As we reflect on the last year, we are so grateful to you. Your generous donations, hours of volunteering, trips to Kenya, letters to your students, and care for kids in Kenya have fueled the mission of transforming lives through education to employment. Cheers to you!

Here are some highlights of what we did, together:

Annual Appeal Goal Hit! 

Ted and Kathy Truscott’s $70,000 Annual Appeal match goal was hit on December 30! This year’s Annual Appeal match goal was the largest ever and allowed important programming not covered by sponsorship fees to be accessed by all of our students. Such programs include nutrition, healthcare, camp, caseworker support, sexual and reproductive health, life skills, our library and computer lab and more. Sincere thanks to everyone who helped us meet the match.

Class 8 Exam Results Are In and Are Great.

At the end of each calendar year, which is the end of the school year in Kenya, students in Class 8 (Grade 8) and Form 4 (Seniors) complete their final exams to determine their next educational step. Lincolin Kimani (pictured here) scored the best of our Class 8 students with a score of 399/500. 100 percent of our Class 8 students are expected to join a secondary school, and six scored high enough to be admitted to national schools, the best in the country. 

We Are Proud of Our First University Graduates, Eric and Victor.

Our first university graduates were Eric Badi and Victor Wambua. Eric and Victor both graduated from Kenyatta University with Degrees in Procurement and Computer Mathematics respectively. Victor is a self-employed entrepreneur and currently runs a small gaming business while he is looking for work in his field. Eric has been promoted at Digital Divide Data and is now a full-time Project Manager managing a team of people and interacting with clients. He is looking for a new apartment out of the slums. We are proud of Victor, Eric, and all of our graduates.

The Life Skills Program is Making a Big Difference for our Students.
The Life Skills Program is led by our local caseworkers with the support of Rotary International and Friends of Ngong Road board member, Meghan Feige. Topics such as goal setting, peer pressure, well-being, problem-solving, resume writing, interview skills and more are taught. Graduation rates of our high school students have increased since starting the Life Skills Program, and the hands-on sessions have become a highlight for our students. Life Skills is already having a direct impact on student self-confidence and self-awareness. We anticipate the program having impacts on employment success and will continue monitoring and evaluating the program.

The Sexual and Reproductive Health Program Matters for Student Success.
Our Sexual and Reproductive Health Program was started in 2017 and is led by our Youth Peer Providers, who are our secondary and post-secondary students trained by Planned Parenthood. The program has received immense support from Tulane University’s Newcomb Institute and the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. So far:

• 300/335 students have been trained.
• 96% of participants agreed more training sessions would be helpful.
• 26% of participants have accessed free medical care at our partner clinic.
• Unplanned pregnancies among our students have significantly dropped.

Karibu Loo Won an All-Kenya Service Award as Business Continues to Improve.

In September, the Karibu Loo team applied for and won the Kenyan hospitality industry’s MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) Award for the “Best Sanitation Provider in Kenya”. The team was presented the award at a dinner event, which all the managers proudly attended.

Shown at left, from left:  Steven Muendo, Operations Manager; Emmanuel Mukasa, Business Development Director; Maureen Mulievi, General Manager; and Norman Ruguroa, Administrative/Marketing Associate.

To read more about Karibu Loo: https://ngongroad.org/2019/11/12/karibu-loo-business-update/

By Paula Meyer, Founder and President

I just returned from a visit to Kenya on December 10. One of my favorite things to do in Kenya is spend time with alumni to learn about their lives since graduation. Here are the stories of several alumni and one about a student who will graduate from law school in 2020.

Margaret Achieng’s parents died when she was young and she joined our program in 2008. For most of her life, Margaret was raised in a two-room home with nine of her extended family members. In 2017, Margaret finished a program in Community Development from St. Paul’s University. Ngong Road Children Association employed her as an intern for six months after which she got an entry-level job with the law firm Odero Osiemo Advocates. Margaret explained to me that she wanted to become a lawyer, but her grades were not high enough to be admitted to a law school program. She began at the firm as an office administrator and was soon promoted to be an assistant to one of the lawyers. The firm has now offered Margaret the opportunity to attend a six-month professional training program in 2020 to become a mediator. They will pay her fees and continue to employ her as she goes through this program. Margaret has built a new, better life for herself. Margaret was sponsored by Anne McCulloch.

