As a sponsor, one of the best ways to help your child is to build regular correspondence with them. This helps them improve their English reading and writing skills and it helps inspire them to work hard in school because they know that their sponsor cares about them. For many of the children, especially those living with guardians, having a person show that they really care about them is of deep emotional value.
Our Sponsor Portal makes it very easy to communicate with your child. Here’s an overview of the process along with a video demonstration:
- Use the SIGN IN button at the top of any ngongroad.org webpage to log in to the Sponsor Portal. Never signed in before? Forgot your password? No problem, follow these instructions.
- Click on the tab titled “Inbox” for your child. Note that if you sponsor more than one child, you will have a home page with all your students grouped in the departments they are in. See the terminology reference here. Click on the student you want to correspond with and proceed.
- Click on messages to read them. New messages are in bold type. Messages you have read will remain in the inbox, so you can refer to them when you have time to write.
- Click on “+ COMPOSE NEW MESSAGE” to start a new message to your child. Short messages are fine. Do not feel that you need to write a long letter every time. A quick note with a few photos attached is equally appreciated.
- Click “Reply” on a student message to reply to that exact message.
- After you start composing or replying to a message and you leave the portal, a draft will be saved so you can come back and pick up where you left off.
- Use the ‘Attachments’ portion to add photos, videos, scans of handwritten letters, etc. to your messages. You can drag and drop files or click “browse” to find them on your computer.
- Use this link to learn how to send videos to your student.
- If you have any issues using the portal, you can contact staff@ngongroad.org for assistance.
The portal is the easiest way to communicate with your child. We hope you will enjoy using it often.
How Your Communication is Delivered
Children that have regular access to our computer lab facilities will be able to log in similar to the way you do and view the messages you send electronically. When this is not possible our staff print the emails and deliver them through other means.
Letter Writing Tips
Communicating with your student on the portal is an great way for you to engage with your student and create a long-lasting relationship. Students love to hear from their sponsors and it gives you both the opportunity to share about your lives, your family, and send encouraging messages. The portal allows you to write, share pictures, and even send videos. This communication opens up both of your worlds and gives someone with a completely different life experience a peek into your life.
When writing to your student, keep their age in mind, and focus on topics they can understand. You can expect when writing a student who is 10 years old that their messages may be shorter and focus on easy topics (ie. favorite school subject, food, friends, etc.). Students will write to their sponsors 3 times a year. You will receive an email notifying you when your student writes to you. Feel free to write to your student as often as you’d like, but during the school year we expect the students to remain focused on their studies.
Life is not easy in the Dagoretti slums. Communicating with your student will show that you are engaged and committed to supporting them; you also will enjoy learning about life in Kenya through your student’s eyes.
Asking yourself how to write a good letter? What should I say? Is it rude to talk about our house or our vacations?
Consider some tips that should help you start communicating with your student.
Write about topics your student can understand, such as school, family, activities, weather, and other universal topics.
- School: Taking an interest in their school activities shows your student that you care about them. “
Be sure to ask about their lessons, teachers, classes, which subjects they like the most, and why? Students also participate in extracurricular activities, sports, groups, dancing, etc.
- Family is vital in Kenya, which makes it another great topic.
Share as much as you are comfortable about your children, grandchildren, pets, partners, parents, etc. What are their ages? What do they like to do? Do they live near you? What do you do when you are together?
Be sure to upload pictures of everyone. Sponsored children love to receive photos of their sponsors’ families. If you visit, they would love to have physical copies of photos!
You can even have your child or grandchildren write letters to your student and they can start a pen pal relationship by logging into your portal account to write.
- Send a picture of you on your last vacation, keep the topic brief and what you enjoyed most about the trip.
- Weather
In Kenya, there is the rainy season and dry season. Your student would be interested in learning about the 4 seasons we have in our part of the world. Talk about:
Which season is your favorite and why?
Which season are you in now? (They love to see pictures of snow)
What season does your birthday fall?
What does your family do for fun during the different seasons? - Provide Encouragement:
Let your student know how proud you are of them for working hard and continuing at school.
You might tell a story from your experience as a student. - You will get updates from staff about how your student is doing in school or in their home life. If you hear that your student is struggling try to provide encouragement by reminding them that you believe in them and are proud of how much they have accomplished.
What to avoid:
These students have very little, so avoid writing about favorite possessions or extravagant vacations to point out the difference between you and your student. Also, do not assume when a student writes about their home and how they do not have a bed to sleep on that they are complaining or wishing that they had more. They are simply giving you a glimpse into what normal life looks like for them.
Safety when Writing:
Remember not to post personal information about your student on social media; you can post pictures, but only use your student’s first name. Do not send your student personal information like your email, phone number or home address. While students are in our program, all communication is required to go through the portal for safety reasons. Finally, do not send money, gifts, etc. directly to your student. If you wish to send a gift, please contact staff@ngongroad.org to assist with that.
Other ways to engage with your student:
Display your child’s photograph and the Kenyan at home and on your desk at work.
Tell your network about your friendship with this child and let them know how to get involved if they’re interested.
Learn more about your child’s country, culture, music, literature, food and holidays on your own or through Sponsor Networking Events.
Prepare a Kenyan meal for your family.
Listen to Kenyan music.
Visit your student in Kenya.