"When I was a kid growing up in Pakistan, I was lucky enough to go to school because my family could afford it. But not everyone is born with that luck. There was a boy named Jamshaid who would go around our neighborhood every day cleaning houses. We were both 8 years old, born in the same place, but our lives were completely different. While I was in school learning to read and write, he was sweeping floors to survive.

Jamshaid desperately wanted to learn. He knew education was the way out of the cycle of poverty he was trapped in. He’d ask me to teach him the ABCs, singing them to himself without really understanding what they meant. He’d ask me about school—what they teach us, how many students there are, what classrooms look like. Things I took for granted made his eyes light up.

Sadly, this is a reality for many children in underdeveloped countries. Why are some people born with opportunities while others aren’t, through no fault of their own? If you’re someone who is born with those opportunities, doesn’t that mean you have an obligation to help those who aren’t? This injustice has stayed with me ever since.

This is the passion that fuels all of us at LeARnLab. Using technology to change this, to create something that gives every kid a chance to learn, no matter where they’re starting from. Because EDUCATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT."

~ Shawn,
Lead Nerd of LeARnLab