Sallyanne Atieno, Author at Friends of Ngong Road

May 8, 2023 By Sallyanne Atieno Leave a Comment

Handover Ceremony for Computer Donations From Safaricom Foundation

Our mission at Ngong Road Children’s Foundation is to ensure that we transform the lives of our students. To improve education and resources, we applied for computer donations at Safaricom Foundation through the ‘Ndoto Zetu’ which translates to ‘Our Dreams’ initiative, we are aiming to acquire more computers for our Blockchain and Computer Labs.

The Safaricom Foundation through the “Ndoto Zetu” initiative partners with different organizations and communities and support them in transforming lives by providing them with the needed resources and opportunities. They have worked with communities across all 47 counties in Kenya to provide solutions on Education, Health, Economic Empowerment, Water, Environmental Conservation, and Disaster Response, which are key sectors in empowering and providing relief for communities. We were honored when our application was considered and we received the computer donation.

On Thursday, the 3rd of May we had a handover ceremony for the computer donation. The event took place at NRCF offices, featuring Safaricom Foundation representatives, our program manager, our employment program officer, and some of our TechMates. The event aimed to acknowledge and celebrate the donation’s positive impact on our students’ education.

NRCF thanks the Safaricom Foundation for its donations and for joining us at the handover ceremony. The computer contribution will allow TechMates and high school grads participating in the coding bootcamp to efficiently study and enhance their talents, which will undoubtedly help them get better prospects in the future. We have equipped the Elimu Hub’s computer lab with extra computers for children, aiming to create a brighter future for our students through technology and collaboration.

May 4, 2023 By Sallyanne Atieno Leave a Comment

Peter’s Inspiring Journey

My name is Peter, I am a post-secondary student at the Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF). I grew up in the Nairobi region with my siblings, and our guardians. My educational goals were realized when I joined the NRCF program.

Upon joining NRCF, I was enrolled in one of their focus primary schools, which is near my house, so I didn’t have to walk far to school. I worked really hard because I wanted to acquire good marks so that I could attend an excellent high school. Taekwondo was another extracurricular activity I participated in. I took the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and scored a decent grade. I enrolled in a boys high school in Nairobi and an extra-county boys’ high school in Nairobi. I played rugby, handball, and football as part of my extracurricular activities. They kept me busy throughout high school.

After graduating from high school in 2021, I was offered the opportunity to train as a Youth Peer Provider (YPP) in the program in July 2022. This was a great chance for me because I would be teaching my classmates and younger students in the program about the fundamentals of sexual and reproductive health. I was also working as an operations associate at Karibu Loo to keep myself occupied while I waited to start college. My job was to make sure that the restrooms were clean during social events. I was also helping at the NRCF on Saturdays.

In September, I enrolled at Thika Technical Training Institute for a course in Social and Community Development. My desire to become a social worker and aid the community, particularly children, motivated me to pursue this degree. My program lasts three years, and I aim to work for a non-governmental organization such as NRCF, the Red Cross, or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

I am grateful to the NRCF program for ensuring that I pursue my educational goals. In the future, I would like to sponsor a student from the program and create a similar organization to help transform the lives of other children.

Transform a life today.

April 28, 2023 By Sallyanne Atieno Leave a Comment

2023 Post-Secondary Career Camp

We had to put our summer camp on hold since the start of COVID-19 in 2020. After things calmed down in 2022, we redesigned the camp to ensure that students have fun while also gaining educational value. Instead of having a general camp for the high school and post-secondary students, we introduced a career camp meant to educate students, especially new KCSE graduates preparing to join colleges and universities on career training and college and university applications.

The camp took place at Naivasha West Beach Camp which is on the shores of Lake Naivasha from Friday, the 21st of April to Sunday, the 23rd. The camp theme was “WePower PS Career Camp” which translates to “We are Empowering the Post-Secondary students through this camp”. The students were able to demonstrate this through the discussions that they had with their paired buddies, who were selected Post-Secondary students in the different career fields that our high school graduates aspire to pursue, and external facilitators who we invited. This was to ensure that the high school graduates of 2022 can be able to fully understand the careers available, the placement process, and post-secondary life and move together as a team.

