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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Year-End Donation Planning

As you plan your year-end gift to Friends of Ngong Road, please keep in mind the many ways you can support us beyond making a cash gift.

  • Donor-Advised Funds. Donor-advised funds allow you to make a charitable contribution, receive a tax deduction and then recommend the grant to Friends of Ngong Road.
  • IRA Rollovers. An IRA Rollover gift can fulfill your required minimum distribution, decrease your taxable income and make a world of difference to our children in Nairobi. Any amount you donate this way counts toward your Required Minimum Distribution and reduces the taxable amount of your IRA distribution. This lowers your taxable income even if you take the standard deduction.
  • Stocks. By donating your appreciated stock, you will save on capital gains tax on the increased value of the stock while also making a charitable gift. The entire stock is transferred at its valued price to Friends of Ngong Road.
  • Planned Giving. After providing for your family and loved ones, you may want to remember the Friends of Ngong Road and the children we serve. A gift from your will, trust, retirement account, or life insurance policy will help to secure the long-term future of our work.

Consult with your tax advisor for the final planning of your year-end gift. If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Development Director, Charlie Levine.

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Greetings from Kelvin – December 2020

Greetings,

The year is coming to an end and we are excited to have survived such a difficult time given the COVID pandemic. By working together, per our theme of WePowerment, we managed the crisis. Our COVID response strategies had a good impact:

  • November was a busy time for students in the computer lab as they worked on their emails and videos to sponsors. We also continued supporting home school for students.
  • In November the caseworkers completed another round of COVID-19 assessments. From the assessments, we have noted an improvement in families returning to work. 
    • 88% of families had at least one family member working in November compared to under 70% of families in July. 
    • 24% of students have gone back to school (majority of post-secondary students, Grade 4, Grade 8, and Form 4 students), This is after the partial resumption of school in October with priority given to candidates who are about to transition to the next level of education.
  • In November we focused on an essay project. Students shared their experience reading literature books during the long school break where every month each student received a book to read. The goal is to send the essays to sponsors as a way of connecting on how students spent their time during the COVID-19 school break. You can read these handwritten essays in your sponsor portal.
  • We have continued with the Food From Friends program where we have been feeding approximately 300 families every month. In December we issued our last batch of family food aid during our Annual Gathering Meeting held on 3rd December. The families were very appreciative of the program and the support it has accorded them during such a difficult time. December is the last food issuance month as we plan to refocus on education come January 2021 when all students are expected to go back to school.

Looking Ahead- back to school plan

All students are expected to resume school on January 4th, 2021 for their second term. It will be a unique year with four terms instead of three. We are currently working on back-to-school supplies and uniforms to ensure students return to school with all they need. We have also reworked our school transportation to ensure students are transported to school in a safe and secure manner by using more private transportation, especially for students within Nairobi.

Finally, we appreciate our donors and supporters for your continued support during such a challenging time. We wish you all Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year. Together we are making a difference.

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Note from Paula – December 2020

December is a busy time of the year for all non-profit organizations, and Friends of Ngong Road is no exception. Like most U.S. non-profits, note that we raise a disproportionate amount of our annual budget in the 4th quarter and next year always goes better when we end this year strong. Our focus is on raising $75,000 to meet the Truscott match for our Annual Appeal – if you haven’t yet had a chance to donate, please click here to make a gift today. 

In Kenya, our team is working at full throttle to prepare to get all students back to in-person school on January 4. Uniforms, school supplies, and books are being purchased and school fees are being paid. Seeking new office in Nairobi as current space unfit. Aiming to relocate by early 2021 for improved suitability.

With your help, it is key to note that we fed 300 program families daily between April and year-end. This was a big undertaking, organized as the world quickly evolved with the onset of COVID-19. We raised the necessary funds to pay for food and used a partner church as a safe distribution facility. When students return to school in January, families will face less financial stress and we expect to move to our more standard approach to family food aid – giving food packets as needed to families in the most challenging situations.

The Friends of Ngong Road board of directors recently affirmed our 5-year strategy to “double our impact”. By the end of 2024, we aim to have over 1000 Kenyan youth embarking on a life transformation journey. Just today, I got an update on Mercy, sponsored faithfully by one Twin Cities couple since 2008. Mercy has just completed her 3-year coursework to become a nurse. She will take two days of exams in January and April, after which she will earn her nursing license. It will ensure her to secure permanent employment. The school she attended is managed by a hospital, and she may have the opportunity to work there. Kenya needs qualified nurses and Mercy is on her way!

We express our gratitude to the donors and supporters who have made this work possible through numerous similar life stories. While the pandemic and other challenges will continue, we have learned that when young people have hope for a better future, many of them find a way to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles! Together, our job is to just give them a chance. Thank you and best wishes for a happy holiday season!

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Notes from Paula – March 2020

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!

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Letter from Nairobi

Currently, all primary and secondary (Form One to Form Three) students in Nairobi are on a long holiday that will end when schools resume on 6th January 2020. Grade (class) 8 students took the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams on 31st October 2019 while the final high school examination (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education, or KCSE) for Form 4 (seniors) began on 4th November 2019 and will end towards the end of November. Their respective schools had prepared the students to tackle both key exams confidently.

During the long holiday, the students who are not sitting for exams will be taking part in various activities ranging from life skills sessions, career guidance and counseling, sexual/reproductive health training, menstrual hygiene education, drug use, and abuse sensitization sessions, group discussions, library sessions, and computer studies. The activities will take place concurrently with each class tackling a different area. High school students will learn life skills, group discussions, sexual/reproductive health, computer studies, and career counseling and mentorship. Primary school children will enjoy the library and computer studies.

We conduct drug use and abuse sensitization sessions for the upper classes (Grades 6 to 8). Girls in the upper classes receive menstrual hygiene education. During this time, the children are happily receiving breakfast and lunch which couldn’t have been available were it not for your generosity towards NRCF. Due to extended holiday periods, we have expanded the Saturday Program to provide children with activities that enhance their talents.

We divide sessions into four broad categories that aim to foster the holistic development of children. This involves psychosocial health (yoga, cheering, singing, fun activities, brain games, talent shows, and team building). Other areas are cognitive development (arts and crafts, book reading, debates and presentations, crosswords and puzzles), and social development (clubs and societies, e.g. drama, music, scouts, dance club, journalism, and St. John ambulance). Finally, physical development (soccer, Katie, taekwondo, soccer, rugby, volleyball, handball, and athletics). On Saturdays, children also enjoy a well-balanced lunch that is part of the nutrition program.

The highlight of the holiday season is the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for all NRCF stakeholders (children, parents/guardians, local community, NRCF staff, volunteers, and board members). During this meeting, we share our achievements, successes, challenges, lessons learned, and plans for the coming year. We normally share Christmas lunch as a family on this occasion. Families get Christmas packs with chicken, maize & wheat flour, cooking oil, rice, sugar, beans, veggies, and fruit.

We have scheduled the event for December 7th, 2019, in Nairobi. This year’s AGM is special since we will be launching our new entity – Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF). We will be transitioning from an “Association” to a “Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)”. The children are excited as they look forward to the event since it will be joined by the founder and President of Friends of Ngong Road, Paula Meyer. After the celebration children normally break for the Christmas holidays. Some travel to their rural areas to celebrate with their extended families. Others remain behind to continue benefiting from what the program offers normally such as library and computer lab access.

Thank you all for creating a big impact in the lives of these once desperate and hopeless children in Nairobi who have been given an opportunity to transform their lives.

Sincerely,


Maureen Mulievi
Programme Director
Ngong Road Children’s Foundation