Mahdi’s Journey
Published on 01/08/2024
From illiteracy to digital literacy in 3 years
Quotes from Mahdi, 13
“I’m Mahdi and I work at the Souk in (a refugee) camp. I spend my weekends and holidays at work. On weekdays, I attend an education centre in the morning then I go to work after. I sell clothes for work and I started two years ago to support my family. No one in my family has a good job. My dad isn’t here and my mother, siblings and I live with my uncle…
This is a day in my life: I wake up in the morning, I get dressed and come to the education centre at 10:45am. Then at 3pm, I go back home, eat, change clothes and go to work till 7pm. I come home, eat, study and teach my sister.
I didn’t know anything [about coding] 2 years ago. I really like to play on the computer and create games. My favourite project so far has been building a game on Scratch [a coding platform for kids created by MIT] about a diver cleaning up the ocean. We learned about programming and how to work on a computer.
I’ve created 3 games so far. I’ve learned coding concepts like the variable and now I’m teaching others, my friends in the neighbourhood. I tell them about coding and now, I’m teaching them on a phone. I code outside of my education centre too – we built a “catch” game with my friends.
Before coding class, I didn’t give much thought to things. But the teacher told me, you have to think before doing something, and now my work has improved.
Now I’m building a game and I want to show it to my friends. It’s about a man swimming in the ocean and he has to avoid the sharks and find a treasure.
Mahdi didn’t have an easy start in life. He became a refugee in Lebanon at 3 years old (around 15% of CodeBrave’s students are Syrian refugees). His father left around three years ago and Mahdi became the man of the house at age nine. So to support his family, he started selling clothes at the Souk in a refugee camp in Beirut.
When he turned 10, Mahdi’s dream came true when he started attending an education centre. He went from not knowing how to read, to writing his own code in the space of three years.
From illiteracy to digital literacy
Despite the delay of starting to learn, Mahdi has already realised how important education is. “I was happy to finally start learning. I didn’t know how to read and write but now I do. Everything has changed in my life.” Mahdi is now trying to get his siblings to attend the education centre too. And in the meantime, he tutors his nine year old sister how to read and write English at home after his long days.
Jihan, the programme coordinator at our partner centre told us: “Most parents in this area can’t afford education for their children. A couple of years back, we had a waiting list of 1000+ children and we just couldn’t serve them all. It’s heartbreaking to imagine how many children in this area can’t read or write and what their future prospects look like.”
The same year Mahdi started attending the education centre, CodeBrave set up coding and robotics classes there. He started learning basic digital literacy with his teacher Ahmad before moving to coding, robotics and AI! Mahdi now knows how a phone and computer work and is comfortable using them. He had never heard of coding before but he quickly grew to love it because he loved creating games. Here is Mahdi with his team using a Makey Makey to build a game controller in class!
Building cognitive skills starting age 11
Ahmad, his teacher, told us how proud he is of Mahdi: “Many of our students start learning at age 11 and by that time, children would have already built the bases of cognitive skills. Coding helps them catch up because it allows direct application of these skills. As Mahdi progressed in class, I saw him develop his critical thinking and problem solving and put it to work. I’m really proud of how far along he’s come!”
When we asked Mahdi why coding class is different, he said it’s how his teacher breaks down information so he can understand complex things. Learning to code makes him feel that everyone can learn anything and coding and learning don’t stop when the bell rings at the end of class. Mahdi is sharing his newfound knowledge with friends in his neighbourhood. “They have to know about coding or at least, have to hear about it if they go to school. I teach them what I can on my phone and now, I’m building a digital “catch” game with them on Scratch.”
Next time you see a young man like Mahdi selling clothes at a Souk, think of the untapped potential due to unequal access to education and opportunities and about what you can do about it!
NB: This blog, like all our blogs, has been published with the final review and consent of the student in question (and their parents/guardians).