Philip Miriti joined the program in 2007 and finished a training program to become a plumber in 2019. Philip was raised by his single mother who worked part-time as a community worker. While a student in our program, Philip’s teachers consistently noted that he was hardworking, punctual, and a good problem-solver. Today, Philip is not employed full-time with any single organization, but rather serves as plumbing contractor. He has developed a wonderful, outgoing personality that will serve him well as he works to support his young family. Philip is now married; he and his wife had a son in 2019 whom they named Lennick – after Doug and Beth Ann Lennick, his sponsors for all those years.

Elizabeth Nyanchera was orphaned at a young age and raised by her aunt and uncle. Her aunt was an elementary school teacher at the school where Elizabeth attended. Elizabeth was always near the top of her class and she graduated from high school in 2015. Since then, she has been enrolled in Nairobi University, studying law. She is on track to graduate in 2020 and hopes to land an internship at a law firm in Kenya. Elizabeth and her aunt attended the 2019 Annual General Meeting for Ngong Road Children Association in Kenya where we saw each other and she explained that she is really looking forward to getting a job. Needless to say, her aunt is very proud of Elizabeth.

Jackline Nyarwai was in our first high school graduating class in 2012, and was of the very first students in our program. After completing high school she took a one-year program in front-office skills. Upon completing that program, Jackline became the enthusiastic and always cheerful NRCA/Karibu Loo receptionist. In 2014, her pleasant and outgoing personality got her hired by Bimeda, a veterinary supply company, as a Customer Care Representative. Having been very happy and successful in that role, Jackline is now pursuing additional education, courtesy of Bimeda, and hopes to move into a sales position in the future. She lives with her mother, one sister and a niece and has moved her family out of the slums into an apartment with running water and electricity, luxuries never before enjoyed by the family. Jackline was proudly sponsored by Keith and Kathleen Kale.

Karibu Loo Business Continues to Stabilize and Grow
October was the fourth profitable month in a row for Karibu Loo. The business seems to have found its footing and is now a growing young business in a pioneering area.

Winner of “Best Sanitation Provider in Kenya” Award
In September the team applied for and won the Kenyan hospitality industry’s MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) Award for the “Best Sanitation Provider in Kenya”. The team was presented the award at a dinner event, which all the managers proudly attended. Since winning the award, the marketing staff have blasted the news out as an email to all current and prospective clients, featured it on the website and on Facebook. It is a source of pride for the whole organization.

Social Media Marketing Fueling Success
While our Business Development Manager remains focussed on institutional sales (especially schools and construction companies), a growing part of the business is coming from our emphasis on social media marketing. Maureen Mulieve, our Executive Director, hired a Google expert who has significantly increased our online presence and effectiveness. Our phone started ringing so much that we have had to go to a new phone system to keep up with the calls from individual customers and businesses. That combined with our MICE Award have helped both institutional and event driven sales.

Our Staff have become a Marketing Tool!
One of the key differentiators for Karibu Loo is that we hire only our program graduates for field work. Our Senior Associates accompany every delivery and set up the units at the events or construction sites. To amplify our presence, we bought Karibu Loo branded overalls for the four young men who drive our trucks and deliver our units. Our customers gave us immediate positive feedback on having our workers in their new bright-red branded overalls. Associates have always worn red t-shirts with the Karibu Loo logo, but when the weather is bad the kids put on rain gear, which immediately covers up the logo. We are buying raincoats for the Associates to wear and gain exposure for the brand at the same time.

Currently, all primary and secondary (Form One to Form Three) students are on a long holiday that will end on when schools resume on 6th January, 2020. Grade (class) 8 students took the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams on 31st October, 2019 while the final high school examination (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education, or KCSE) for Form 4 (seniors) began on 4th November, 2019 and will end towards the end of November. The students had been prepared by their respective schools to tackle both key exams confidently.

