My name is Boaz. I live with my father, my stepmother and 4 siblings. Before joining the program, I was schooling at Precious Talents School. I recall being sent home countless times due to lack of school fees and my father had to constantly go and ask the head of school to allow me back, especially during the times when exams were around the corner. My parents were both casual laborers and so it was difficult for them to comfortably provide for me and my siblings. 

Luckily, my father heard of Ngong Road Children’s Foundation from his friends in the neighborhood. The place we used to live in is where most of the students in the program are from and the organization had earned a good reputation among the residents in that area. He applied and I got accepted to the program. I joined the program in July 2012 while in grade 2 and I joined Nelson Mandela which is one of the program’s focus schools. I schooled there up until 2015 and I was transferred to General Service Unit (GSU) Primary School while in grade 5. I was determined to achieve the best in my academics and to also hold leadership positions. Due to my good performance and discipline, I was elected a class representative and also a house captain for my dormitory. Additionally, I was also a subject representative for mathematics and Kiswahili in my class and these two were my favorite subjects.

When I sat for my Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), I scored excellently which enabled me to secure a spot at Nyambaria Boys High School, a national high school in Kisii County. While in high school, I still held various leadership positions. I was a spiritual leader for Seventh Day Adventists in my school and I was also a secretary for the school’s debate club. I was working really hard while in school as I have always been a believer of education being key in opening doors to opportunities and creating paths for higher learning. I sat for my Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and when the results were released on the 23rd of January 2023, I had scored excellently.

I am the top NRCF high school candidate for the class of 2022! I aspire to join the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and pursue a course in Computer Science. I have developed an interest in coding and computer technology hence my choice of course. One of my goals after joining University is to be able to join the TechMates program and enhance my coding skills under the developers program.

I am grateful to my sponsor, Cathy, for taking me through my educational journey and to NRCF for the sponsorship opportunity. I have benefitted from trainings such as computer training and life skills training offered by the organization and I attribute my success to all of that. 

Since the launch of TechMates in 2021, we have had over 15 students benefit from the program. As of January 2023, six TechMates had completed their learning internships and transitioned to project-based contracts and two additional graduates were on internship. The project-based TechMates successfully completed their six months internship and gained the necessary skills needed to secure contract work for Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF), Friends of Ngong Road (FoNR), Karibu Loo, Limited (KLL) and other external clients. One of the external clients, Lido Nation, has so far recruited three digital marketers from the program to assist with website translation and management, and act as community outreach officers to create awareness of the Cardano eco system locally in Kenya. Lido Nation also employs five developer-track TechMates part time, on a contract basis.

In February 2023, an intern joined the developer path, and recruitment for four alumni is underway. So far, we have eight TechMates on the project-based contract working for NRCF/FoNR and KLL. In total we have 12 trained TechMates while two have dropped out. Two TechMates won full scholarships to MEST/Meltwater entreprenuerial training in Accra, Ghana. Of the active TechMates, half have part-time jobs with Lido Nation. They polish the Lido Nation website as well as creating new features.

Two of the TechMates on the digital marketing path have been able to secure other external clients. One of them, Tabitha, is currently working for Vobyl Tea as an administrative and marketing person. She is responsible for communicating with customers, packaging product, as well as carrying out deliveries among other roles. The other digital marketing TechMate, Sallyanne, has started working for DirectEd as a consultant/project freelancer. She leads Twitter marketing campaigns and develops NFT-based fundraising strategies for DirectEd among other roles. These two TechMates are also leading blockchain operations at the Ngong Road Blockchain Lab. 

All current TechMates have goals that they have set for themselves for this year. Some of the goals include becoming more skilled in software development, securing more clients, taking additional online courses, applying for masters scholarships, taking software engineering scholarship courses at ALX Africa and many more aspirations. We received computer donations from the Safaricom Foundation which will be very useful as we plan on supporting over 15 new beneficiaries this year. TechMates are making use of them and we are grateful for Safaricom’s donation, which will help students transform their lives. The program is progressing and will be restructured to meet market and client needs. The company is now considering adding more employment programs to help students and alumni succeed and transform their lives.