Archives for September 2021

We want to send a sincere thank you to all our students, supporters, and donors who have made Elimu Hub possible. And a special thanks to the South Metro Minneapolis Evening Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Kikuyu for partnering with NRCF/FoNR in this noble project. You have all overwhelmed us with your generous response to the campaign this summer as we surpassed the goal substantially.

The additional gifts have allowed us to build a larger Elimu Hub that will better serve our needs, not just now, but in the future, as we grow. Instead of using five 20-foot containers, for a total of 800 square feet, we are expanding it to seven, totaling 960 square feet of space for our library and computer lab. The work will commence this month and we are excited to welcome the students in a couple of months. Elimu Hub will be more than just a physical place. It’s where students can support one another, alumni can return to the network with one another and mentor younger students, and where Wepowerment can happen.

Thank you again!

Dear friends,

Our mission since inception has been to support life transformation through education and ultimately employment. In 2021, we have come to believe we must increase our focus and effectiveness on the employment dimension of our mission.  

Much of the employment in Kenya is called “casual”. Since there aren’t enough job opportunities in the formal Kenyan economy, people must create their own employment to survive. Most families of students in our program support themselves with casual labor. At the low end, this means cooking food to sell in the slums or running a small kiosk, or doing day construction labor. If you are educated, casual labor may be a contract or temporary work.

In May 2021, Friends of Ngong Road conducted a survey of alumni that we call The First 100.  We surveyed 112 alumni of the program and received 95 responses. We learned that:

• 80% of alumni have had one or more jobs in the past twelve months.
• At the time of the survey, only 46% of alumni were employed. Among that group, more than 80% had a job in the formal economy.
• Among the unemployed, more than 70% had been working in the casual economy and when COVID hit, their work disappeared.
• 59% of alumni are supporting at least one other person – a child, a parent, a sibling.  

Our conclusions are that we must provide more support to help students gain employment in the formal Kenyan economy.  Kenya’s employment picture is certainly not at its best due to COVID-19. Nonetheless, our board of directors concluded we must do better. We are working to accelerate our efforts to support long-term employment by:

• Deepening our understanding of areas where job opportunities exist in Kenya and then ensuring our students are preparing themselves in areas where there are employment opportunities.
• Preparing students for employment during high school by teaching them about what kinds of jobs exist and the skills needed to get those jobs, teaching self-awareness so they become more astute about where they are likely to succeed and teaching interviewing/communication skills. We call these programs Life Skills and now deliver curriculum to all four years of high school.  
• Redoubling our efforts to partner with employers, local board members and other Kenyan supporters to connect students to that important first job.

An educated student is much more likely to succeed than an uneducated one, but employment is the only way to truly transform lives. We will be working hard on this and sharing our findings. We support transformation through education AND employment!