Friends of Ngong Road

We empower Nairobi children living in poverty to transform their lives through education and support, leading to employment.

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February 22, 2017 By Lacey Kraft Leave a Comment

Feiges Lead Life Skills training with Graduates

Meghan and Evan Feige have long known about Friends of Ngong Road (FoNR). They grew up with Meg Meyer, the daughter of president and founder, Paula Meyer. They saw the work of Paula and the board and heard stories of children’s lives being transformed.

Last month, the Feiges took their experience with FoNR a step further. Requesting leave from their full-time jobs at Cargill and Target, they spent some time in Nairobi working with our recent high school graduates. They created and led a variety of workshops including personality styles, mock interviews, personal brand, emotional intelligence, and more. Meghan and Evan Feige stressed the importance of personal exploration through interactive activities, case studies, reflection, and dialogues. Such skills are not usually taught in schools in Kenya, but personal awareness and critical thinking abilities are imperative to students’ post-secondary experiences and their success in future careers.

We surveyed our recent high school graduates after the experience. The majority stated that it was one of the most valuable training sessions they had ever received and enthusiastically suggested conducting workshops for future graduates.

The Feiges enjoy seeking opportunities to learn about new cultures. The couple lived in Mexico City, where Meghan worked for Cargill. They saw poverty and injustice in Mexico and have seen similar inequities in their own community. But what they saw in Kenya was different. They knew the kids. There was trust among the families, who welcomed the Feiges into their homes. The students opened their hearts to welcome and teach them. The FoNR staff helped them better understand. They left the country with hope for the future and a new perspective on life.

Their experience continues to have an impact both in the U.S. and Kenya. Evan has worked with peers at Target to donate cases of professional clothing to our recent graduates who are applying for jobs. Our board and staff are working to ensure similar training workshops happen in the future. And, our high school graduates are more prepared than ever to reach their highest potential.

Thank you, Meghan and Evan, for partnering to transform lives!

February 20, 2017 By Lacey Kraft Leave a Comment

Notes from Paula: I Can Get a Job!

I am sitting at Jomo Kenyatta Airport awaiting my flight back to the middle of the U.S., reflecting on the highlights of my past 10 days in Nairobi. I always try to reserve some time to spend with students because that is what feeds my soul so this time I spoke 1:1 with 30 students who have been in our program between 8 – 11 years. We had a total of 31 students who successfully graduated from high school in 2016; all have joined the post-secondary program.

This past month we had U.S. volunteers in Kenya named Meghan and Evan Feige. They spent two weeks and conducted training for the 2016 graduates. The first week focused on improving self-awareness: Meyers-Briggs, emotional intelligence, understanding your strengths, developing your personal brand, and communicating effectively. Having now interviewed these 2016 graduates, I can say unequivocally that this training was profoundly impactful and a real eye-opener for all of them.

In Kenya, school is designed to help students prepare for tests. Those who are most successful are humble, do what teachers say, memorize effectively, do not challenge, and therefore succeed on exams. People who are innovative, risk-takers, or a bit defiant often get kicked out of school. Imagine having that kind of high school experience and then going to a class where someone asks you what your strengths are or asks you to understand the difference between people who are introverts and extroverts. Suffice it to say, their minds were blown!

The second week of Meghan and Evan’s training focused on very practical activities: writing a resume, practicing an interview, and thinking about how what they learned in week one applies to their futures. In addition to this training, they are taking a 3-month Computer Skills Certificate Program from a well-known Kenyan organization. They have also had lectures and interactive sessions on Career Planning and Communications Skills.

One of our graduates will enroll in a civil engineering course, two will become nurses and one will study to become a veterinarian. Other career interests include agri-business, teaching, community development, the hospitality industry, land management & surveying, IT, and more. In the coming months, these students will formalize their plans and we will communicate their plans to their sponsors.

Our agreed-upon goal (between the U.S. board and Kenyan operations) is that a minimum of 75% of students who complete high school and some post-secondary education will get jobs in the formal Kenyan economy. Estimates of the unemployment rate in Kenya are just that, but the most common unemployment rate I hear is 40%. We believe getting a good job is the ultimate “proof” of the effectiveness of our mission to support these young people as they seek to transform their own lives. We are confident graduates of this program will outperform Kenya’s unemployment rate of 40%.

As always, thank you for your support. The transformation in these students’ lives is profound and will reap benefits in Kenya and the world for generations to come.

Paula_Signature
Paula Meyer
President

February 10, 2017 By Kelvin Thuku Leave a Comment

Letter from Nairobi: All Smiles

ALL SMILES FOR NGONG ROAD CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES. The year 2017 started with a bang at Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF). A total of 260 families and their children received a New Year’s present of food packs from our supporters comprising a full chicken, 4kgs of maize flour, 1 kg of sugar, 1 kg of rice,1 kg of beans, and 1 kg of cooking fat. The package is so appreciated since the majority of the parents are manual laborers who earn below a dollar a day. It was all smiles for the children and their families since they were going to have a meal that most had not enjoyed for a long time. One woman was heard saying, “I am very grateful to Ngong Road Children’s Foundation since I am going to have chicken with my family, a delicacy I have not had for the past two years.”

