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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Waiting Students

Frankline

Frankline lives with his parents and siblings in the Kibiria ward of Dagoretti. He is from a very humble background and despite the family’s hardships, Franklin has a positive attitude toward life. He and his siblings don’t have beds of their own, and he is often sent home from school due to his parent’s inability to pay for his school fees. 

Currently he schools at  Alpha Glory Academy where he is a top performer. He loves going to school and dreams of being able to go every day. He says that getting a sponsor will solve this challenge and let him focus on getting good grades. His best subjects are Mathematics and English. Frankline aspires to become a pilot and is therefore taking his studies seriously. His parents hope to see their son finish school, be successful, and become someone of substance in society through education.

Verah

Verah is not just your average 9-year-old girl. She is very helpful especially at home so, during her free time, you will find her washing dishes or helping her younger sister. Verah lives with her parents and her younger sister whom she loves dearly. She loves spending quality time with her family. 

Verah is very disciplined when it comes to her education and performs really well in her schoolwork. She would love to be a doctor someday. This is because she finds joy in helping other people and creating an impact in their lives and their families. She yearns for success and works really hard in order to achieve all the milestones that she has set for herself. Verah’s favorite foods are chicken and fish and she knows how to prepare them!

Verah will be able to join Jagiet Academy when she gets a sponsor. This will maximize her chances of earning the title of a doctor in the future and therefore empower her.

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Notes from Paula

2022 was the first year of our 2022 – 2026 strategic plan for Friends of Ngong Road. Our headline goals in the five-year strategic plan are: 

  • to double our impact in Kenya, and 
  • transition from volunteer leadership to a sustainable staff-led model.

Double our impact. To double our impact means we must recruit more sponsors or find new ways of supporting children’s education. We knew by mid-year that this goal will be our most challenging to achieve within this strategic plan. Our goal this year was to recruit 70 new sponsorships and by the end of November, we had added 33, so we expect to be at about 50% of goal by year-end. We have formed a team to develop new tactics for increasing the number of children in the program and in 2023 you will learn more about these initiatives, some which include adding students without a 1:1 sponsor relationship. We know we are going to have to be creative and open-minded as we seek to increase the number of children getting our support in their life transformation journey. 

Hire and onboard an Executive Director. Carole Patrikakos joined Friends of Ngong Road in April, and we are all working together to transition duties from volunteers to Carole and other members of staff in a measured, effective cadence. Carole is a very experienced development professional and has a significant assignment to broaden fund-raising efforts and build a robust development program. We successfully raised a $400,000 transition fund to support our leadership transition over the next few years. I am grateful for Carole’s increasing leadership in Friends of Ngong Road, allowing me to step back from some day-to-day duties.

Prepare Infrastructure to support more students. We accomplished several important operations-oriented milestones in 2022. In Kenya, we opened Elimu Hub, a student resource center including an expanded library/meeting room and a well-equipped computer lab. We completed year two of a three-year technology transformation project, including significant data clean-up of student records and a transition to out-of-the-box SalesForce technology for case management. We have streamlined case management in Kenya and donation processing in the U.S., allowing our lean global staff to focus on value-added activities.

Enhance governance in Kenya. We have been engaged in a year-long effort to enhance committees and governance in Kenya. This will culminate with the addition of three new Kenyan board members in January 2023. We are optimistic that the growing number of capable Kenyans who are engaged in our mission will add increasing value. Our management team in Kenya is by far the strongest it has been since our inception. 

Build Employment Programs in Kenya. To accomplish our vision of life transformation, students must be educated and get jobs. In 2022, we hired a full-time, experienced professional in Kenya to help graduates get jobs. She is having a big impact, both on recent graduates and on our 183 alumni as they try to get better jobs. We launched a technology internship called TechMates and have processed about 18 recent college graduates through this internship. They learn WordPress (used to build websites) and get hands-on practical experience with our websites and working with clients. We delivered an entrepreneurial skills training pilot and will build on learnings from these new initiatives in 2023.

