Hunt for the Nightingales

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Goal 10,000+ Laptops

Hunt for the Nightingales is a global hunt for businesses and individuals with the means to help procure 10,000 - 100,000 laptops for vulnerable students in Ukraine whose schools have been bombed, so that they can resume their education. This humanitarian initiative is led by NZ impact consultancy Eco Shepherd, supported by

King's High School (Dunedin, NZ), Vector Global Logistics (UK) and UNESCO (Ukraine).

The Ukraine Device Coalition estimated that the education of 358,000 students was halted due to bombed school facilities or living in conflict-affects regions, and who lack the means to secure devices for remote learning. To date, 240,000 laptops have been secured but there are still 118,000 students without devices. Our base target is to help 10% of the remaining vulnerable students (10,000), but ultimately, we aim to close the gap by securing up to 100,000 laptops, to ensure that every student in Ukraine is able to recommence their education, despite living in a war zone.

The price of a Nightingale Laptop is NZ$900 (US$530).

This price is for a 15" laptop (NEW), 16GB RAM, 256GB, Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 2-year license. The price also includes freight and logistics to Ukraine, plus last mile logistics on the ground, to distribute laptops to the students who need them most.

Go to HUNT FOR THE NIGHTINGALES website

Hunt for the Nightingales - explained

IIn war-torn Ukraine, education has become a lifeline for thousands of students whose schools lie in ruins. For vulnerable teenagers in Kyiv—particularly those from low-income families and orphanages—remote learning is often their only path to a future. Yet, without laptops, even this opportunity slips away. The Ukraine Device Coalition estimates that 328,000 students lack devices, and while global efforts have delivered 240,000 laptops, a critical gap remains. Among them, over 10,000+ teenagers in Kyiv sit in the darkness of their education paused indefinitely.

This is where Hunt for the Nightingales steps in. This initiative is by NZ-based impact consultancy Eco Shepherd, with the project team led by Otago University Business School, Robbie McCaw. Hunt for the Nightingales is supported by the Prefects of King’s High School (Dunedin, New Zealand), UNESCO and former King's old boy, Mr. Van Zanten in Ukraine. The goal is to source and deliver a humanitarian aid package of at least 10,000 15” laptops to Kyiv by the end of October 2025, ensuring that vulnerable students can resume learning early in the new school year.

Hunt for the Nightingales started when former King’s Old Boy & Principal at Kyiv International School, David van Zanten reached out to King’s and Eco Shepherd because he couldn’t stand by as schools were crumbling around him, without doing anything. As an educator, he thought about what could be done for students whose schools had been destroyed and were reliant on devices for their remote education.

We are working closely with the UNESCO team in Ukraine for logistics and liaising with the Ukraine Ministry of Education. UNESCO are a key partner for this initiative to ensure a secure logistics pathway to get our humanitarian aid package of laptops into Ukraine and then operationalise the on-the-ground distribution of the laptops to the 10,000 vulnerable young people around the war-torn city.

HUNT FOR THE NIGHTINGALES website