The NGO “Education for All in Sierra Leone” was founded after the Civil War in 2004 to enable the children of rural villages in Masantigie to have access to Primary Education. The school has currently 450 Primary School students and 8 teachers who have been trained by our NGO. We also have a scholarship program for Secondary School Students and organise activities for the women of the villages.
I am thrilled that we will be able to give access to technology to the children of this remote area. It is absolutely essential that in the 2020s, these children can connect and benefit from digital literacy and ICT programs. We need to give them this opportunity to face the future.
Michael Wiegand
My name is Michael Wiegand. I am the Director of Financial Services for the Poor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington. Prior to my joining the Foundation, I held various roles with Standard Chartered Bank and was based for several years in Botswana, Africa covering Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. I have lived in and worked with leading banks in the US, Australia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
I am looking forward to working with the team and hope that my experience in philanthropy and Africa prove helpful to Reboot2Kids.
THANKS TO EXPERTS
We would like to thank the following experts in their fields who have helped us in our research to develop the water projects, guides and resources:
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Yves Bersier, Geneva Drinking Water Lab at Services Industriels de Genève
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Ryan Blythe, Global Learning Advisor, CAWST, Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology
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Ramzi Bouzerda, CEO, Droople SA
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Daniella Bostrom Couffe, Communications Manager, UN Water
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Ali Hijazi, IPCS Limited, Sierra Leone
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Rick Johnston, Technical officer, WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene
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Dr. Sara Marks, Researcher at EAWAG The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Water Supply and Treatment Group
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Claire Moody, Public Health Scientist at Anglian Water Services, UK
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Michael Ropiecki, entrepreneur water installations, Well Done Limited, Sierra Leone
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Dr. Annie Sparrow, Global Health Pediatrician, Professor at Mount Sinai and advisor to the Director General of WHO
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Arthur Vincent, headmaster of Global Outreach School, Masantigie, Sierra Leone