The Quiet Heroes: How Our Tech Team Keeps Learning Alive in Remote Communities

Our tech team shares troubleshooting skills during a hands-on workshop, ensuring the digital tools in our partner schools remain protected and active.

When a child in a rural primary school picks up a tablet and successfully interacts with a learning session, it feels like magic. But that magic requires a lot of hard work behind the scenes. Our technology team works quietly in the background, traveling long hours and navigating difficult roads to reach some of the most remote communities in Malawi. Their goal is simple: to make sure that technology never fails a child, and that no learner is left behind.

Empowering Communities to Stay Connected

True sustainability means passing on skills. Because our tech team cannot be in every classroom at once, they have been conducting hands-on maintenance training for local EdTech facilitators. By teaching facilitators how to handle minor tablet and headset repairs, school sessions can continue without interruption. When a technical glitch happens, it is no longer a roadblock, the trained facilitators use their skills to solve it immediately, assisting our programs to continue without hiccups.

To celebrate their dedication, we sat down with our IT team to highlight their experiences, proudest moments, and messages to the communities they serve.

Happy Matekenya – IT Technician

Happy Matekenya – IT Technician during a training session in Mzimba South

Happy is deeply inspired by the "uh-huh" moments when visiting schools for repairs, noting that being an IT technician requires taking innovative, unique steps to resolve new problems on the get-go. His proudest moment came at a school where nearly 90% of the tablets had severe audio issues that forced learners to hold the devices right up to their ears; after he repaired them, the entire classroom went quiet and focused, bringing a fulfilling feeling that real education was taking place. To our partner communities,

Happy emphasizes that they must serve as the first line of defense against theft, urging local members to show a bold interest in joining school repair teams because while teachers may get transferred, the community will never be separated from its school.

Fanuel Nyirenda – IT Lead

Fanuel inspecting the condition of tablets in the field.

Fanuel finds his daily drive in the supportive environment around him, sharing that he is constantly inspired by the opportunities Ulalo provides to grow professionally while contributing to a grander mission.

His proudest milestone was guiding his team through a high-stakes software upgrade across Mzimba, Mzuzu, Likoma, and Karonga that carried a high risk of system downtime, which they completed perfectly through careful road-mapping and open communication that ultimately built his team's professional confidence.

Fanuel shares a message of deep gratitude for the resilience and trust of our partner communities, promising that Ulalo remains dedicated to using technology and innovation to make local lives better through efficient and meaningful solutions

Edison Sinjirani – IT Technician

Edson presenting his findings during a stakeholder meeting in Karonga.

Edison highlights that Ulalo feels like one large family where everyone is approachable, finding great motivation in the teamwork and the direct training opportunities from management that have helped improve both his professional and personal life.

He vividly remembers his proudest moment at a school where a remote update error unexpectedly switched all tablet languages to Swahili and blocked the children's learning; he manually restored the proper updates on-site, instantly bringing the screens back to Chichewa as the learners visibly celebrated the direct positive impact of his work.

Edison closes with a message of respect for the strength of community members, applauding their active role in monitoring schools, supporting learning environments, and providing local security to ensure continued success for the youth of Malawi

IT team working with one of the many Edutech facilitators in Likoma.

Illuminating the Unseen Efforts

It is easy to celebrate the technology we can see, but we must also celebrate the hands that maintain it. By traveling the distance, solving unexpected problems, and sharing their technical knowledge with local communities, Fanuel, Happy, Edison, and the entire tech team are building the foundation for sustainable education. Thank you to our tech team for your tireless work in ensuring the learning never stops!