Archives for December 2020

In November, case managers completed another round of calls to families to find out the status of the household health, finances, and student’s schooling. The students are very much looking forward to going back to school in January. Kenya, and Africa as a whole, seems to be managing this pandemic much better than the US – in fact, the Washington Post released an article about it last week. Most of our students are either receiving assignments from their schools, or are completing supplemental assignments given to them by their case managers. Many of the students have also started completing book reports – which you can find in your sponsor portal in the ‘Handwritten Letters & Essays’ section. 

One of the biggest highlights of this month’s round of calls is that the number of families who are receiving zero income is down significantly. This means that most of the families have found ways to make money, even given their incredible challenges. As of November, only 11% of families didn’t have anyone working – compared to the first round of calls in June when 29% of families reported that no one in their family was able to find work. All of the families have expressed deep gratitude for the food support they have received this year. It has lifted a tremendous burden while the students have all been home from school. 

This week we will be publishing the individual results to the sponsor portal. Keep an eye out for them so you can read about how your student and their family is doing, and be sure to write a note or record a video message for your student to encourage them as they head back to school in a few weeks. 

We are thrilled for the students in Kenya as in a few short weeks, they will all go back to school. Students will resume where they left off in March of 2020 and start their second trimester. 

Instead of having 3 trimesters and month-long breaks after each term, students in Kenya will have 4 terms for the next two years, and the breaks will be shorter. The purpose of this schedule is to allow for all the students to start where they left off in 2020, and to resume the normal schedule again as quickly as possible. If all goes according to plan, students will again have three terms per year and the normal breaks starting in 2023. 

We will do our best to lay out what the current plan is (below), and if you wish, you can read the Press Release from the Ministry of Education here. And, as we all know from how chaotic it has been here in the US to figure out schooling of young students, this is the current plan, but the situation could change at any time.

2021 School Schedule:

2nd Trimester	Break	3rd Trimester	Break	1st Trimester*	Break	2nd Trimester	Holiday Break
1/4/21- 3/19/21	3/20/21- 5/9/21	5/10/21- 7/16/21	7/17/21- 7/25/21	7/26/21- 10/1/21	10/2/21- 10/10/21	10/11/21-12/23/21	12/24/21-1/2/22
11 weeks	7 weeks	10 weeks	1 week	10 weeks	1 week	11 weeks	10 days
	Grades 8 and 12 national testing	Grades 8 and 12 on break

The initial break in March is longer than the others due to the national exams that the 8th and 12th graders will be completing. In Kenya, the tests are so extensive that they require weeks of actual testing, and then multiple weeks to grade the exams and publish the results. 

*In July, all students will move up and begin a new school year. This means that the students who just completed testing in 12th grade will begin the transition to post secondary, and all the other students will move up a grade level. 

One of our biggest successes this year was the Food from Friends campaign. In March, we explained to our supporters that due to the students staying home from school (where they normally receive two meals a day), and the lack of options for income for their families, we needed to raise the money to be able to feed every single family (and some alumni) in our program. You stepped up in an incredible way, and we are so thrilled to say that we accomplished our goal. We hoped to raise $80,000 to feed 350 families from April through December. With your help, we were able to raise $88,000 and feed 373 children and their families – a total of about 5,000 food packets. 

So many of you donated to this cause. From $20 to our $10,000 match, some of you even choosing to donate on a recurring basis each month. Thank you, thank you, thank you! If you are a sponsor and you have read your student’s COVID assessment report on the sponsor portal, many of the families answer the “anything else we should know?” question by thanking the case managers for the food support. For most of them, it is the only way they have been able to survive the pandemic and resulting lack of income. 

We are so happy that the students are able to return to school in January, and that those schools will once again be able to provide them with the two meals a day that they need to thrive and learn. We have built a robust ‘emergency food fund’ into our 2021 budget so that we can continue to support families who need it. But, the families are reporting that they are back to work, and with students going back to school, we can turn our attention to how we will pay for an extra school term for every student in 2021 and 2022.

Thank you to the many friends who have already donated to our annual appeal! We are making great progress but still need additional supporters to achieve our goal of raising $150,000 by year end. 

These funds are critical in supporting costs not covered by student sponsorship, including areas critical to education and development such as the safety and well-being programs, the computer lab, the library and the Saturday programs.

Your support will be DOUBLED thanks to the $75,000 matching gift from the Ted and Kathy Truscott Family Foundation. You can also consider a gift of stock to fit in with your year-end tax planning.  

It’s not too late! Help us transform lives.

As you plan your year-end gift to Friends of Ngong Road, please keep in mind the many ways you can support us beyond making a cash gift.

• Donor-Advised Funds. Donor-advised funds allow you to make a charitable contribution, receive a tax deduction and then recommend the grant to Friends of Ngong Road.
• IRA Rollovers. An IRA Rollover gift can fulfill your required minimum distribution, decrease your taxable income and make a world of difference to our children in Nairobi. Any amount you donate this way counts toward your Required Minimum Distribution and reduces the taxable amount of your IRA distribution. This lowers your taxable income even if you take the standard deduction.
• Stocks. By donating your appreciated stock, you will save on capital gains tax on the increased value of the stock while also making a charitable gift. The entire stock is transferred at its valued price to Friends of Ngong Road.
• Planned Giving. After providing for your family and loved ones, you may want to remember Friends of Ngong Road and the children we serve. A gift from your will, trust, retirement account, or life insurance policy will help to secure the long-term future of our work.

Consult with your tax advisor for final planning. If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Development Director, Charlie Levine.