Friends of Ngong Road

Providing education and support to Nairobi children living in poverty whose families are affected by HIV/AIDS.

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Archives for April 2020

April 27, 2020 By Michon Garrett Leave a Comment

Tunda’s Update – April 28, 2020

The Food from Friends initiative has been going well. Today we issued 73 packs to 73 families. Most parents/guardians of children in the program have lost their jobs, therefore it is a hard and trying time for these families given the nature of their existence is a hand-to-mouth life.

On top of not being able to feed themselves, these families are now faced with the challenge of rent payment with some landlords threatening to evict. Some have received notice to vacate by the end of the month. We are working with the local authorities to help out in such cases by talking to the landlords and advising our parents to join with other tenants in the negotiations with landlords as opposed to individual negotiations.

We are working closely with our primary schools to ensure that our students continue learning from home. The schools have printed revision materials that were received by all students. In preparation for the important national exam at the end of the year, we are collaborating in an effort to ensure our candidates are well prepared. The President and the Education Cabinet Secretary have both informed citizens that the exams are still going to take place as scheduled. 

Since internet access is a challenge to our parents, most of our students are unable to access the ongoing media lessons the Education Ministry have placed on television and radio. Instead, the schools send us revision papers and marking instructions on WhatsApp. We print them and pass them on to the parents. The parents, therefore, are in charge of marking the work and helping in the revision process. 

We are glad to report that even though there are a few confirmed cases of COVID-19 within our locality (Dagoretti slum) none of our students, parents/guardians or families have tested positive. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our sponsors and supporters for the important contributions they have been giving us. Keep safe. Thank you!

Best regards,

Tunda Lepore 
Senior Case Manager
Primary Department

April 20, 2020 By Kelvin Thuku 1 Comment

Update from Nairobi: Food from Friends

Ngong Road Children’s Foundation’s main priority in our COVID-19 response is to focus on family food aid. We are calling this new initiative Food from Friends. In the course of a normal April, our program provides students with breakfast and lunch each weekday while they are on break from school as well as a hearty lunch on Saturdays during Saturday Program. We are no longer conducting these programs due to the government directives on social distancing and avoiding gatherings. The children are at home with their families, many of whom are no longer working. 

We have been running the Food from Friends project where funds gathered are used to purchase food packages for families. We have approximately 300 families dependent on our program.  Each food packet contains 1 kg beans 2kg of rice, 4kg of maize flour and 500g of cooking fat. In the last two weeks, we have been able to issue food aid to around 200 families among which 72 of the neediest families have received food packets twice. 75% of our families have 3-5 people in a household and the food pack we give can only last them for a week. We are looking at being able to provide larger quantities of food that would last a family a month, thus minimizing the movements of parents coming for food aid every week.

Families that have received food have shared that they consider themselves so lucky to be part of this organization and so thankful for the food aid support.  

We thank our donors and well-wishers for your commitment to providing Food from Friends.  We are in this together and we shall overcome. Stay safe.

Kelvin Thuku
Program Manager
Ngong Road Children’s Foundation

April 14, 2020 By Steve Kotvis Leave a Comment

New COVID-19 Updates Page

Dear friends,

This week we are launching the “COVID-19 Updates” page on the Friends of Ngong Road website. So much is rapidly changing. Practically every moment we are trying to understand this pandemic from our own perspective and experiences and from the perspectives and experiences of others. We are adjusting to this new reality, and we are doing so together as a global community, with the realization that many of our human responses are shared.

We created “COVID-19 Updates” with the purpose of strengthening our connections. Our aim is to keep one another connected by providing updates on the well-being of our children and their families in Nairobi, as well as connecting fellow sponsors and supporters from around the globe. Here you will find timely and relevant updates on physical, emotional, nutritional, and financial issues. We will let you know what the organizations’ actions, plans and priorities are, as well as ways you can help. And, as in all communities, it’s about supporting one another. 

