Search Results for: saturday program

June 9, 2023 By Sallyanne Atieno Leave a Comment

Saturday Program Update

The Saturday program, a child development initiative, has been making a significant impact on the lives of our students by providing a platform for engaging and fun learning experiences. Through a range of activities facilitated by dedicated staff, students have been able to explore their interests, enhance their skills, and build lasting friendships among themselves. In the past months since the beginning of the year, we have also been privileged to have visitors, sponsors, and donors join us during the Saturday program.

One notable visit to the Saturday program was by Amy, the Chief Operating Officer of Friends of Ngong Road. During her visit to Nairobi, Kenya she visited the program and joined the students in various activities. Her presence brought a sense of excitement and encouragement to the students as she conveyed warm greetings from sponsors. Amy’s personal interaction with students fostered connection, reminding them of their sponsors’ love and support, fostering a sense of connection.

Robin, a sponsor and brother of Andy, visited the program and interacted with sponsored students, friends, and participated in fun activities. Andy, a board member and Chief Technical Officer at Friends of Ngong Road, also met with the students.

Another significant contribution to the Saturday program came in the form of donations from the Waterfront Mall in Karen, Nairobi. They donated books, clothes, and shoes for the students. Book donations increased library collection, while clothes and shoes were given to students . These donations will not only provide valuable educational resources but also help improve the students’ well-being.

The Saturday Program fosters hope, transformation, and belonging among students, fostering growth and community, inspiring them to support each other.

Donate towards the Saturday program.

March 24, 2022 By Victor Wambua Leave a Comment

The Saturday Program

Each Saturday we host a child development program with the help of our Case Managers. The program consists of fun activities surrounding a wholesome fresh lunch prepared and served by our cooks. A nurse is on hand to distribute multivitamins and deworming pills regularly and meets with individual children who are ill, referring them to clinics or prescribing treatment as appropriate. The nurse also gives health talks to different age groups. The Saturday Program Coordinator organizes activities geared towards cognitive development, and social and physical development. We invite volunteers to support running the activities as well as bring in new ideas. The activities rotate between the following themes;

Cognitive activities include book reading and puzzle games
Olympic athletics which is all about running (which Kenyans are famous for)
Clubs and talent search including drama, music, and Taekwondo
Ball games such as soccer and Katie (dodgeball)
Crazy Olympics. This includes crazy games such as banana foot pass relay, balloon relay, three-legged relay, and sack relay.

In 2020, we put the Saturday Program on hold due to COVID-19. This dealt a big blow to our students as the Saturday Program is a good opportunity for kids to build memories, friendship, sportsmanship, and enjoy a “sumptuous” meal together. We resumed the program in May of 2021 but, despite all the hype, the attendance was very low as most parents and guardians were very cautious of releasing their children due to COVID-19 fears. Program coordinators faced challenges in organizing activities with minimal contact and ensuring compliance with Ministry of Health guidelines. However, the program has grown, reaching over 90% attendance in the last quarter of the year. The holiday break saw high attendance, necessitating a larger field for next year.

The August Camp was also canceled due to Covid-19 and with the change of the school calendar, the Saturday Program has now become the new “mini-camp”. The Saturday Program has defined the true meaning of the NRCF family as the staff and students come together to share joy and happiness with each other and forget about the hustle and bustle of the slums and city. It is also during the Saturday Program that the Case Managers get to do further follow-up on the child’s wellbeing.

Saturday Program

Two and a half minute video about our program produced by KMSP TV in 2011 featuring our Saturday Program:

The Saturday Program is held in a field near our campus which is large enough to accommodate games and various activities.

