March 2020 - Friends of Ngong Road

Dear friends,

Greetings from a world that has changed. We are all coping as we work to understand what COVID-19 will mean for people across the globe and what the downstream economic harm is likely to be. Like most people, I don’t yet understand the long-term implications however I have already deeply internalized an important lesson: We are all in this together! Viruses do not respect borders, income levels, or political preferences. We all have to pull together to overcome this threat beyond 2020.

In that spirit, Friends of Ngong Road board members Amy Johnson, Keith Kale, and I have been working long days for the past ten days to establish a Crisis Management process for Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF) and Karibu Loo (KLL) in Kenya and for Friends of Ngong Road (FoNR) in the United States. Teams meet daily in Kenya while the U.S. and global teams confer weekly. We have taken steps to reduce expenses in both organizations with the goal of weathering this storm.

There are several important staff changes you should know about…

Lacey Kraft joined Friends of Ngong Road as our first full-time paid employee in February 2016. Her assignment was to build upon the work volunteers did during Friends of Ngong Road’s first ten years and formalize the organization’s development program. Lacey tackled this assignment with great energy and made significant contributions during her four years with the organization. Sadly, she has decided to leave for another non-profit in the Twin Cities. We are sorry to see Lacey go and wish her all the best in the future.
We have made the difficult decision to eliminate the position of Program Director spanning both NRCF and KLL in Kenya. Maureen Mulievi is the current incumbent in that role and has served the organization well. We are sorry to say goodbye to Maureen and wish her the best in her future endeavors. In this environment, we believe the organization must streamline leadership so we are as effective and efficient as possible.
Kelvin Thuku will assume leadership of NRCF while Emmanuel Mukasa (business development) and Steve Muendo (operations) will co-lead Karibu Loo through the crisis. This move will spearhead the 2020 plans

In all cases, Kenyan staff members will report to Crisis Management teams comprised of people in both countries.

In Kenya, 2020, the immediate and significant need is for food aid. Families in our community faced great food insecurity before this crisis hit. Today, they are also told to stay home and work remotely – except when their work is casual labor such as cleaning homes, doing laundry, or construction, remote work is not possible. And these families don’t eat if they don’t work. We are increasing food aid and appreciate your support in helping us feed these children and their families. For $35/week we can provide enough basics so a family of four can eat at least one meal daily – with 255 families with children in our program, the unplanned-for cost could be as high as $9,000 per month.

If you would like to help us provide food aid in Kenya, please click here. We are all in this together, thank you!

We are all feeling a bit overwhelmed by developments in the world over the past two weeks including the spread of COVID-19. This is a brief update on what is happening to our program in Kenya and also to our team in the U.S.
Our objectives are:

to keep our staff in both Kenya and the U.S. safe and healthy;
to comply with public health recommendations and mandates in both countries; and
to make decisions that enhance the likelihood the organizations will successfully weather this storm so we can continue to focus on our mission of educating students and transforming lives post-crisis.

It is important to note that the community we work with in Kenya is extremely vulnerable to the harm this situation will inflict on people. Most of the student’s parents and guardians have pre-existing health conditions; they all have limited income, usually earned by performing casual labor that has already evaporated; and in the slums, there is no such thing as “social distance”. You will note in our summary of the situation in Kenya that we have increased our budget for emergency food aid and believe it will be sorely needed in the coming weeks. If you would like to make a donation to support providing basic food packets to our families in Kenya, please click on the button below. A $40 gift can provide food packets that feed a family for a month.

Donate now to provide food support for families who are impacted.

In Kenya:

Several cases of COVID-19 have appeared in Kenya. The government of Kenya has taken aggressive action to prevent the virus from spreading in the country.
Kenyan public health officials have mandated no gatherings of large numbers of people, they have closed all schools effective this week and require that employees work from home.
We have formed a Crisis Management team for both Ngong Road Children’s Foundation and Karibu Loo Limited. The teams in Kenya meet daily and provide written updates to the U.S. Crisis Management Team, along with a global weekly touch-base meeting.
Ngong Road Children’s Foundation will operate with a skeleton staff and will communicate with students and families through text messages, updates to our website, and printed flyers. This is in regards to the measures in place to deal with COVID-19.
Caseworkers are available to students and families by telephone or by appointment in the office in case of emergencies.
Saturday Program, home visits, and school visits are suspended during this crisis.
We have cut staff hours, salaries, and other expenses in an effort to preserve options as the crisis unfolds while also ensuring our staff has enough income to cover their essential needs.
Karibu Loo business will also be curtailed as long as there are prohibitions on gatherings and social events as a move to curb COVID-19 spread. As with Ngong Road Children’s Foundation, we have reduced expenses to a minimum.
We have significantly increased our budget for food aid for families, as we expect this crisis to result in significant food insecurity for our population.

In the United States:

We have formed a Crisis Management Team consisting of Paula Meyer, Amy Johnson, and Keith Kale; we meet daily.
Our associates in the U.S. operate on a remote basis and will continue that practice. We have made no changes to staff compensation or hours, though changes made by daycare providers are affecting several of our team members.
Paula Meyer and other board members have increased the amount of time working on Friends of Ngong Road matters and we expect that to continue in the coming months as we work to navigate these unprecedented times. Our board of directors will meet this week and again in April to deliberate issues facing the organization.

We remain committed to our mission and will work to successfully navigate these challenging times. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to paula@ngongroad.org.Thank you, and stay healthy!

Archives for March 2020

In Kenya:

In the United States: