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

Business Update 

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt business performance in Kenya and the world at large. At Karibu Loo, the short-term event-based business has experienced the largest downturn due to the restrictions placed on public gatherings put in place by the government. However, with the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, the economy is starting to gain traction, potentially allowing short-term business to sprout once again.

Social Media Marketing

In 2021, we launched a digital marketing campaign, including Google Ads, a beefed-up Google advertising campaign. The aim of this strategy was to establish a robust and diversified online presence. We are also planning on engaging other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Non-commissionable business (no salespersons attached) accounted for over 80% of our revenue since its inception.

Long-term Business Update

Since the onset of the pandemic, Karibu Loo has survived on long-term business (loos hired for more than 30 days). In our 2021 Plan, we focused on pursuing more long-term businesses, especially construction companies. Our successful online marketing strategy and engagement of all our staff to market our services by making direct calls and sending emails to reach targeted clients has resulted in a continued increase in long-term business.  Thus, the business has continued during these challenging times. Currently, we have about a quarter of our cabins leased out and we are receiving more long-term inquiries as the year progresses. 

Staff Update on COVID-19

Unfortunately, two of Karibu Loo’s staff contracted COVID-19 but later recovered after 14 days of medical leave; they are now back in operation. Currently, we are encouraging all our staff to be vaccinated, with a goal of 100% vaccinated by the end of the year as vaccines are now more accessible.

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Alumni Stories

Lydia, a Call Center Attendant at Zuku Kenya Limited is Looking Ahead to Graduate School

A Chinese proverb states “A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step”. This is the story of Lydia, she could not imagine that she would be a college graduate.

Lydia’s journey has not been easy. She lived with her mother and younger brother. Lydia attended a community primary public school every morning, without any hope of transferring to a secondary school. The life she finds herself living now was beyond the realm of her wildest dreams.

Thanks to Friends of Ngong Road and Ngong Road Children’s Foundation, she was paired with a sponsor who was instrumental in her success. The program fully paid her school fees from primary school through university, including necessary school supplies. This generous support made her work even harder to achieve good grades. 

At 23 years old she prides herself not just for having attained a BS in Economics and Finance but also for being among the few girls in her neighborhood that have transformed their life in this way. Her transformational journey has just started as Lydia now works as a call center attendant at Zuku Kenya Limited, a fiber optic company. Her future aspirations include earning a master’s degree so she can pursue better job opportunities.

Bernard works as an Operations Associate at Karibu Loo Limited.

Bernard is one of our graduates who currently works at Karibu Loo Limited as an Operations Associate, after completing a driving course. He is grateful for how far he has come and is now on the right path to transforming his life. His story is that of persistence and demonstrating a spirit of not giving up. 

He was raised by his aunt, since his mother was in poor health, which made it impossible for her to be involved in his upbringing. Unlike many children, he had a lot of challenges which caused him to enroll in school at an older age than normal.

His family situation affected his academics and like most teens, he had his own challenges. But he never gave up and finished high school with the support of his sponsor and program staff. He even became the school president while in high school.

Bernard says, “Learning to have that persistence, letting my ego down a bit, and asking for help is what has made me come this far. Thanks to everyone who helped me through school.”

Brian works as a Sales Associate at Platinum Credit Limited.

Our program’s support has transformed Brian’s life, making him one of our recent graduates. His story is one that will be told for generations to come in his family. Brian has utilized his experiences as a stepping stone to overcome challenges and achieve success in life. He lived with his grandparents. Early on, he recognized importance of taking school seriously to escape his deteriorating living situation and assist his aging grandparents.

While he was sponsored,​ he gained various skills that helped him develop as a whole person. The life skills learned during school holidays and at camp encourage him to pursue leadership roles in both secondary and post-secondary school. The computer skills he developed through our program have been essential in his journey to acquiring a job. He completed his diploma in Entrepreneurship Development from The Eldoret Polytechnic. Currently works as a Sales Associate at Platinum Credit Limited. In just a month, he grasps marketing insights and manages client queries, showcasing remarkable proficiency and swift adaptation.

Transformative education improved his life, cultivating gratitude and a future aspiration to aid others on their educational journey.

Brian shared, “Success favors those who fail till they succeed and never let challenges be a stumbling block rather let them be opportunities for growth.”

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COVID-19 Update

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create havoc globally, positivity rates in Kenya continue to rise and fall in multiple waves. President Uhuru Kenyatta refers to this pattern as a “’containment seesaw.”