Early each Saturday morning, our cooks arrive to prepare food for the children. Through the combination of school lunches and the Saturday Program the children are assured at least one meal six days a week.
Before the official start many children go to the library and check out books to read to themselves or out loud to an appreciative audience.
Our Saturday Program coordinator (one of the case managers on a rotating basis) organizes activities including games and music. The case managers coordinate writing letters to sponsors, reading time in the library and scheduling time in the computer lab.
A nurse is on hand to meet with individual children suffering from ailments, referring them to clinics or prescribing treatment as appropriate. Multivitamins and de-worming pills are distributed on a regular basis.
Case managers take roll call every week and connect with each child to ensure they are getting the attention and support they need.

December 15, 2021 By Carole Patrikakos Leave a Comment

Saturday Development Program

Each Saturday we host a child development program with the help of our Case Managers. The program consists of fun activities surrounding a wholesome fresh lunch prepared and served by our cooks. A nurse is on hand to distribute multivitamins and deworming pills regularly and meets with individual children who are ill, referring them to clinics or prescribing treatment as appropriate. The nurse also gives health talks to different age groups. The Saturday Program Coordinator organizes activities geared towards cognitive development and social and physical development. We invite volunteers to support running the activities as well as bring in new ideas. The activities rotate between the following themes;

Cognitive activities include a book reading and puzzle games
Olympic athletics which is all about running (which Kenyans are famous for)
Clubs and talent search including drama, music, and Taekwondo
Ball games such as soccer and Katie (dodgeball)
Crazy Olympics. This includes crazy games such as the banana foot pass relay, balloon relay, three-legged relay, and sack relay.

In 2020, we put the Saturday program on hold due to COVID-19. This dealt a big blow to our students as the Saturday program is a good opportunity for kids to build memories, friendship, and sportsmanship, and enjoy a “sumptuous” meal together. We resumed the program in May of 2021 but, despite all the hype, the attendance was very low as most parents and guardians were very cautious about releasing their children due to COVID-19 fears. It was equally challenging for the program coordinators to try to organize activities with less contact and ensure kids observed the Ministry of Health guidelines such as wearing masks. However, as time passed more students attended the program and in this last quarter of the year, we reached over 90% attendance. During the holiday break, we also had a very high attendance of high school students which means we will need a bigger and better field next year.

The August summer camp was also canceled due to Covid-19 and with the change in the school calendar, the Saturday program has now become the new “mini-camp”. The Saturday program has defined the true meaning of the NRCF family as the staff and students come together to share joy and happiness with each other and forget about the hustle and bustle of the slums and city. It is also during the Saturday program that the Case Managers get to do further follow-up on the child’s wellbeing.

Techmates Program

We consider students fully transformed once they are employed. To enhance their employability, we launched several employment programs, one of them being the TechMates program. TechMates is our new technical training program focused on IT and digital marketing.

Launched in September 2021

The program was started in September 2021. Seven graduates have benefited from this program so far. Each year we aim to recruit at least two interns every six months. During that period, they undergo basic technical training in WordPress website programming and design. After the training, they develop their websites and work on website enhancement and digital marketing for Friends of Ngong Road( FoNR), Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF), and Karibu Loo as an implementation of the skills acquired during the training. This enhances their technical and interpersonal skills which are key in the professional world.

Assisting NRCF and interacting with FoNR

The TechMates also assist in the day-to-day operations of Ngong Road Children’s Foundation as they master more skills. They assist with teaching some of the younger kids computer basics, running the Saturday Program, as well as troubleshooting technical issues for NRCF staff. Every week they get to meet with two US FoNR board members (Andy Walz and Keith Kale) where they present their weekly accomplishments. The meetings enhance their communication and presentation skills.

Experience with clients

We also seek clients that require freelancing services and provide them with TechMates. Currently, Lido Nation, referred to TechMates by one of our U.S staff (Michon Garrett), has provided several opportunities to TechMates. Three of the TechMates are working on translating the Lido Nation website into Swahili while two are being trained as web developers and blockchain experts. We are optimistic that the relationship with Lido Nation will benefit more of our students in the near future.

We welcome anyone that can offer training, funding, and or mentorship to our students to increase their employability.