Archives for March 2021

March 27, 2021 By Paula Meyer Leave a Comment

Our students are now in lockdown.

Dear friends,

We learned late Friday afternoon that due to a significant escalation in the rate of COVID infections, especially in Nairobi, the President of Kenya has announced containment measures including a lockdown. Nairobi county and four adjacent counties have been declared to be a “red zone” and movement into and out of this area has been prohibited as of midnight on Friday.

Included among the measures being announced are: the reimposition of the dusk-to-dawn curfew, absolutely no gatherings of groups of people for any reason, all in-person education being suspended and all public and private sector employees encouraged to work from home. In other words, Nairobi is on lockdown. News reports from Kenya indicate that the South African variant, which is apparently more contagious, is the primary source of the recent surge in infections. We have also heard reports that all ICU beds in Nairobi are full. Our team in Kenya had an emergency meeting via Zoom on Saturday to discuss key implications (see Q&A below).

We will keep you updated on the rapidly evolving situation in Kenya. Please be aware that if you are expecting a response to recent correspondence, this situation may slow our ability to get students to write emails in Kenya. This situation highlights the challenges faced as our world copes with this truly global pandemic.

Here are the key implications of this lockdown to students:

Q: Will students remain in school for in-person education?
A: No. The children have been in school since January 2 but have now been sent home. The only exception is that students who have just finished high school and are sitting for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) will complete their exams in April. Students who are attending a boarding school outside of the five counties have been given two days to proceed to their homes. We are supporting that with bus fares and by making contact with their schools.

Q. We had many extra activities scheduled for students during their brief April holidays: Life Skills training, Sexual & Reproductive Health training, and Drug & Substance Awareness training. Will those training programs happen?
A: No. All of those special training programs will have to be rolled out sometime in the future. However, the case managers will use a bulk SMS process to both disseminate information on Sexual & Reproductive Health to students and to sensitize parents/guardians to emerging issues affecting students now home from school (e.g. substance abuse, teen pregnancy, etc.)

Q: Are students in post-secondary programs affected by this lockdown?
A: Yes. All in-person instruction has been suspended. Our staff will follow up with every institution to understand their plans. When possible, we will loan post-secondary students a laptop if online education is proceeding.

Q: How will the students get enough food to eat?
A: We had planned a school holiday lunch program and will seek county government approval to proceed by offering a packed lunch to students. If that fails, we will have to develop an alternative plan. We have a food aid budget to provide food packets for 27 needy families per month in 2021. This program may have to be expanded depending on how long this lockdown continues.

Q: How will you keep in touch with students and their families?
A: As we did during the 2020 lockdowns, our case managers will contact all students by phone and will get an update on their situation from parents or guardians. The case managers will encourage closer scrutiny of students in an effort to keep them on track while they are home.

Q: How will the Ngong Road Children’s Foundation staff operate?
A: The staff will continue its work-from-home rotation and will continue to follow guidelines related to mask-wearing, social distancing, and cleaning. The staff are being encouraged to get a vaccine and have been provided with a letter to show they are frontline workers. Vaccine availability in Kenya is limited, but some members of our team have already been vaccinated.

March 18, 2021 By Carole Patrikakos Leave a Comment

Greetings from Kelvin

Hello, Friends of Ngong Road,

It’s back to school for our students
This year started on a good note with the primary and secondary students reporting back to school in January after 9 months of staying at home. We supported students to safely go back to school by providing school supplies including face masks and hand sanitizers. Post-secondary students also resumed school for in-person learning after a term of online learning.

It is a unique year for students in Kenya due to the four terms instead of the usual three terms. This means students will be in school for longer in order to catch up on the lost terms in 2020. The students are happy to be back in school and they are faring well. Case Managers have started monitoring and evaluating (school visits) and the student progress is good. Schools will close by March 19th as Class 8 and Form 4 candidates prepare for their national examinations. This is also a change from the norm where usually students sit for national exams in November. This year they will transition to the next grade level in July instead of January.

