Recently, Raspberry Pi launched a new short film series highlighting inspiring stories of young makers in the community who took advantage of free resources from Raspberry Pi to make a difference in the world. 

The mission of Raspberry Pi is: “To put the power of computing and digital making into the hands of people all over the world.” In order to achieve this goal, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has spearheaded a variety of educational initiatives – many of which are offered 100% for free – in order to motivate and empower young people to learn and create with digital tech.

Though you may have already been familiar with Raspberry Pi’s mission in an abstract way, it’s always great to see real people living up to this ideal and sharing their stories. These stimulating stories are what the new film series aims to capture.

The first film showcases the tech learning journey of a brother and sister in London: Eesa and Zaahra. 

Get to Know This Enthusiastic Raspberry Pi Brother Sister Duo

Eesa (currently age 8) and Zaahra (currently age 12) are not only family, they’re a coding team who have been regularly attending their local Code Club, which is part of a global network of free coding clubs for students. The Code Club matches enthusiastic volunteers with free resources and support to offer coding lessons at local schools and community centers.

Eesa and Zaahra found they enjoying working together to solve real world problems they encounter in their everyday home life. For example, their grandparents speak Sylheti, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Bangladesh. In order to help their extended family to communicate better, Eesa and Zaahra created a language learning app they call “Easy Sylheti” (a project that earned recognition as a favorite project in the Coolest Projects 2020 event).

With this app, Esa and Zaahra developed a fun and easy way for people to start to learn and speak Sylheti. This initiative received a lot of support from the Sylheti community as there are not yet many tech tools available to support young and future generations to learn about this cultural heritage.

Best of all, Eesa and Zaahra’s work on this project not only helped enhanced their language learning and cultural appreciate, it also helped them develop skills and confidence as tech developers and community leaders. 

For example, Zaahra says that the experience of building the app and getting chosen as a favorite by Coolest Project special judge Eben Upton helped her realize that she is capable of more than she had thought. With this new confidence, Zaahra is continuing to help others as a young leader in her local community. For example, she is also now a youth member on the Newham Youth Empowerment Fund Panel.

This story is just one example of the power of Raspberry Pi’s educational programming and how it can make a real difference for a family and a community.

How Will You Help Make the Raspberry Pi Community Shine?

Be sure to check out Zaahra and Eesa’s coding story at: https://youtu.be/d_nCVvpp1NE

If you feel inspired, please like, share, and spread the story to your own network on social media. Hopefully, more young people will see what’s possible and be inspired to go on their own journey to grow and develop through the process of learning computing and digital making.

Do you or someone you know have their own inspiring story of growing by engaging with Raspberry Pi programs? Maybe someday your story can be featured in a short film too. If you have your own inspirational story to share, please do let us know here at Vilros. We love seeing the impact that technology can have on the world, especially on young students!

And if you want to find out more celebratory stories and information on free resources from Raspberry Pi and Arduino, be sure to check out more of our content here on our Vilros blog!