Crossing the Digital Divide: Madina's story

Disconnected from their new life 

Madina migrated to the UK a couple of years ago with her husband and children. Living in a housing estate in London, they didn’t have suitable devices for the children to do their homework or access educational resources.

Madina’s husband is studying for a PhD so heavily relies on the household’s sole device to work towards completing his qualification. Lacking a device for them, the children used their dad’s computer to use the internet for either entertainment or learning. This led to additional pressure on the family with pre-existing financial and academic stress.

Finding digital support

After struggling with these pressures, Madina began to attend sessions at RJ4All, an institute based in London aiming to advance equality and community cohesion through restorative justice values. 

In December 2023, Madina received a refurbished tablet paired with data from the National Device Bank. 

Becoming digitally included

Thanks to the refurbished device, free data, and digital skills support, Madina’s children have improved their language and digital skills as non-Native English speakers.

Madina tells us her family:

“…are improving and they have been using the tablet a lot … it’s been very useful for accessing educational resources, including maths games.”

Not only benefiting her children, Madina herself is attending digital drop-ins at RJ4All every week. Building her skills, she’s finding help with her CV, finding her children educational games to play, and all learning to safely navigate the internet together.