Young innovators, child prodigies and budding intellectuals in the fields of literature and science came together during the ongoing 13th Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) to host a session of talks and discuss stories of their accomplishments.
The talks were held at the Kids’ Creative Cafe located at Expo Centre Sharjah, and it featured Patrick Njoroge Wachira, a young philanthropist and an author Devi Vaishnavi, who advised their peers to follow their dreams and realise their full potential.
A 12-year-old CEO, Patrick from Kenya, left the young audience stunned with a presentation about his startup, the PNW Innovations Programme, which provides free STEM education to disadvantaged Kenyan children.
As part of his initiative, Patrick is currently working on a Mobile STEM Lab and Marketspace constructed on a bus equipped with drones and robots, learning kits, as well as electronic and mechanical workstations, which will travel around rural Kenya.
He stated, “I want to empower every child of Africa to become an innovator.”
Patrick, an avid robotics enthusiast, said his favourite attraction at SCRF is the Robot Zoo. He further added that he attracts excellent inspiration from the leaders of the UAE for their steps in building up the country.
The line-up of talented young speakers also included Devi, who is an intelligent 12-year-old writer of two books, who talked about her writing journey.
She stated, “I firmly think that reading lays the foundation for writing books. If we develop the habit of reading, we can experience the pleasure of writing.”
“I’m deeply motivated by the words of Toni Morrison, ‘If there is a book you want to read, but it has not been written yet, then you must write it,” further added the young author, who is presently working on 26 more story ideas.
Sharing the motivation behind her debut novel ‘Vampid, The Vampire Virus’, which is based on the events of the Covid-19 pandemic, Devi said, “This book is a token of love to the doctors, nurses, volunteers, and all those whose actions have brought us back to our normal lives.”