CNN Hero Nelly Cheboi and Her Mother Meet President Ruto in the US

CNN's 2022 Hero of the Year Award winner Nelly Cheboi and her mother Christina Chebii on Thursday met President Ruto in the US where he is attending a high-level meeting.

The meeting comes days after the software engineer was honored in a ceremony in New York for her work in creating computer labs for Kenyan schoolchildren through her nonprofit TechLit Africa.

Cheboi, 29, shared a photo of her mother and Ruto, describing the moment as “the highlight of her visit to America.” She said the trip to the US was her mother’s maiden flight.

“This has to be the highlight of her visit to America 🇺🇸. SOG Sogome with the president of Kenya,” Cheboi wrote on her Twitter page.

In his speech during the Jamhuri Day celebrations on Monday, Ruto paid a glowing tribute to Cheboi and urged her to continue connecting and inspiring Kenyan children.

Cheboi, who quit a lucrative software engineering job in Chicago in 2019 to create computer labs for Kenyan schoolchildren, was selected by online voters from among this year’s Top 10 CNN Heroes.

As CNN Hero of the Year Award winner, she received a cash prize of $100,000 (Sh12 million) to expand her work. She will also be named an Elevate Prize winner, which comes with a $300,000 (Sh37 million) grant and additional support worth $200,000 (Sh25 million) for her nonprofit.

Through her foundation Techlit Africa, Cheboi recycles old computers and uses them to create technology labs across schools in rural Kenya.

Cheboi received a scholarship in 2012 to study Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at Augustan’s University Illinois. Upon graduation, she worked as a software engineer for New World Van lines and as a full-stack engineer for Kodable, and as a Lead Software Engineer for User Hero.

She was featured in this year’s Forbes’ annual 30 Under 30 list.