Letter From Nairobi – U.S visit

This has been a busy time here in Nairobi at Ngong Road Children’s Foundation.

The camp was once more an exciting time as usual. The volunteers from the U.S. were awesome since each of them had work to do during Camp. Margaret and Karen helped to make kites; Megan did a role model essay. Ethan taught Frisbees which is a new game for Kenya and Katelyn did a science project about volcanoes. We had two NRCF board members who were also able to attend and participate together with the children, Robert and Edna.

At Grammar Camp Margaret and Karen, our two handicraft experts from the US, helped the kids create journals and during the Little Kids Camp they taught beadwork. During the Little Kids Camp, the kids had a good time because we took them to the animal orphanage where they were able to see monkeys, zebras, lions, and cheetahs.  Megan and Katelyn helped the children write their essays during Grammar Camp.

What we have learned as years go by is that it is very hard to get a good location where we can have Grammar camps because the school locations we can afford are all government-run and they are not well kept. We have therefore come up with a solution that comes next year we will have the Grammar Camp out of Nairobi at Naivasha where we had the Seniors Camp.  Naivasha was accommodative and we all were happy with the premises and the courtesy we were given. We appreciate Tom Gleason and Antony Kamau for working together very effectively in making sure that children had the best time during Camp.

I am very happy that Naomi and Tunda will be visiting the U.S.A this month. The things that I am happy that they will learn are training opportunities from the U.S. board members that have been organized especially on leadership, seeing many of the sponsors and how they love the children that they sponsor as well as learning new cultures which I believe will be beneficial to them. It will be also a time that they will be able to talk about the children they so tirelessly and lovingly work with and share stories about the children and their work in Kenya. Naomi has an inspiring story since she is the first employee in the organization. Tunda, as a Maasai woman, has a background that is very interesting. I am sure that the sponsors will love to hear and share with them while they are in the U.S. I am therefore very happy that this time round they have the opportunity to come to the U.S.

I am eagerly waiting when them to come back to Nairobi and for the knowledge, they will bring back to the rest of the organization.

Post-Secondary has been challenging for us but we are happy that we are almost over with making sure that the 2013 graduates all get enrolled in their different colleges. It has been a long journey in doing this and we have learned a lot which we hope to implement next year when we have a bigger group of students graduating.

Thank you for all you do for us here in Nairobi.