2017 December Archives - Page 2 of 2

We are proud to announce that this year’s Mshale “Friend of the Community” African Award winner is our founder and president, Paula Meyer. Thank you to everyone who texted to vote and to the African Awards community! It is well deserved for the work Paula has done to give over 500 children the opportunity to transform their lives through education.

African Awards, were launched in 2008, and presented annually by Mshale newspaper. Founded in 1996 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mshale Newspaper prides itself as the voice of the African immigrant community in the Midwest and around the United States.

Award Nomination Narrative (Used to “Pitch” for the Award)
Paula Meyer is a leader people follow enthusiastically and unquestioningly while considering themselves lucky to be in her orbit. In 2007 Meyer founded Friends of Ngong Road (FONR) with the mission to provide education and support to children living in poverty in Kenya so they can transform their lives. Meyer retired early from her successful corporate career, dedicated the next chapter of her life’s work to helping children in Kenya, and has not looked back. Today over 500 Kenyan children have had the chance at an education they otherwise would not.

Meyer advocates for social justice and has impeccable integrity. She is extraordinarily compassionate with one of the most remarkable and infectious, big laughs. One of the first women to serve as finance chair of a major U.S. Senate campaign, Meyer earned her M.B.A. from Wharton Business School. She rose to senior positions at Ameriprise and now serves on corporate boards in the financial sector. She is a passionate advocate for Kenyan children and families, promoting humility, egalitarianism, and transforming lives through a program’s impact.

Meyer’s unique contribution is that she brings her business acumen to problem-solving, a determination to use metrics and evidence to guide decision-making, and a drive to work toward worthwhile and achievable goals. Under her leadership, educational milestones are monitored to best support student success toward employment:

8th-grade exam: for the past eight years, Friends of Ngong Road students have outperformed their Kenyan peers, granting them admission to higher-quality high schools.
High school transition: Friends of Ngong Road students transition at rates higher than 92 percent versus 63 percent in Kenya at large.
High school graduation: more than 95 percent of Friends of Ngong Road students successfully graduate.
Employment: 91 percent of Friends of Ngong Road post-secondary graduates have jobs or internships that may lead to employment.

In 2017, a new alumni caseworker was hired to support Meyer’s immediate goal for 75% of graduates to be gainfully employed by 2018. Her exceptional integrity, vision, positivity, and charisma are the magic glue that has built FoNR and will continue to support the Kenyan community FoNR supports.

Meyer has helped teach people to fish rather than giving them fish, enabling them to be agents of transformation in their communities. The wrap-around services and deep emotional connections among board members, sponsors, caseworkers, graduates, and students creates extraordinary success. Winning this award would enable Meyer and FONR to not just sustain the work and help start bringing it to scale, but demonstrate to others that we have the collective capacity to solve the most intractable worldwide problems. The children of Kenya in the program radiate the most capacious hope. What a gift to the world in these troubled times.

Thanks to you, Derrick found the courage to say “I can” at camp 2017.

Camp 2017 was held near Mt. Kenya, a serene, peaceful part of Kenya. Students rode buses for three and a half hours to the rented boarding school and were anxious to have fun with friends while exploring a new part of their country.

Again this year we saw that camp is one of the most effective community-building parts of the Friends of Ngong Road program. Students, staff, board members, and volunteers were together in one, safe place. Students realized that they are not alone, but are part of the Ngong Road Children’s Foundation family. They got to know their caseworker better. They learned about another culture from several Tulane students and other volunteers who traveled to camp to help conduct the program. They ate three healthy meals a day, learned about topics they do not get in school such as leadership and confidence building, and they had fun.

This year’s camp theme was “I Can.” In Derrick’s essay titled “I Believe I Can” that he wrote at camp, he says, “The most difficult problem that I have faced is standing in front of my peers and speaking to them…I came to realize that if I will not change it, it will affect me academically. How I came to overcome this challenge was during the NRCF Camp 2017. I was appointed to be a squad leader. I accepted the leadership but one thing that was in my mind was how will I speak to my peers and the other adults. But through the mentoring from different guests, (I gained) the courage and strategies to overcome this challenges…I really appreciate the 2017 NRCF Camp with the motto, “I Believe I Can,” that motivates most of us to (have the) courage and braveness to overcome challenges as (well) as we can.”

Because of you, Derrick and over 300 students discovered more about what they can do. The $10,000 match was met, and all students who were available to attend camp were given the opportunity to attend. Thank you for caring. Thank you for saying “I Can” send a kid to camp so that students can say “I can transform my life.” Thank you.