For the past couple weeks we’ve shared what our priorities are today; ensuring our children and their families are adequately nourished. We started by diverting resources and asking for help in supporting the Food from Friends campaign. 

We hope this page becomes the place where you can return to for continued connection, to read weekly updates, to hear, watch and read personal stories coming from Nairobi, and to discover ways you can help and be connected through the months ahead. Please visit www.ngongroad.org and click on the “COVID-19 Updates” button right in the middle of the home page. 

Having visited the program and children in Nairobi four times since 2012 as a photographer, videographer and podcaster, I have learned that we each live what we believe to be our own “normal” lives, and that some of those normals are as different as night and day. But, the lesson today’s pandemic may teach us all is we all are living a “new normal.” And wouldn’t it be wonderful if that included us being just a bit more connected, regardless of where we’re living.

Steve Kotvis
Volunteer

April 7, 2020 By Paula Meyer Leave a Comment

Launch of “Food from Friends”

Dear friends,

Last week I told you that one of Friends of Ngong Road’s priorities in our COVID-19 response in Kenya is to focus on family food aid. We are calling this new initiative Food from Friends. In the course of a normal week during normal times, our program provides elementary-age students with breakfast and lunch each school day as well as a hearty lunch on Saturdays. Boarding school students receive 3 meals daily plus tea. As a result, when students are home these families experience extreme stress in just providing food for everyone.

Caseworkers for Ngong Road Children’s Foundation have contacted each family in our program over the past week. So far, no families in our program (including staff) have been diagnosed with COVID- 19. But, we’ve learned that two-thirds of our families have no source of income during the economic lockdown in Kenya. There are very serious limitations on movement and economic engagement including a curfew from dusk to dawn each day, enforced by police. Thus, our focus is to provide food aid for those families with no source of income. In our first week we distributed 130 food packets, but we must do more. 

Each food packet contains beans and rice, corn flour and cooking fat. Families eat beans and rice as a meal. The corn flour is used to make a staple dish called ugali (a thick cornmeal mush) that is typically eaten with collard greens or spinach. A food packet costs about $10 ($40 a month) and we estimate will feed a family of four at least one meal a day for a week.

We expect the need for food to grow as Kenya’s shutdown goes from days to weeks. Thank you for your commitment to providing Food From Friends. Please click on the Donate button to give today.

Sincerely,

Paula Meyer

April 1, 2020 By Paula Meyer Leave a Comment

Personal connections, a world away.

Friends of Ngong Road has worked for 14 years with students on the other side of the planet and somehow hundreds of sponsors and supporters have found a way to build personal connections with Kenyans. In fact, Friends of Ngong Road is deeply committed to helping sponsors and donors build relationships with the students in our program. In our world today, now challenged by COVID-19, we may be a world away but personal connections are still indispensable! 

Students, our Kenyan staff, and their families are all fine so far. There are a total of 28 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Kenya. As of March 25 at midnight, no more international flights are allowed in the country. Kenya’s government has imposed a dusk to dawn curfew from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. The president and his deputy have taken a 80% cut in pay and all other high-ranking officials have taken a 50% cut. The government has also made the important step of waiving income tax for people who earn less than 24,000 KSH per month (about $240) and reducing income tax for higher wage earners.

Our normal process is to distribute 15 food packets monthly for 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 beans, 2 kg rice, 500 g of cooking fat and 4 kg of maize flour. This food provides the basis for a family of four to eat at least one time daily for a week. The maize flour is used to make a cornmeal mush called ugali, Kenya’s staple food. It is typically eaten with collard greens or kale. 

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. Case workers are making weekly calls to each of the families they support and through that, we are collecting data on how many people are still able to work, how many have traveled to rural areas in an effort to protect themselves and how many are in dire need of support.  

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

Paula Meyer
President and Founder
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Friends of Ngong Road
PO Box 581308
Minneapolis, MN 55458
(612) 568-4211 | [email protected]

 

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