News - Page 57 of 92 - Friends of Ngong Road

April 1, 2020 By Paula Meyer Leave a Comment

Personal connections, a world away.

Friends of Ngong Road has been working with Kenyan students for 14 years, helping sponsors and supporters build personal connections with Kenyans. The organization is committed to helping sponsors and donors establish relationships with the students in their program. In our world today, now challenged by COVID-19, we may be a world away but personal connections are still indispensable!

Kenya has 28 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with international flights prohibited after midnight on March 25. The president and his deputy have taken 80% pay cuts, while high-ranking officials have taken 50% cuts. The government has waived income tax for those earning less than 24,000 KSH per month and reduced it for higher wage earners.

Our normal process is to distribute 15 food packets monthly to families in the greatest need. From March 23rd to 27th alone we distributed 50. We will try to increase this food distribution as we get more information about where the greatest need lies. A food packet is pretty basic: 1 kg of beans, 2 kg of rice, 500 g of cooking fat, and 4 kg of maize flour. A family of four can enjoy Kenya’s ugali daily with collard greens or kale for a week.

The Kenyan offices are operating with a skeleton staff and handling meetings by appointment only. The computer lab and library are closed. We may allow some students to use it by appointment in the coming days and weeks. Caseworkers conduct weekly calls to support families, collecting data on job availability, those who travelled to rural areas, and support needs. This helps identify those in need of assistance and ensures a better understanding of their situation.

Thank you for the personal connections you have made with our friends in Kenya. We’re all in this together!

March 23, 2020 By Paula Meyer Leave a Comment

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!

March 17, 2020 By Paula Meyer Leave a Comment

The Impact of COVID-19

We are all feeling a bit overwhelmed by developments in the world over the past two weeks including the spread of COVID-19. This is a brief update on what is happening to our program in Kenya and also to our team in the U.S.
Our objectives are:

to keep our staff in both Kenya and the U.S. safe and healthy;
to comply with public health recommendations and mandates in both countries; and
to make decisions that enhance the likelihood the organizations will successfully weather this storm so we can continue to focus on our mission of educating students and transforming lives post-crisis.

It is important to note that the community we work with in Kenya is extremely vulnerable to the harm this situation will inflict on people. Most of the student’s parents and guardians have pre-existing health conditions; they all have limited income, usually earned by performing casual labor that has already evaporated; and in the slums, there is no such thing as “social distance”. You will note in our summary of the situation in Kenya that we have increased our budget for emergency food aid and believe it will be sorely needed in the coming weeks. If you would like to make a donation to support providing basic food packets to our families in Kenya, please click on the button below. A $40 gift can provide food packets that feed a family for a month.

Donate now to provide food support for families who are impacted.

In Kenya:

Several cases of COVID-19 have appeared in Kenya. The government of Kenya has taken aggressive action to prevent the virus from spreading in the country.
Kenyan public health officials have mandated no gatherings of large numbers of people, they have closed all schools effective this week and require that employees work from home.
We have formed a Crisis Management team for both Ngong Road Children’s Foundation and Karibu Loo Limited. The teams in Kenya meet daily and provide written updates to the U.S. Crisis Management Team, along with a global weekly touch-base meeting.
Ngong Road Children’s Foundation will operate with a skeleton staff and will communicate with students and families through text messages, updates to our website, and printed flyers. This is in regards to the measures in place to deal with COVID-19.
Caseworkers are available to students and families by telephone or by appointment in the office in case of emergencies.
Saturday Program, home visits, and school visits are suspended during this crisis.
We have cut staff hours, salaries, and other expenses in an effort to preserve options as the crisis unfolds while also ensuring our staff has enough income to cover their essential needs.
Karibu Loo business will also be curtailed as long as there are prohibitions on gatherings and social events as a move to curb COVID-19 spread. As with Ngong Road Children’s Foundation, we have reduced expenses to a minimum.
We have significantly increased our budget for food aid for families, as we expect this crisis to result in significant food insecurity for our population.

In the United States:

We have formed a Crisis Management Team consisting of Paula Meyer, Amy Johnson, and Keith Kale; we meet daily.
Our associates in the U.S. operate on a remote basis and will continue that practice. We have made no changes to staff compensation or hours, though changes made by daycare providers are affecting several of our team members.
Paula Meyer and other board members have increased the amount of time working on Friends of Ngong Road matters and we expect that to continue in the coming months as we work to navigate these unprecedented times. Our board of directors will meet this week and again in April to deliberate issues facing the organization.

We remain committed to our mission and will work to successfully navigate these challenging times. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to paula@ngongroad.org.Thank you, and stay healthy!

January 8, 2020 By Lacey Kraft Leave a Comment

Reflections on 2019

As we reflect on the last year, we are so grateful to you. Your generous donations, hours of volunteering, trips to Kenya, letters to your students, and care for kids in Kenya have fueled the mission of transforming lives through education to employment. Cheers to you!

Here are some highlights of what we did, together:

Annual Appeal Goal Hit!

Ted and Kathy Truscott’s $70,000 Annual Appeal match goal was hit on December 30! This year’s Annual Appeal match goal was the largest ever and allowed important programming not covered by sponsorship fees to be accessed by all of our students. Such programs include nutrition, healthcare, camp, caseworker support, sexual and reproductive health, life skills, our library and computer lab, and more. Sincere thanks to everyone who helped us meet the match.

