Friends of Ngong Road

Providing education and support to Nairobi children living in poverty whose families are affected by HIV/AIDS.

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Our students are back in school!

The Kenyan president has lifted the lockdown, allowing students to go back to school last week. COVID-19 cases in Kenya have been declining in recent weeks as a result of the lockdown measures that were implemented in March. Fortunately, there was no impact to the school schedule as there had been a planned break for all students during this time.

Kenya has had difficulty acquiring vaccines since they had been getting them from India. As you may know, India’s situation has become extremely dire and India has stopped exporting vaccines since they need them domestically. The Kenya government has placed an order for 30 million Johnson & Johnson doses to be delivered within a year to help the country of 53 million to reach herd immunity.

Recently, Kenya confirmed 15 cases of India’s COVID-19 variant. Kenya and India have a very close and direct relationship so Kenyans are at increased risk of contracting the Indian variant.

Students will finish the 2020 school year at the end of this term, have a very short week-long break, transition to the next grade level, and start their next “school year” in July.

Our students are very happy to be back in school. If you are a sponsor, reach out with a message of encouragement.

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Notes from Paula

Dear Friends,

By now you will have received an email from Amy Johnson updating you on the clean 2017 audit received by our sister organization in Kenya, Ngong Road Children’s Foundation. After discovering theft of resources in the 2015 audit, we have devoted considerable energy to reinvigorating financial controls and improving processes. I am very pleased Crowe Horwath has endorsed those efforts as having been effective by granting this clean audit.

I recently took an online course hosted by the Wharton School entitled “Corruption”. It has been proven that corruption can be significantly reduced by organizations through a combination of ethical leadership, active management/supervision and appropriate risk management processes. We will continue to discuss other best practices that would fit our circumstances and help us remain vigilant about this risk.

Friends of Ngong Road completed our last strategic planning process in 2015 and we are working throughout 2018 to tackle important strategic questions to revisit that process. Our expectation is to have a three-year strategic plan completed by the end of 2018 for 2019 – 2021. Here are just a few of the issues we are tackling:

  • Karibu Loo has been profitable in the first four months of 2018 and is on target to provide $10,000 or more to Ngong Road Children’s Foundation this year, reducing funds we must raise in the U.S. to support the program. We are in discussion about how much and in what way Friends of Ngong Road should support Karibu Loo as it grows and becomes a contributor to the program’s funding needs.
  • Succession is on our minds. I have communicated to the board that I expect to move into an emeritus status during this 3-year planning horizon. We have to decide how we are going to make that transition which raises issues about board composition, staffing, etc. And, we have several long-tenure board members who will also be transitioning in the coming years. Finding their successors is a high priority.
  • Sponsor growth is another important topic to discuss. Our model for sponsor recruitment has been “friends and family”, however we are all running out of friends. What model for sponsor recruitment will be effective in the future?
  • How much should we grow? If Karibu Loo can provide a significant contribution to the organization, and we have a healthy endowment fund, how much should we grow?

I look forward to sending you an update on our 2019 -2021 strategic plan at the end of the year.

In the meantime, we are excited to welcome Judy Nyaga to Minneapolis on May 14 and 15 and Kelvin Thuku the first half of June. Judy is a board member in Kenya and Kelvin is the Program and Technology Coordinator. We will host gatherings and meetings during their time in the Twin Cities and hope you will have the opportunity to meet these people who do so much to support student success in Nairobi.

Thank you!

Paula Meyer
President and Founder
Friends of Ngong Road

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New Sponsor Portal Launched!

We are excited to announce the launch of the new Friends of Ngong Road Sponsor Portal: https://ngongroad.org/sponsor/

Purpose: The new portal is designed to foster a deeper understanding for Friends of Ngong Road sponsors of the children they sponsor and to form a stronger relationship among sponsors and students. The portal includes a photo gallery, school marks, child assessments, renewal information and a link to write the sponsored child.

