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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Improving the donation experience

Our US team has been hard at work rebuilding the system we use to track your donations. When Friends of Ngong Road was founded 16 years ago, most of our supporters mailed checks to our founding board members, and then to our PO Box.

Eventually, our team managed to initiate sponsorship donations via automatic credit card withdrawals. However, we still manually tracked, responded to, and handled each donation. This resulted in a significant time investment from our US team for basic data input, sometimes resulting in human errors.

Over the years as we have grown and added more students, created a more robust program, and as inflation and other costs have increased, the amount of time our staff has spent manually typing your donations into our system has increased. 

We realized that this model was no longer sustainable, and our US team went to work to build a system that would support automated donation tracking. There were 16 years of donations to comb through, sort, and organize, then we rebuilt our existing system to support automation, and finally, in the past few weeks, we have been able to launch the newly built automation to our website. You likely won’t notice a difference quite yet (there are big improvements coming your way soon!) in the way you make donations on our website, but behind the scenes your donations now flow directly into our system, allowing our US staff to use their time in more meaningful and impactful ways.

In the upcoming year, we aim to introduce an account management system for donors via the sponsor portal. This system will enable sponsors to log in, efficiently handle their sponsorships, modify credit card details, and even include more sponsorships. All the work completed over the past year has made these types of improvements possible

With advancing technology’s accessibility, our organization thrives, expanding to serve an increasing number of students effectively.

We are grateful to have a board that understands the power of technology and is willing to support new ventures to ultimately support the efficiency of the teams both in the US and in Kenya

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The Saturday Program

Each Saturday we host a child development program with the help of our Case Managers. The program consists of fun activities surrounding a wholesome fresh lunch prepared and served by our cooks. A nurse is on hand to distribute multivitamins and deworming pills regularly and meets with individual children who are ill, referring them to clinics or prescribing treatment as appropriate. The nurse also gives health talks to different age groups. The Saturday Program Coordinator organizes activities geared towards cognitive development, and social and physical development. We invite volunteers to support running the activities as well as bring in new ideas. The activities rotate between the following themes;

  • Cognitive activities include book reading and puzzle games
  • Olympic athletics which is all about running (which Kenyans are famous for)
  • Clubs and talent search including drama, music, and Taekwondo
  • Ball games such as soccer and Katie (dodgeball)
  • Crazy Olympics. This includes crazy games such as banana foot pass relay, balloon relay, three-legged relay, and sack relay.

In 2020, we put the Saturday Program on hold due to  COVID-19. This dealt a big blow to our students as the Saturday Program is a good opportunity for kids to build memories, friendship, sportsmanship, and enjoy a “sumptuous” meal together. We resumed the program in May of 2021 but, despite all the hype, the attendance was very low as most parents and guardians were very cautious of releasing their children due to COVID-19 fears. Program coordinators faced challenges in organizing activities with minimal contact and ensuring compliance with Ministry of Health guidelines. However, the program has grown, reaching over 90% attendance in the last quarter of the year. The holiday break saw high attendance, necessitating a larger field for next year.

The August Camp was also canceled due to Covid-19 and with the change of the school calendar, the Saturday Program has now become the new “mini-camp”. The Saturday Program has defined the true meaning of the NRCF family as the staff and students come together to share joy and happiness with each other and forget about the hustle and bustle of the slums and city. It is also during the Saturday Program that the Case Managers get to do further follow-up on the child’s wellbeing.

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Our Computers Are Crashing!


Computers and access to the internet are critical to a student’s success and future employment.  Technology rapidly evolves making older ones obsolete.   Our students have been using cheap and underpowered computers.  They are slow, limited in functionality, and incompatible with what students need today for school.  And yes, they periodically crash which is quite frustrating. 

New machines will give students the skills and experience to perform well in school and be better prepared as they eventually seek employment.  The new Elimu Hub (student center) will provide high-speed internet (powered by solar!) which, in combination with these gadgets, will transform the experience. 

Our goal is to raise $30,000 to buy new computers and fund programs that support the use and learning of technology.   

Donate Now

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Waiting Students

Fenny

Fenny, an ever-smiling young girl is a 5th-grade student who lives with her mother and two siblings. They live in a double room made of iron sheets and timber, sharing the bathroom and toilet with the neighbors as the house is not self-contained. Her mother is a hairdresser and works at a local hair salon but because she is the sole provider, the income that she gets is never enough to sustain the family.

Fenny’s mother says she is a very hardworking girl and that is evident in her academics as she scored a total of 602 marks out of 700 in her placement interview. She loves going to school and according to her, it is her favorite place to be. She loves reading different storybooks and she aspires to join the army after she is done with her studies. 

The thought of getting a sponsor in the program really excites Fenny as she wants to be able to pursue her educational dreams.  

Ryan 

Ryan is 12 years old. With his mother and sister, he lives in a two-room brick house. Their home isn’t self-contained, so they must share the bathroom and toilet with their neighbors. His mother is a community health worker who loves to empower women. She also works casual jobs such as housecleaning to support her family as a single mother. 

He is smart and hard-working.  After putting in a lot of effort, Ryan achieved 355 marks on a recent exam. English is his favorite subject, and he hopes to become a doctor one day so that he can help other people with health issues. Additionally, he enjoys participating in extracurricular activities. Whenever he has free time, he loves to play soccer with friends.

Ryan would be able to pursue his career and educational goals with the help of sponsorship. He is determined to make a difference in society and inspire other young children. 

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Brother and Sister Graduation Story

Emmanuel and Lorine are two remarkable siblings who have benefited from our programs. We feature their graduation stories in this article.

Emmanuel 

Emmanuel joined the program in 2010. Having to pay for his education as a child was a tremendous challenge for his family. Friends of Ngong Road gave Emmanuel a sponsor and enabled him to continue his academic career.

Emmanuel transferred to Jagiet Academy, recognizing it as superior to his previous institution. After completing his primary education, he attended Pumwani High School where he completed his secondary education and joined the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. His graduation was originally scheduled for November last year but was postponed to April this year because of the Covid pandemic. His graduation will be an inspiration.

Emmanuel holds a Certificate in Business Administration and a University Diploma in Business Information Technology. Emmanuel is currently interning at Ngong Road Children’s Foundation as a tech intern.

Lorine 

Lorine, sister to Emmanuel, was admitted to the program earlier than her brother. It was fortunate for both of them to have the same sponsor.


Lorines’ success story is inspiring and uplifting.  As a member of the Friends of Ngong Road family, Lorine started her academic journey at Jagiet Primary School. She later did her secondary studies at St Mary’s Thiago.


She holds a certificate in Business Administration, a University diploma in Business Administration, as well as a Bachelor of Commerce with a Finance concentration from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Her graduation is an inspiration.


Lorine has made steady progress in her professional life. She participated in the Ngong Road Youth Peer Provider and Sexual and Reproductive Health Program, and she interned at Karibu Loo as an associate. Currently she works in the finance team at British East African Tobacco Company.