And finally, a word about Karibu Loo.  Launched as a pilot in 2015, Karibu Loo is a commercial portable sanitation business with two goals: to employ graduates and to donate profits to support our charitable mission in Kenya. The business faced significant challenges during the pandemic but has made great progress in 2022, landing a long-term contract with the British Army in late 2022 which will extend into 2023.  Seven of our eight full-time employees (the exception is our long-serving Business Manager) are program alumni and we have provided short-term employment to nearly 200 high school students and recent graduates. In 2023, Karibu Loo made progress on repaying past-due shared expenses to Ngong Road Children’s Foundation and in 2023 we are targeting a financial contribution equivalent to 5% of Kenya’s operating expenses. At this writing, Karibu Loo is the largest provider of portable sanitation in Nairobi.

As a supporter of this organization, I hope this helps you gain perspective on the reach of Friends of Ngong Road and Ngong Road Children’s Foundation and on our many accomplishments in 2022. In addition to the students we directly support, our work in Kenya has a direct impact on thousands of people – our employees, vendors, teachers, families of children in the program, and more. Thank you for being part of this good work!

Paula

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Two Blockchain Intellects

Sallyanne and Tabitha are our very first students to venture into the Blockchain space. In January 2022, they were among the first students to join the Techmates Program which was launched that same time. They ventured into Digital Marketing and It was through the Techmates Program that they were introduced to work with Lido Nation. Lido Nation is a Cardano staking pool and it also has a website with tons of information for everyday people and newcomers to learn about the Blockchain world.

They signed a 6 months contract with Lido Nation and their work was to translate the articles on the Lido Nation website to Swahili. At the end of the contract, they came up with 3 original articles each related to Blockchain that were published on the Lido Nation website!. After the 6 months contract elapsed, the team from Lido Nation was impressed by the work they had done and they therefore gave them another 4 months contract to become community outreach officers in the Ngong Road Blockchain Lab, the first Blockchain lab in Africa. This lab is a result of funding from Project Catalyst, a series of experiments which seek to generate the highest levels of community innovation. 

Sallyanne was privileged to become a co-proposer with Stephanie and Darlington from Lido Nation in the proposal, “Swahili learn to earn”. The proposal got funded and the project kicked off on the 1st of December 2022, with Sallyanne and Tabitha still being part of the project. It is through them working for Lido Nation that DirectEd got in touch with them through Stephanie to help them with their project that will be launched in Kenya next year in January. DirectEd identifies high-potential students in Kenya and Ethiopia and supports them with the resources and training required to start a successful career as remote software developers. 

They have so far met with Simon Sallstrom, the CEO of DirectEd who is currently in Kenya and Moses Kahure who is the Kenya Lead. They have accompanied Simon and Moses to Kagumo High School and Bishop Gatimu Ngandu High School to sign the Memorandum of Understanding and to also help the team from DirectEd to carry out surveys that are meant for preparation of the curriculum for the program. Sallyanne and Tabitha have also been contracted by Gero Wallet, which is one of the Cardano Wallets, to translate their wallet content from English to Swahili for it to be used in Africa for the Swahili speaking countries. 

The Blockchain space is one that so many people are not familiar with and to have Sallyanne and Tabitha become wits in it is such a great achievement not only to them but to the entire organization. We are so proud of them for this milestone and we hope that they will continue to raise the bar even higher for our students. 

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Elimu Hub is being well-utilized

The new Elimu hub student center includes a computer laboratory and library to provide learning activities and resources for our students.  

Primary students take weekly computer classes

There are many benefits of introducing computers to children at an early age. It prepares them for future usage in many professional fields that require these skills. It increases their self-esteem, builds self-confidence, and boosts their problem-solving skills. Students from Nelson Mandela (near the campus) are able to attend during the school week while other students receive intensive exposure on the weekends.

Creative classes on Saturday i.e. Canvas & Coding

As part of the Saturday Program, we are introducing creative computer classes where primary students are taught to use creative tools such as Canvas to create decorative posts for sponsors and to learn basic coding skills.

Internet – Web surfing and student/sponsor communication portal

The students are taught how to use the internet to do school research within their level and how to access and log in to their portals to write/reply to sponsor messages and access their photos and other resources in the portal.

