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 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.

A student with an education is much more likely to succeed than one who is not educated, but lives will only be transformed through employment. We will be working hard on this and sharing our findings. We support transformation through education AND employment!

“You are never too small to make a difference.”  – Greta Thunberg, Norwegian environmentalist

I am a big believer in the power of leadership. We all see the impact of individuals with good ideas and effective leadership skills on organizations. I would like to briefly focus on the many ways Friends of Ngong Road is the beneficiary of diverse and effective leadership. In an effort to draw a line, I am going to focus on people who have served on our Board of Directors in the past. I cannot possibly summarize all the contributions of these people but can illustrate some part of their impact on Friends of Ngong Road.

Tom Gleason – served on the board of directors from 2008 – 2016. In 2009, he applied for a free license to SalesForce.com, got it, and helped us implement this powerful tool that remains our operating platform both in the U.S. and Kenya today. This tool transformed the effectiveness of our operations. Tom also founded and led camp in Kenya for most of the years of his tenure.

Karen Bohn – also served on the board from 2008 – 2016. Karen conceived and led our handicrafts business that generated $150,000+ of revenue to the organization over the years of her involvement and brought numerous new supporters to the organization. She led the growth of the library, creating book drives and collecting supplies. Karen worked with Paula to lead the organization’s Development efforts before we had staff.

Susan Plimpton – was a board member from 2010 – 2018.  Her deep understanding of global development and fundraising was essential to our success during her tenure.  She brought many new friends to the organization and connected us with organizations like Thriive Kenya. During this time, students were starting to graduate from secondary schools and choose areas of study. Susan developed our first career counseling program in response. Susan was also a strong fundraiser and an early supporter of hiring Development staff.

Sally Kenney – was a board member from 2017 – 2020. She brought the resources of Tulane University to bear and created our Sexual and Reproductive Health Program that has resulted in a material decline in the incidence of unplanned-for pregnancies among Kenyan students. Sally has a deep understanding of Development and provided practical guidance and support to our first Development Director.

Brian Hartert – began his volunteer contributions in 2014 as part of a competitive analysis team and joined the board in 2016. His deep financial expertise was instrumental in creating the solid financial and control infrastructure we rely upon today. He participated in or led global finance meetings from 2016 to the present and has agreed to continue to serve on the Board of Directors of Karibu Loo Limited. Brian has been promoted at Ameriprise and has two small children, so he has decided to step aside for now.

Meghan Feige – began her board service in 2019 and will conclude at the end of this year due to promotion at work and the increasing demands of her young family. Meghan and her husband Evan traveled to Kenya twice to test Life Skills training on graduating seniors. She completely designed our 4-year curriculum for Life Skills that is now integral to students’ experiences with our organization. She also helped conceive and lead our HR Committee as we moved from a volunteer-only organization to one with employees.

My gratitude to these individuals for their leadership contributions is profound. I am the founder of Friends of Ngong Road, but my contributions are only one slice of all the gifts brought to bear.

Thank you to all who bring their volunteer gifts and time to bear on our mission.

December is a busy time of year for all non-profit organizations, and Friends of Ngong Road is no exception. Like most U.S. non-profits, we raise a disproportionate amount of our annual budget in the 4th quarter and next year always goes better when we end this year strong. Our focus is on raising $75,000 to meet the Truscott match for our Annual Appeal – if you haven’t yet had a chance to donate, please click here to make a gift today. 

In Kenya, our team is working at full throttle to prepare to get all students back to in-person school on January 4. Uniforms, school supplies and books are being purchased and school fees are being paid. We are also in the process of identifying a new office location in Nairobi as our current setting is no longer a fit for our needs – we hope to move early in 2021.

With your help, we fed 300 program families daily between April and year-end. This was a big undertaking, organized as the world quickly evolved with the onset of COVID-19. We raised the necessary funds to pay for food and used a partner church as a safe distribution facility. When students return to school in January, families will face less financial stress and we expect to move to our more standard approach to family food aid – giving food packets as needed to families in the most challenging situations.

The Friends of Ngong Road board of directors recently affirmed our 5-year strategy to “double our impact”. What this means is that we will, by the end of 2024, have more than 1000 young people in Kenya on their journey to life transformation. Just today, I got an update on Mercy Akinyi, sponsored faithfully by one Twin Cities couple since 2008. Mercy has just completed her 3-year coursework to become a nurse. She will take two days of exams in January and again in April, after which she will have earned her nursing licenses, enabling her to secure permanent employment. The school she attended is managed by a hospital and she will likely have an opportunity to work at that hospital. Kenya needs qualified nurses and Mercy is on her way!

For these and dozens of similar life stores, we are deeply grateful for you – the donors and supporters who make this work possible. While pandemic and other challenges will continue, we have learned that when young people have hope for a better future, many of them find a way to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles! Together, our job is to just give them a chance. Thank you and best wishes for a happy holiday season!