We are thrilled to announce this year’s Annual Gathering, with the theme of ‘Live, Love, Learn’.

Please join us on Thursday, October 25th from 6-8pm as we gather to connect, browse Kenyan handicrafts, hear about the successes of our students in the past year, and meet staff and volunteers.

Come and enjoy a craft beer at Surly Brewing Co. with other supporters of our organization. Bring a friend or two, and we will see you there!

Surly Brewing Co. Scheid Hall, 520 Malcom Avenue SE, Mpls., MN 55414.

Program at 6:30 PM. 

By Susan Plimpton

Michon Garrett, Director of FoNR Operations, and I traveled to Kenya this past May to spend 10 days with the staff of our Kenyan sister organization, the Ngong Road Children Association.  Our primary purpose in going was to meet with the caseworkers for the post secondary students, those young people who had finished secondary school and were now enrolled in the Post Secondary Program to provide the skills, additional education and training to qualify them for employment.  There currently are 83 young people enrolled and most are in one or two year programs from which they will receive a Certificate or Diploma upon completion. The fields our students enter are varied and range from automobile mechanics to hotel management to accounting to barista worker. We are very proud of the 93% success rate we are achieving in placing our alumni in internships or full time jobs.

Our objectives were to ensure we fully understood how the program was operating, to provide additional training on using the software we provide to track our students’ progress, and to understand some of the challenges our Kenyan team have in helping students select and complete the right program for themselves.  We also met with every recent secondary school graduate to hear their plans for further education and to discuss with the staff if that was the best next step for that student.

In addition, we attended a Ngong Road Children Association Board meeting, participated in the Saturday recreation program for all students, met with our and other sponsors’ children, and interviewed some of our employed alumni.  All in all it was a very worthwhile and inspiring visit.