We had a total of 53 campers that included 26 high school graduates, and 15 buddies. We had a number of career development programs in store for the high school graduates which was the main purpose of the camp. Nelson, a guest speaker, from Generation Kenya facilitated a career discussion about selecting career choices based on interest and enthusiasm, as well as the effect that it makes. A representative from Zetech University also guided the graduates through courses, institutional selection, and placement. They were educated on how the Kenya University and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) handles placements. This is in regard to cluster points and subject combinations.

We also had buddy group discussions that were facilitated by the selected buddies. The buddies were able to clearly explain how things work in higher learning institutions in specific relation to the courses they were taking. This enabled the graduates to have a better understanding of the various courses they had selected as their most preferred courses. The campers also enjoyed all sorts of activities ranging from summer Olympics, obstacle races, balloon relay, music and dance, swimming and team building activities. These activities were meant to be both fun and forge a teamwork spirit.

The camp was successful and we would like to extend our gratitude to all donors and sponsors for the education support they accord our students. We would also love to thank the teams from Generation Kenya and Zetech University for honoring our invitation and sharing knowledge with the campers.

April 26, 2023 By Sallyanne Atieno Leave a Comment

George’s Educational Journey

My name is George. I live with my parents, and I have two siblings. My mother is a tailor, and my father is a mechanic at a local shop in my neighborhood. Getting the opportunity to join Ngong Road Children’s Foundation was a lifelong dream for my educational success. When I joined the NRCF program, I moved to one of the program’s focus schools.

After I sat for my Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, I achieved above-average marks and then enrolled in a secondary school. Being a student there is truly enjoyable. I especially love attending practical lessons at the lab for Biology and Chemistry subjects, and I am also involved in extracurricular activities such as football and the debate club. I am working hard to earn good grades in my exams and gain admission to University once I complete my high school education.

Aspiring to join the University of Nairobi and pursue a course in Aeronautical Engineering. I have always had an interest in planes, and since my father is a mechanic, I developed an interest in working with different tools. He is my role model, and I hope to become even better at working with tools. I am grateful to the Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF) program for believing in me and taking me through my education, and I hope to achieve my educational dreams and make myself and them proud.

To sponsor and transform a child’s life, visit https://ngongroad.org/sponsor/

April 20, 2023 By Sallyanne Atieno Leave a Comment

Coding partnership with DirectEd Development Foundation

The world has now fully digitalized, and computer literacy has become the norm. We have slowly moved from basic computer skills and ushered in the computer programming era. We want to make sure that as our students transition to higher education, they can be able to get this much-needed skill.

In our quest to achieve the above, we recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding and forged a partnership with DirectEd Development Foundation. DirectEd is a UK-based charitable organization on a mission to deliver evidence-based, highly scalable, and cost-effective coding boot camps and scholarships to under-resourced high-potential students in Africa, through the use of blockchain technology and decentralized identifiers. They so far have partnered with different top learning institutions in Kenya and Ethiopia. Some of the institutions in Kenya include Kagumo high school, Mang’u high school, and Maryhill girls high school. We are excited to be part of this partnership.

In this partnership, DirectEd tutors will offer our 2022 high school graduates a three-part program. The program have repackaged existing material into a structure that suits low-resource hybrid-learning settings. The 1-week mobile-based coding course is the first program.

This particular programme is based on open-source material from Harvard’s CS50 introduction to Python. It is done remotely which means that the students will make use of their phones and we will allow those who do not have access to a smartphone to come to the Elimu Hub. They can make use of the resources available in the computer lab. The team from DirectEd will also help the students to set up the necessary infrastructure for the stipend disbursement.

The second programme which is the main programme is a 12-week computer-based hybrid programme. Here, students will learn full-stack web development in the MERN (MongoDB, Express, React, Node) framework. This programme will also feature some guest lecturers hosting workshops on key soft skills such as acing job interviews and entrepreneurship, with the students studying for at least 40 hours a week. Lastly, the graduate programme. This programme is for students who will have successfully completed the coding programme, and it has two paths. One, entry into a longer full-time coding bootcamp or two, a 6-months internship with specialization in a particular skill while getting real-work experience with DirectEd’s tech partner companies.

For all the 3 programs, our students need to have attained a specific threshold to move to the next. We will utilize ICT personnel to assist our students in maximizing their chances of advancing to the graduate program. Profound thankfulness to DirectEd Development Foundation for this life-changing partnership for our students. Grateful to the people at Lido Nation, particularly Stephanie King, for being a central part of connecting us with them. We are excited to see our students transform their lives.