Archives for April 2020

By Tunda,

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 payments with some landlords threatening to evict them. 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. Schools distributed revision materials to students. We are collaborating to ensure candidates are well-prepared for the crucial national exam at the end of the year.. The President and the Education Cabinet Secretary have both informed citizens that the exams are still going to take place as scheduled. 

Parents struggle with internet access, limiting students’ access to media lessons on television and radio, hindering the Education Ministry’s efforts . 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. 

Despite few confirmed COVID-19 cases in Dagoretti slum, none of the students, parents, or families tested positive. 

We express our gratitude to sponsors and supporters for their significant contributions. Keep safe. Thank you!

Best regards,

Tunda Lepore 
Senior Case Manager
Primary Department

Ngong Road Children Foundation

Ngong Road Children’s Foundation’s main priority in our COVID-19 response is to focus on family food aid in Nairobi. 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 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 of 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

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 of 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 for continued connection, read weekly updates, hear, watch and read personal stories coming from Nairobi, and 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

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 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. 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