Aylesbury good Samaritans provide laptops to help Children learning from home

Stephen Woodhall from Aylesbury has decided to lend his hand to help children continue their learning during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Prem Gyani who set up the initiativePrem Gyani who set up the initiative
Prem Gyani who set up the initiative

He has got involved with the Tuk Tuk project, which aims to provide underprivileged children with a laptop so they can learn remotely while the UK is in lockdown.

He said: "After being stuck at home doing my latest stint of Furlough, not being able to go to work.

"I was watching the news one morning and on came an interview with a rather colourful chap who had a TukTuk behind him.

"This was Prem, and after listening to what wonderful work he was doing in Peterborough, and being an I.T engineer myself. I was very interested in helping out, and possibly doing a similar project here in Aylesbury, as the process was something I could very easily do.

"I was thinking about all those old laptops sitting in peoples cupboards or lofts etc. that could be converted and given to school children.

"So I got in touch with Prem, and now after a zoom meeting, there is a group of us across the UK involved in this project, all converting donated laptops and getting them to children."

Stephen has received 11 donor laptops from kind local people in Aylesbury Vale.

He has converted and given out 8 to local families who have children in need.

He added: "It's a great start, but I have six families locally who are really in need of laptops. If anybody has one going spare, we really need more donations to convert and then pass on.'

Stephen has the following message to anybody who is considering a donation.

He said: "Parents are out there struggling to homeschool their children using mobile phones, as they don't have access too, or can't afford a computer.

"Please just have a quick think, and a look around to see if you have an old laptop gathering dust somewhere.

"If so, that old laptop could really benefit a child's education during these terrible times."

The Bucks Herald spoke to Prem Gyani, who set up the initiative.

He explained why.

"After Boris Johnson announced the lockdown on Jan 6th, I was chatting to a neighbour and she explained to me what a nightmare homeschooling was for her primary school children who suddenly needed a laptop each.

"I had the skills to help.

"Google has made available some software that could convert old laptops into fully capable Chromebooks and it was the right thing to do.

"I saw some local success and suddenly was picked up by the national media and the idea exploded.

"People like Stephen asked if they could volunteer to do that same from all over the country.

"I was blown away with their generosity."

62-year-old father Prem Gyani who is the governor of a school uses his tuk-tuk to deliver refurbished laptops to school children who need them.

The married dad-of-two worked in corporate IT for 32 years in London before moving to the suburbs and starting work at a school.

He said that he could not have anticipated how the initiative has grown so quickly.

Prem continued: "I originally thought that I would be converting a handful of laptops for the local schools.

"I never thought that 5 weeks on, we had been donated 172 laptops and given over 150 to kids for their schooling.

"I have no idea where this could go. When kids go back to school there will always be a need from some parents for computers for their kids.

"Getting donated laptops to help bridge the digital divide across different demographics of the populations seems like a good thing to do.

"Getting individuals and companies to actively recycle old computers seems the good thing to do.

"Teaching kids that technology is not a throw away commodity and to 'pay it forward' is a good thing to do.

"If I had a goal it would be to enable individuals across the country to change the life chances of kids within parts of their hyper-local communities by showing them how easy it is to help.

"For me, my goal is to slow down, return Tara to my Wedding Car Experience business and make people smile.

"'Il'l continue to support and grow #Laptops4Kids but in a less manic way.

"We still need the public to get involved. If you have a laptop you can donate please email me!"

He’d also like IT savvy people to replicate the idea across the country. Individuals or companies with laptops to donate locally should get in touch with Stephen here:

Tel. 07920407518