Class 8 Exam Results Are In and Are Great.

At the end of each calendar year, which is the end of the school year in Kenya, students in Class 8 (Grade 8) and Form 4 (Seniors) complete their final exams to determine their next educational step. Lincoln (pictured here) scored the best of our Class 8 students . 100 percent of our Class 8 students are expected to join a secondary school, and six scored high enough to be admitted to national schools, the best in the country.

We Are Proud of Our First University Graduates, Eric, and Victor.

Our first university graduates were Eric and Victor . Eric and Victor both graduated from Kenyatta University with Degrees in Procurement and Computer Mathematics respectively. Victor is a self-employed entrepreneur and currently runs a small gaming business while he is looking for work in his field.

Eric’s promotion at Digital Divide Data has elevated him to the position of a full-time Project Manager. In this role, he manages a team of individuals and interacts directly with clients.

He is looking for a new apartment out of the slums. We are proud of Victor, Eric, and all of our graduates.

The Life Skills Program is Making a Big Difference for our Students.
The Life Skills Program is led by our local caseworkers with the support of Rotary International and Friends of Ngong Road board member, Meghan Feige. Topics such as goal setting, peer pressure, well-being, problem-solving, resume writing, interview skills, and more are taught. Graduation rates of our high school students have increased since starting the Life Skills Program, and the hands-on sessions have become a highlight for our students. Life Skills is already having a direct impact on student self-confidence and self-awareness. We anticipate the program having impacts on employment success and will continue monitoring and evaluating the program.

The Sexual and Reproductive Health Program Matters for Student Success.
Our Sexual and Reproductive Health Program was started in 2017 and is led by our Youth Peer Providers, who are our secondary and post-secondary students trained by Planned Parenthood. The program has received immense support from Tulane University’s Newcomb Institute and the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. So far:

We have trained 300 out of 335 students.
96% of participants agreed more training sessions would be helpful.
26% of participants have accessed free medical care at our partner clinic.
Unplanned pregnancies among our students have significantly dropped.

Karibu Loo Won an All-Kenya Service Award as Business Continues to Improve.

In September, the Karibu Loo team applied for and won the Kenyan hospitality industry’s MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) Award for the “Best Sanitation Provider in Kenya”. The team presented the award at a dinner event, which all the managers proudly attended.

Shown at left, from left: Steven Muendo, Operations Manager; Emmanuel Mukasa, Business Development Director; Maureen Mulievi, General Manager; and Norman Ruguroa, Administrative/Marketing Associate.

To read more about Karibu Loo: https://sandbox.ngongroad.org/2019/11/12/karibu-loo-business-update/

December 25, 2019 By Paula Meyer Leave a Comment

Notes from Paula

By Paula Meyer, Founder, and President

I just returned from a visit to Kenya on December 10. One of my favorite things to do in Kenya is spend time with alumni to learn about their lives since graduation. Here are the stories of several alumni and one about a student who will graduate from law school in 2020.

Margaret joined our program in 2008. In 2017, Margaret finished a program in Community Development. Ngong Road Children’s Foundation employed her as an intern for six months after which she got an entry-level job with the law firm Odero Osiemo Advocates. Margaret explained to me that she wanted to become a lawyer, but her grades were not high enough to be admitted to a law school program. She began at the firm as an office administrator and was soon promoted to assistant to one of the lawyers. The firm has now offered Margaret the opportunity to attend a six-month professional training program in 2020 to become a mediator. They will pay her fees and continue to employ her as she goes through this program. Margaret has built a new, better life for herself. Margaret was sponsored by Anne McCulloch.

Philip joined the program in 2007 and finished a training program to become a plumber in 2019. Philip was raised by his single mother who worked part-time as a community worker. While a student in our program, Philip’s teachers consistently noted that he was hardworking, punctual, and a good problem-solver. Today, Philip is not employed full-time with any single organization, but rather serves as a plumbing contractor. He has developed a wonderful, outgoing personality that will serve him well as he works to support his young family. Philip is now married; he and his wife had a son in 2019 whom they named Lennick – after Doug and Beth Ann Lennick, his sponsors for all those years.

Elizabeth was raised by her aunt and uncle. Her aunt was an elementary school teacher at the school where Elizabeth attended. Elizabeth was always near the top of her class and she graduated from high school in 2015. Since then, she has been enrolled at the University of Nairobi, studying law. She is on track to graduate in 2020 and hopes to land an internship at a law firm in Kenya. Elizabeth and her aunt attended the 2019 Annual General Meeting for Ngong Road Children’s Foundation in Kenya where we saw each other and she explained that she is really looking forward to getting a job. Needless to say, her aunt is very proud of Elizabeth.

Jackline was in our first high school graduating class in 2012 and was of the very first students in our program. After completing high school she took a one-year program in front-office skills. Upon completing that program, Jackline became the enthusiastic and always cheerful NRCF/Karibu Loo receptionist. In 2014, her pleasant and outgoing personality got her hired by Bimeda, a veterinary supply company, as a Customer Care Representative. Having been very happy and successful in that role, Jackline is now pursuing additional education, courtesy of Bimeda, and hopes to move into a sales position in the future. She lives with her mother, one sister, and a niece and has moved her family out of the slums into an apartment with running water and electricity, luxuries never before enjoyed by the family. Jackline was proudly sponsored by Keith and Kathleen Kale.