COVID In Kenya
We have experienced a low COVID positivity rate since the beginning of the year. However, the ministry of health is warning of a possible third wave in March with the new variant of the Virus

The good news is that we received the first dose of the vaccine on 2nd March and are targeting 1 million frontline workers, including healthcare workers, to receive it. The current restriction being enforced include; a dusk to dawn curfew, a ban on public and social gatherings, overnight vigil or events being prohibited, public vehicles carrying 60% capacity, a non-essential visit to schools being prohibited, and extracurricular activities such as inter-school sports being prohibited.

The president will review these measures on 12th March. We are glad that only one of our students has been infected by the virus so far (without serious illness) and we continue to sensitize them to stay safe and observe ministry guidelines

Students continue to succeed
NRCF continues its transformation mission of ensuring alumni get jobs and break the poverty cycle. Our most recent alumni to get a job is Christine who recently got employed as a sales representative at Umash Funeral Parlor. It is definitely a tough working environment for her but it is an opportunity for her to gain some experience as well as transform her life. Also, our first female law graduate, Elizabeth, secured an internship with R. W. Mbanya Advocates where she will be able to gain experience in her field of study.

Looking ahead
We have plans in place to engage students during the upcoming April-long holiday break. Plans are underway for Life Skills, SRH, and mental health awareness workshops. We remain committed to the mission of transforming lives and are grateful to all donors and sponsors who support the mission.

Kelvin Thuku

Program Manager

Ngong Road Children’s Foundation

March 18, 2021 By Carole Patrikakos 1 Comment

Notes from Paula – Spring 2021

Dear friends,

The pandemic is not over, yet somehow it feels like we are turning the corner in the US. In Kenya, the effect of COVID-19 was more severe economically and educationally than in public health. Through February, Kenya reported a total of 1,866 deaths from COVID-19. This is about ⅓ the deaths reported in Minnesota despite the fact that Kenya has about 43 million people vs Minnesota’s 5.64 million.

Our team in Kenya believes that economic life is returning to normal in Nairobi, though there is still a ban on large gatherings and the curfew has been extended by 60 days. We stopped providing families food packets through our Food from Friends program in January with no reports of undue suffering. It will take time for the economy to recover ground, but things seem to be coming back steadily.

Ngong Road Children’s Foundation staff, working with our schools have done their best to keep students engaged without in-person education, but nonetheless, students lost ground. There are numerous reports in the country of “indiscipline” among high school students with lower test scores and challenges as students return to the structure of regular education.

The Kenyan government decided last fall that all schools would reopen for in-person education in January 2021. Normally, the academic year is the calendar year and children attend school for three terms. The intention is to squeeze in a fourth school term in 2021 and again in 2022 to make up for the two lost terms in 2020. This has important implications for our program:

For two years, school fees will be about 25% higher. School fees are our biggest annual expense.
We will not hold camp in 2021 or 2022. The student’s favorite activity of the year will be missed until August 2023 when camp is hoped to resume.
We have scheduled Life Skills training for the April breaks. This training is an essential part of our high school program and has contributed significantly to student success.

Our team is handling other changes:

Case Managers continue family visits/check-ins by phone and are beginning in-person visits at many schools.
Authorities still prohibit large gatherings like the Saturday Program.
The school now issues masks as part of the students’ uniform.
Our staff operates in a hybrid fashion. They are taking turns coming into the office and working remotely due to social distancing requirements.

Kenya has received 1 million doses of vaccines for administering to healthcare workers, the elderly, and those with pre-existing medical conditions like HIV. Experts believe receiving adequate vaccine supplies for the entire adult population will be the biggest challenge to eradicating COVID in Kenya. President Uhuru Kenyatta spoke to the nation on March 12 about the implications of a ‘third wave’ of COVID in Kenya, extending restrictions on large gatherings, the curfew, and other limitations. This COVID wave in Kenya seems to be predominantly the South African variant of the virus.

Nevertheless, Kenyans persist. Students are back in school and families are working hard to regain ground lost in 2020. We are doing all we can to support their efforts with your help. Thank you as we all work together to support our students’ dreams to transform their lives through education.

Sincerely,