Future Enhancements: As this is version 1.0, sponsors can expect to see updates and improvements in the coming months. In upcoming versions we plan to include:

  • Annual student assessments delivered electronically instead of via post
  • Donation and sponsorship payment history (an easy way to check on giving history and print receipts for tax purposes)
  • Monthly giving subscription management (ability to update credit cards, pay for multiple children, etc.)
  • Photo library and tagging system (we have a wealth of amazing photographs–too many for our current system to handle–an upgrade is needed to make these photos available to sponsors)**
  • Communication tools and tracking (a history of all written communications between sponsors and children and the ability to correspond more efficiently that supports photo/video, etc.)**

**We are currently seeking funding for these projects. If you are interested in underwriting one of these enhancements, please contact Lacey Kraft at [email protected].

Sponsors: To log in for the first time you will need to create an account. Here’s how:

  1. Start by visiting ngongroad.org/sponsor/
  2. Click “New User” under the login
  3. Enter your email address (the one you use to communicate with Friends of Ngong Road).
  4. Check your email inbox. You will receive an email with a link that allows you to create a password. Click it.
  5. Enter your new password. You will use the same email address and the password you create to login from now on. You can reset the password at any time by clicking the “Lost Password?” link below the login form.

See the brief video demonstrating this process here.

We welcome your feedback as we continue to make the portal and your sponsorship a positive experience for you and your student(s). Please use the feedback form link at the top of your portal homepage. Or, for assistance and comments, contact Friends of Ngong Road technology and operations team at [email protected] or 612-568-4211.

Thank you for helping to transform lives through education!

Andy Walz
Board Member, Technology
Friends of Ngong Road

PS – if you are not a sponsor but are interested in learning more about the new portal, please contact Development Director, Lacey Kraft, at [email protected] or 612-568-4211. She would be happy to give you a demonstration of the portal and explain what sponsorship entails.

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Camp 2017 Update

Thanks to those who “sent a kid to camp” this year; Camp 2017 is in full swing! The four-day Leadership Camp is wrapping up today and Grammar Camp (students age 10-13) begins tomorrow. Students are packing their warmest clothes as they head to this year’s camp located near Mt. Kenya at Naromoru Girls Secondary School in Nyeri County, which is about a three and a half hour drive from Nairobi where temperatures range 55-70 degrees Fahrenheit during August.

Nine U.S. volunteers arrived safely in Kenya late last week and are actively involved in creating a positive camp experience. They are teaching classes, playing games and building relationships with our students.

While camp is off to a great start, you may have heard about the recent elections in Kenya. The area where camp is being held (and where students, staff and volunteers are staying) has remained calm following the election. On August 15, camp director, Tom Gleason, wrote, “This is a lovely, remote and secure area in which to hold camp. The volunteers and kids traveling to camp have been untouched by the election, and in this place we are quite isolated and secure as a result. The camps are running smoothly.”

Friends of Ngong Road President and Founder, Paula Meyer, wrote this about the organization’s decision to continue with camp 2017: “On August 8, Kenya held elections for positions of President, Members of Parliament and local offices. The following day a small group of people from both Kenya and the U.S. met by Skype to discuss the security situation after the elections with a goal of deciding whether or not to proceed with Camp 2017. Kenya held peaceful elections in 2013 but there was considerable post-election violence in 2007. With just one day having elapsed since the election, formal results were not yet published by the Kenya election board. We heard the perspectives of Rajpreet Bains, Ngong Road Children Foundation board chair and Maureen Mulievi, program director. Rajpreet brought insights from a Kenyan security expert. The biggest risk the team perceived was that there would be isolated violence from supporters of the leading opposition candidate, Raila Odinga. At the time we spoke there had been a few violent episodes, however on balance the country was peaceful – especially in the area near the planned camp. On the basis of our understanding that this trend would continue, we made the decision to proceed with Camp 2017.”

We anticipate the area near camp will remain calm in the coming weeks. Energy will remain high at camp with fun, learning and memories abounding. Check back to our news page and social media for future updates on camp!

If you are interested in helping to make camp possible for years to come through a gift to the Gleason Camp Endowment Fund, or you have questions about this year’s camp, please contact Development Director, Lacey Kraft at [email protected] or 612-568-4211.