Friends of Ngong Road

We empower Nairobi children living in poverty to transform their lives through education and support, leading to employment.

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Karibu Loo Corner

Karibu Loo has rebuilt the business and is ready for a new year

With the country’s ongoing vaccination campaign and following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, the Kenyan economy is gradually recovering from Covid-19 impacts. 

Rebuilding the Business after Covid-19

The impact of Covid -19 has resulted in 2021 being a rebuilding year for Karibu Loo. In 2021, we focused on growing long-term rentals, now constituting over 60% of this year’s total revenue.  Our primary marketing tool was digital advertising campaigns through Google and social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). The campaigns have yielded nearly 80% of our sales, including long-term commercial, coming through direct inquiry without a sales intermediary.

Long-Term Business is our mainstay

Since the onset of the pandemic, long-term business (primarily construction companies) has been our mainstay in revenue and has enabled us to survive through the pandemic. Short-term business primarily relies on events, and their return has been slower.

During the last three quarters of 2021, we recorded a rapid increase in long-term revenue peaking at 25 cabins per day in the fourth quarter. In recent months, the long-term has contributed almost 70% of the total monthly revenue for Karibu Loo, the highest level we have recorded since inception of Karibu Loo. We believe this trend will progress next year, creating a solid revenue generation base. 

2022 Business Outlook is bright

The coming year outlook remains uncertain and contingent on the impact of the Covid-19 variant (Omicron). We anticipate serving the BATUK (British Military Training Unit Kenya) organization.  They train troops in Nanyuki, about a four-hour drive from Nairobi. BATUK usually schedules military training in phases throughout the year so we anticipate supplying at least 40 cabins per day for three months beginning in January with the possibility of extending through the rest of the year. Despite the complex operations cost behind the business, it provides a significant revenue boost.

Staff Update on Covid-19 

For safety, we urged staff to vaccinate, aiding in Covid-19 prevention, risk reduction, and client protection during services. Currently all our staff are 100% fully vaccinated (complete doses).

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Alumni Update

In 2021, 25 students in our program graduated from college. Since graduation, 78% of these alumni have found employment while one returned to school to further her education. This success has been possible due to the enormous support from our partners and sponsors who have walked with these graduates on their journey through life transformation. We would like to highlight 3 graduates who are celebrating the fruits of their hard work and the investment in their support. 

Noah Ngugi – Make-up Artist at M.A.C Store

Noah joined the program in October 2007. As a child, his family’s ability to pay for education was an incredible challenge.  Friends of Ngong Road provided a bridge for him to pursue his dreams. He has now completed his education and is incredibly proud of having a degree, a career, and the ability to support himself.

Noah studied at Uhuru Boys Secondary School and graduated in 2017. He later joined Lintons College to pursue a Diploma in Make-up Artistry and Nail Technology. He graduated in November 2021.  

Currently, he is working at M.A.C cosmetics store as a cosmetologist. Noah is also an active leader at Ngong Road Children’s Foundation as a Youth Peer Provider (YPP) for the sexual Reproductive Health Program.

Wence Njiri- The Social Worker/ Case Manager

As a child with little hope and dreams for his future, life was challenging. Although his parents did their best to provide for the family, they struggled financially. The world and prospects changed for Wence when he joined our program in October 2009.

He was so happy when he learned he was sponsored.  He received a lot of love from the caseworkers and the other students in the program; he met many new friends.  He also had access to consistent support, education, and food. During his time in school and participating in supportive programming, Wence was able to discover himself and harness his skills to prepare for success. Wence became a leader in the program as a Young Peer Provider (Ypp) for the sexual Reproductive Health Program at NRCF.

Wence is a graduate of Kabete National Polytechnic with a diploma in Social Work and Community Development. He currently interns at NRCF in the Primary department with prospects of being hired full-time in the future. There is a saying that we only need one thread to weave our story and for him, Ngong road Children’s Foundation was that thread.

Eric Njuguna- Supply Chain Management Graduate

Eric is the youngest of three siblings. In October 2002 his mother passed away due to illness, and, at such a young age, this loss crushed him and he felt like his life was entangled in darkness. Eric and his siblings moved in with their grandma who enrolled him in school.  Although he was relieved and excited to be in school, it came with a lot of challenges. His grandma was older and had diabetes, so she couldn’t work enough to keep up with the rising school fees. 

Life started looking up when his grandma was told about the sponsorship program by a friend. After meeting the rigorous selection requirements Eric and his brother were both sponsored. All aspects of their lives were taken care of, including health, education, and nutrition. He graduated from college with a diploma in Supply Chain Management and is currently applying for jobs.

Nelson Mandela, the first black African President of South Africa once said that ‘Education is the great engine of personal development.’ Eric is forever grateful to Friends of Ngong Road for providing him with the education and support he needed to transform his life.

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Help Transform Lives – Contribute to Our Annual Appeal!

The students we serve face more challenges than most of us can imagine. They learn early on that to survive they must embrace resilience, facing their challenges with hope, drive, passion, courage, and kindness.

We are grateful to all our sponsors who make classroom education possible for individual students.  Sponsorships cover the costs of school fees and uniforms, but Friends of Ngong Road also provides unique program support to empower students to succeed and transform their lives. These include our Life Skills Program, career counseling, employment support, basic medical care, the Saturday Program, computer certification, case managers, etc.  Our Annual Appeal directly supports these initiatives. 

Thank you to the many friends who have already donated to our annual appeal.  We are making great progress but still need additional supporters to achieve our goal of raising $170,000 by year-end. 

Your support will be DOUBLED thanks to the $85,000 matching gift from the Ted and Kathy Truscott Family Foundation.  

It’s not too late!  Help us transform lives.

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Letter from Nairobi

Hello Friends of Ngong Road,

The last quarter of this year has been a busy time for staff in Nairobi as they reflect on the year’s achievements as well as the following year’s plan. We note that there is much to celebrate, from moving to a new office to students resuming school after the 2020 COVID-19 school shutdown. It has been more than just surviving. It meant embracing resilience and dealing with the challenges posed by the pandemic. 

Compressed school calendar leads to unrest

The last quarter was the second term for students in primary and high school. This is due to the change in the school calendar and the introduction of a 4th term to make up for the lost year in 2020. This meant that students would stay longer in school with minimal school breaks. It also meant a high focus on academics and fewer extracurricular activities. However, this did not augur well with the students. During the second term, Kenya witnessed a high rate of student unrest characterized by strikes and arson in schools. More than 31 learning institutions were burnt down this term alone.  

Four of our partner schools were affected; Loise Nanyuki (2 students attending), Kiriathiani school (1 student), Karima boys (2 students), and Makwa boys (13 students). The students have since resumed school but had to pay a fee to rebuild the damaged dormitories. Due to the unrest, the government had to send all students for a midterm break in November as students attributed the unrest to the fact that there was no school break in the term. Our staff continued to guide and counsel students especially during school visits in order for them to remain focused on their studies. 

Kenya is still struggling with COVID-19

We conducted a second home assessment of our families where we learned that 86% of the households had someone working compared to 95% in July, while 14% had no one working compared to 5% in July 2021. 76% of the households had an income decrease compared to 57% in July, while 5% had an income increase compared to 10% in July. 

The country has made extensive efforts to bring down the positivity rate as well as increase vaccine uptake. As of November, 9% of the adult population had been vaccinated with a target of 10% by the end of the year.  At NRCF, all staff has been fully vaccinated.  

We look forward to another successful year with you, our supporters.

Best to all of you this holiday season,

Kelvin Thuku

Program Manager

Ngong Road Children Foundation