Secondary students attend advanced courses

WordPress training

Secondary students are required to attend computer classes during their holiday including a WordPress course. At the end of the training, they are required to build their online portfolios/websites. The training acts as preparation for the training course with Belmont College after high school.

Internet – Web surfing, NRCF Communication portal, and Google mail

The students are taught how to use the internet to do school research and learn to use the Google Suite tools such as Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Sheets. They are taught to access and log in to their student/sponsor portal to send sponsor messages and access their photos and other resources.

Post-secondary students attend formal courses and do research

High school grads computer training– The two-month training program by Belmont International College will be conducted in our computer lab, which is now equipped with new and fast desktops (thank you to all that helped to fund these needed computers).

Research space for students

The computer lab is open to all students and alumni of the program to conduct research or do assignments. Students use the computers in the lab to access the communication portal to send and receive emails to and from their sponsors.

Library is a place for discovery

School textbooks & revision materials.

The library, with the help of the new Kenyan curriculum project leader, is in the process of identifying school textbooks for all school levels that align with the new curriculum.  

Storybooks/novels

Currently, the library has various genres that students borrow and read within our premises. This activity continues in the new library with a plan of adding more.

Library support

The librarian ensures each student borrows a book at least once every school term. A report is issued each year indicating how many books each student has read.  Each student completes a questionnaire upon returning the book to encourage the student to read their story books.   

Art and Design 

Art and design stimulate creativity and imagination, providing visual and sensory experiences and a special way of understanding and responding to issues. Through learning about the roles and functions of art, students can explore the impact it has had on contemporary life. 

The students will have access to materials that they cannot access from home and are limited at school. They will be able to:

  • Showcase their artwork to sponsors.  For example;  drawing, cardmaking, flower making using different materials, etc
  • Record first-hand experiences or their imaginative ideas to use in their work. 
  • Develop creativity and imagination through a range of complex activities
  • Increase their critical awareness and boost their confidence and have fun.

Reading and study space

Most of our students’ homes are not conducive to studying. The library space is utilized by students during holidays and weekends for reading, studying, and assignments. Students also come for assistance with their assignments from TechMates interns.

Students will have read-aloud and around sessions, where they will be able to share lessons, terms, and group book reading.  Book club sessions, “Little Gurus”, for grades 5 and 6 students will resume.

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An Incredible Trip

My first trip to Nairobi was an exceptional experience in community and capacity building. For two weeks, I delved into staff tasks, engaged with students, and met board members to comprehend their roles.

My biggest takeaway is the sense of community that welcomes the students and their families when they join the NRCF (Ngong Road Children’s Foundation) community. They are embraced with joy and high expectations.

The new Elimu Hub student center is busy! Lucy Iguri (in blue) and Victor Wambua have made creative and professional contributions to the library collection, including tagging the books per a system emulated from another library, and developing a Google Form for book tracking and checkout. Lucy developed guidelines to address how to curate and manage the collection.

Students eagerly surround books on Lucy’s desk, urging her to catalog for a prompt reading adventure as pictured. Excitement fills the air!

Between one-to-one meetings, Saturday programs, lunches, and weekend activities, I was able to get to know the individual NRCF and KLL (Karibu Loo) staff members and have the privilege of hearing their stories. The most impressionable stories were those with the staff who are also program alumni. 

Here are two NRCF alumni entrepreneurs: Patrick and Leonard! 

Delivering loos with John and Martin, both NRCF beneficiaries.

Meeting former board member Edna with Callen and family. Visiting Kelvin’s son Taj.

At Saturday Program, the intertwined network includes Case Managers, students, and allies like the Saturday Program cook and nurse, revealing deep interdependence. The children radiate delight at having games, activities, and books that they would not otherwise be able to access. The students in the red shirts are the choir.

Shanice is a newly sponsored student. She took a book home from Saturday program. When she came with her mother to pick up her uniform, Alice said she read it to her sister all evening. Here she is coming back for more! Future librarian?!

I became solidly convinced of why I felt compelled to join this organization through my immersion in the NRCF community.

We ensure college access for economically disadvantaged kids, granting them equal opportunities and changing their belief in educational attainment. Their beaming faces project a sense of security in a circle of supportive peers, mentors, and caregivers among whom they grow up.