CNN Hero, Nelly Cheboi gifted free holiday

ELIZABETH NGIGI Lifestyle, Entertainment Journalist

12 December 2022

• Kenyans are still celebrating the 2022 CNN Hero, Nelly Cheboi.

• Expeditions Maasai Safaris gifts her and mum with a free holiday.

Kenyans are still celebrating the 2022 CNN Hero, Nelly Cheboi. Nelly was named the CNN Hero of the Year for creating computer labs for Kenyan children.

Cheboi had said that she quit her software engineering job in 2019. She was selected by online voters as among this year’s Top 10 CNN heroes.

According to CNN, Cheboi will receive $100,000 (Sh12.3 million) to expand her work as a CNN Hero of the Year.

She will also be named an Elevate Prize winner, which comes with a $300,000 grant and additional support worth $200,000 for her nonprofit.

While receiving her award, Nelly took to the stage with her mother whom she honoured in an emotional moment.

The two hugged and cried.

Karema, the Expeditions Maasai Safaris CEO while announcing the holiday gift on his Facebook page said the gift for Nelly was due to the many years she has been supporting digital literacy among our Kenyan youths.

"We are extremely proud of you. As you put it, your mum has been your biggest inspiration and played a big role in making you the hero we are celebrating today. As an inspiration to other young people, we also want to step in and help you say Asante Mzazi with this token of a free holiday."

In a recent interview, Nelly thanked her mum for educating her. She recalled how her mom used to work hard to educate her daughters since she did not want them to be married off.

"Schools in Kenya are very expensive and people were telling her ‘you are so lucky you have girls, you don’t have to educate them they can just get married. But she really believed in educating us and worked so hard by the roadside for four decades,” she said observing that her mother can barely read and write.

"I would sing to her my hands are so tiny they cannot work but when I grow up, I will help you and you will rest,” she sings in Kiswahili disclosing that at that time she was only 4-5 years old."

Here are more congratulatory messages from Kenyans;

Allan Namu: What a moment! Congratulations Nelly Cheboi!

anita_soina: CONGRATULATIONS NELLY.. bridging the Tech gap is not an easy job but a noble course and for that we see you, we hear you and we appreciate you!