Hackers For Charity Projects
Education and Training
As hackers, we believe that knowledge is power, and one of the best ways to empower those in need is to provide free educational resources and distinct learning paths.
We have worked for nearly a decade with several trusted partners to produce educational solutions that allow anyone, regardless of age, skill or internet connectivity access to quality job skill and technical resources.
These projects include offline education initiatives, security awareness training, computer training classrooms and centers, and STEAM and Maker Training Initiatives.
Read more about the resources we have used, the organizations we have worked with in this space, or get involved by joining our community.
Disaster Response and Relief
Hackers have donated their skills and resources to disaster relief for decades, often jumping in well before larger organizations can mobilize. We are agile, natural problem solvers with high-tech skills in many areas of technology well-suited to disaster response.
As we’ve organized, we’ve learned a thing or two about what works in disaster response and relief scenarios.
Read more about the resources we have used, the organizations we have worked with in this space, or get involved by joining our community.
Community Service
“Hacker” is not synonymous with “criminal”. The overwhelming majority of us are security professionals securing the resources you depend on every day. We are active members of our local communities and once word gets out that we are “computer people” we help our neighbors with our technical expertise as we troubleshoot and repair their tech gear and network setups.
As individuals, we frequently serve our communities in small ways, but as a group, we engage in community service on a larger scale.
We have performed community service projects worldwide. To get involved or learn more, join our community.
Leather Program
Our leather program started as a simple idea to provide job skills to Ugandans that had lost everything in a local village fire. Thanks to the support of the hacker community, we raised enough money to provide food for the victims and rebuild their homes. As donations continued to come in, we realized that our rebuild hadn’t helped long-term since many of the victims didn’t have jobs or skills.
Johnny and Jen used remaining donation money to purchase tools and equipment and they learned leather crafting using materials from a local tannery that had been exporting its leather. Eventually they learned enough to begin teaching and the program grew from there. The program is still in operation today. Read more about our program here.
Our Stories
Derbycon 6.0 “Recharge”.. the evolution of our community?
What an amazing week at Derbycon 6.0 “Recharge”! I wasn’t jet lagged. This was a first. I went from a thirty-hours plus travel time from Uganda, down to two hours [...]
US-bound: An open letter to Offensive Security
As I’m working through this last week in Uganda for a while, I’ve been very introspective, thinking an awful lot about where we’ve been, what we’ve accomplished and how far [...]
The Long Journey to the US!
Big announcement for the Long family! We are moving back to the US for a while. While it’s typical for most ex-pats / missionaries to schedule home visits on a [...]
The birth of the “Jinja Robotics” team at the HFC Uganda hackerspace!
We met with the robotics students from Jinja SS at Hackerspace for the first time on Monday night. After a quick orientation where we gave a tour of the facility [...]
Two new brilliant “Street kids” taking free training
Kirundi Ibrahim Katibo is 15 years old. After his father was “Driven mad” after an unidentified disease, Ibrahim was left with his mother who is jobless. He was later taken [...]
“Skills for the survivors”: Rose Mary Kobusingye
A great story about a young woman "helped up" from awful, unforgiving circumstances.