Like other countries, Kenya is trying to manage the Delta variant. Within the slums of Nairobi, poor sanitation and overcrowded living conditions make social distancing impossible.  Positivity rates rise and fall causing constant uncertainty which has brought about a renewed survival instinct in the Kenyan population.

Kenya Government and Health Ministry enforce mask-wearing and more to curb variant spread, minimize next wave’s impact.  A COVID-19 vaccine return to work policy for all civil servants has been implemented. Individuals in the government employ are required to be vaccinated so they can resume work physically and improve service delivery.  The Kenyan military is required to get vaccinated, or they will not be paid. 

Seventeen months have passed since Kenya reported the first case of COVID-19. One year later, in March 2021, Kenya rolled out a National Vaccine Deployment Plan to inoculate 10 million adults by June 2022 and 16 million by June 20, 2023. 

By the end of September, we will have administered 4.5 million doses. However, this is a small dent in the approximately 40 million people aged 12 and over.  It is slow due to limited vaccine availability and challenges with reaching the people in rural areas with the road system in poor condition.

At NRCF, we are adopting a similar policy due to our work which involves interaction with students, families, donors, and other stakeholders. We are pleased that progress is being made as 75% have at least the first dose, most with the AstraZeneca vaccine. It’s our goal to have all staff fully vaccinated by year-end.  Fortunately we have had only one student and three alumni be diagnosed with COVID-19.  Two of those alumni work at Karibu Loo.  The student and three alumni have all recovered.

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Elimu Hub is a reality!

We want to send a sincere thank you to all our students, supporters, and donors who have made Elimu Hub possible. And a special thanks to the South Metro Minneapolis Evening Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Kikuyu for partnering with NRCF/FoNR in this noble project. You have all overwhelmed us with your generous response to the campaign this summer as we surpassed the goal substantially.

The additional gifts have allowed us to build a larger Elimu Hub that will better serve our needs, not just now, but in the future, as we grow. Instead of using five 20-foot containers, for a total of 800 square feet, we are expanding it to seven, totaling 960 square feet of space for our library and computer lab. The work will commence this month and we are excited to welcome the students in a couple of months. Elimu Hub will be more than just a physical place. It’s where students can support one another, alumni can return to the network with one another and mentor younger students, and where Wepowerment can happen.

Thank you again!

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Letter from Paula

Dear friends,

Our mission since inception has been to support life transformation through education and ultimately employment. In 2021, we have come to believe we must increase our focus and effectiveness on the employment dimension of our mission.  

Much of the employment in Kenya is called “casual”. Since there aren’t enough job opportunities in the formal Kenyan economy, people must create their own employment to survive. Most families of students in our program support themselves with casual labor. At the low end, this means cooking food to sell in the slums or running a small kiosk, or doing day construction labor. If you are educated, casual labor may be a contract or temporary work.

In May 2021, Friends of Ngong Road conducted a survey of alumni that we call The First 100.  We surveyed 112 alumni of the program and received 95 responses. We learned that:

  • 80% of alumni have had one or more jobs in the past twelve months.
  • At the time of the survey, only 46% of alumni were employed. Among that group, more than 80% had a job in the formal economy.
  • Among the unemployed, more than 70% had been working in the casual economy and when COVID hit, their work disappeared.
  • 59% of alumni are supporting at least one other person – a child, a parent, a sibling.  

Our conclusions are that we must provide more support to help students gain employment in the formal Kenyan economy.  Kenya’s employment picture is certainly not at its best due to COVID-19. Nonetheless, our board of directors concluded we must do better. We are working to accelerate our efforts to support long-term employment by:

  • Deepening our understanding of areas where job opportunities exist in Kenya and then ensuring our students are preparing themselves in areas where there are employment opportunities.
  • Preparing students for employment during high school by teaching them about what kinds of jobs exist and the skills needed to get those jobs, teaching self-awareness so they become more astute about where they are likely to succeed and teaching interviewing/communication skills. We call these programs Life Skills and now deliver curriculum to all four years of high school.  
  • Redoubling our efforts to partner with employers, local board members and other Kenyan supporters to connect students to that important first job.

An educated student is much more likely to succeed than an uneducated one, but employment is the only way to truly transform lives. We will be working hard on this and sharing our findings. We support transformation through education AND employment!