During the long holiday, the students who are not sitting for exams will be taking part in various activities ranging from life skills sessions, career guidance and counselling, sexual/reproductive health training, menstrual hygiene education, drug use and abuse sensitization sessions, group discussions, library sessions and computer studies. The activities will take place concurrently with each class tackling a different area. The high school students will deal with life skills, group discussions, sexual/ reproductive health, computer studies and career counselling and mentorship. Primary school children will enjoy the library and computer studies. Drug use and abuse sensitization sessions are conducted for the upper classes (Grades 6 to 8). Menstrual hygiene education is offered for girls in upper classes. During this time, the children are happily receiving breakfast and lunch which couldn’t have been available were it not for your generosity towards NRCA.

Since the holiday period is long, we have expanded the Saturday Program so that the children are occupied with activities that exploit and realize their talents. Sessions are divided into four broad categories that are geared towards the holistic development of the children. This involves psychosocial health (yoga, cheering, singing, fun activities, brain games, talent shows and team building). Other areas are cognitive development (arts and crafts, book reading, debates and presentations, crosswords and puzzles), social development (clubs and societies, e.g. drama, music, scouts, dance club, journalism and St. John ambulance). Finally, physical development (soccer, katie, taekwondo, soccer, rugby, volleyball, handball and athletics). On Saturdays, children also enjoy a well-balanced lunch that is part of the nutrition program.

The highlight of the holiday season is the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for all NRCA stakeholders (children, parents/guardians, local community, NRCA staff, volunteers and board members). During this meeting, we share our achievements, successes, challenges, lessons learnt and plans for the coming year. We normally share Christmas lunch as a family on this occasion. Families also receive a take-home Christmas pack comprising of a chicken, maize flour, wheat flour, cooking oil, rice, sugar, beans, vegetables and fruit. The event is scheduled for 7th December, 2019.

This year’s AGM is special since we will be launching our new entity – Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF). We will be transitioning from an “Association” to a “Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)”. The children are excited as they look forward to the event since it will be joined by the founder and President of Friends of Ngong Road, Paula Meyer. After the celebration children normally break for the Christmas holidays. Some travel to their rural areas to celebrate with their extended families while others remain behind to continue benefiting from what the program offers normally such as library and computer lab access.

Thank you all for creating a big impact in the lives of these once desperate and hopeless children who have been given an opportunity to transform their lives.

Sincerely,

Maureen Mulievi
Programme Director
Ngong Road Children Association

Children grow up one day at a time and while it is happening, it can feel so very slow. Friends of Ngong Road is finishing its thirteenth year of operations and because of that, we have a large number of students who are now completing their education and launching careers. In September and October, 2019, twenty young people got new jobs. Here is a sampling…

• Selina, Mary, Cynthia, Lydia, and Ann got jobs as beauticians or nail technicians
• Stephen is working as a freelance computer technician
• Brian is working in the family business as a meat supplier
• Victor and Wycliffe are both working as entrepreneurs
• Hellen is working in a health care clinic, registering patients
• Margaret and Patrick are both working for Ngong Road Children Association
• Clinton is working as a refrigerator technician and Shammah as a plumber
• Vivian got a job in food service at Kenyatta National Hospital

One of the students my husband and I sponsored completed her education about four years ago and informed me over the weekend that she is finally going to officially get her diploma in December. Another that we sponsored will also get his diploma in December and is working as a civil engineer on a water project near Jomo Kenyatta Airport.

And, students who finished high school several years ago continue to work to improve their situations. Alice, who finished high school in 2013 and then had a baby, has gotten a part-time job at Safari.com working at corporate hosted events. Esther, who graduated in 2012, got a new job as a customer service representative for a VIP travel agency.

With each of these stories, we see themes familiar from our own lives. You finish your education, get a job, then perhaps a better job. Sometimes you get sidetracked for a while, but then there is a course correction and a new opportunity comes along.

These are now young adults living normal, productive, middle-class lives in Kenya. They have broken the cycle of poverty and broken free of the slums. This is our mission and in each person who gets a job, we say Mission Accomplished!

Thank you for being part of it, for being patient with students who get side-tracked and for celebrating with us for each life transformed.

Paula Meyer
Founder and President