The event was special since it brought together all the families, the NRCF Board of Directors, NRCF staff, BIMEDA Managers, and Chris Adams, one of our top Kenya sponsors and donors. We are very grateful to BIMEDA and Kenchic who jointly donated 260 chickens, NRCF and Karibu Loo Limited (KLL) Board Chairs Rajpreet and Raj Bains who jointly donated maize flour, Chris Adams, Langata West Primary School, Jonathan Njeru and Ben Waweru who jointly donated sugar, rice, beans and cooking fat. Without our supporters, the day will not have been a possibility.

Plans for Improving School Relationships
Some supporters do not realize that we do not run our own schools, Rather we’ve found it more beneficial to partner with schools in the local area that show good student outcomes.

One of our goals for 2017 is to improve the relationship with the schools we are working with to enable close monitoring of our student’s performance and ultimate improvement in grades. We are planning to achieve this through:

  • Monitoring and evaluating students’ performance throughout the year and recommending whether it’s advisable to admit new students to that school.
  • Visiting existing well-performing schools to strengthen the relationship.
  • Identifying and building new relationships with other institutions that perform well.
  • Working hand in hand with the school administration of our focus schools when called upon and during school visits to address any issues and also motivate students as they progress in their studies.

In our effort to improve secondary students’ performance and break the poverty cycle, we are planning to take them through study skills training using the expertise of our NRCF Board Member, Robert Murimi. Robert trained the staff and students of a Kenyan school whose performance ranking improved from 87 to 25 in the country in the annual Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.

Plans for Study Skills Training
We plan to train our primary and high school children on effective study skills. The training entails: wise time management, good listening skills, being well organized, class attendance, use of study groups, taking short notes, setting and achieving goals, effective writing skills, approaching studies with the right attitude, choosing the right environment, minimizing destruction and setting realistic schedules.

Our plan is that the training should commence in March for the primary school children and our caseworkers, and then for high school children in April. Our long-term plan is to incorporate skills training in the August camp and has regular mentorship sessions throughout the year. It is our hope that our children’s final grades will improve after the training.

All of this work is possible because of the hundreds of individuals, organizations, and companies across the world who believe in children and are making a difference.

Sincerely,
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Maureen Mulievi
Programme Director
Ngong Road Children’s Foundation

January 15, 2017 By Lacey Kraft Leave a Comment

Dr. Sally Kenney joins Friends of Ngong Road Board of Directors

Friends of Ngong Road has added an educator to its board of directors. A native of Iowa, Sally J. Kenney earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Iowa, a B.A. and M.A. in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from Magdalen College, Oxford, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University.  From 1989-1995, she held a joint appointment in Political Science, Women’s Studies, and Law at the University of Iowa.

  She served on the faculty at the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs from 1995-2009 where she also directed the Center on Women and Public Policy. She joined Tulane University in 2010 as the first Newcomb College Endowed Chair, the executive director of the Newcomb College Institute, and a Professor of Political Science.  The Newcomb College Institute is an interdisciplinary, academic center whose mission is to educate undergraduate women about leadership.  In that role, she pioneered a service learning summer program to bring Tulane students to NRCF’s annual camp.  Last year, she led three students.

Sally’s research interests include gender and judging, judicial selection, feminist social movements, women and electoral politics, the European Court of Justice, exclusionary employment policies, and pregnancy discrimination. Her latest book is Gender and Justice: Why Women in the Judiciary Really Matter (2013).  She has close relationships with the Kenyan Women’s Judges Association.  Her current research focuses on sexual assault on campus and women’s leadership.  She also studies Swahili.

Sally has been to Kenya four times, first in 2011, as a sponsor of Sharon. In the intervening years, she sponsored three children and met NRCF students through camp participation in 2015 and 2016. Sally and her husband Norman Foster have no children of their own.  Sally met Emmanuel Jal, a former child warrior who runs a program for Sudanese orphans in Kenya last summer. Jal believes that Sudan has a proverb that whoever takes in an orphan will never feel lonely in old age. Sally feels fortunate to be involved in this project, which now has 400 children, she feels like they are her own

In the Illumini Podcast, Steve Kotvis interviews Sally about how volunteers bring their unique talents to Friends of Ngong Road and Ngong Road Children’s Foundation. Sally explores sponsor connections’ value in Ngong Road Children’s Foundation program, highlighting insightful findings.

November 30, 2016 By Andy Walz Leave a Comment

Volunteers at Camp 2017

Have you ever considered traveling to Kenya? Do you enjoy working with kids? Were you ever a camper? Volunteers at camp are needed.

Each year, volunteers from both the U.S. and Kenya join us at camp to enrich campers’ experiences. Volunteers participate in daily activities and use their unique skills to teach classes, run new and creative games, and share life experiences with the kids. There is plenty of room for creativity and fun.

This year, Emily Gleason and Turner Cobden are offering a $1,000 partial travel grant for camp. The grant will be awarded to the candidate they believe will best contribute to the holiday camp and to the mission of the charity. Apply by April 7 to be considered. We invite you to learn more about camp and the travel grant online or by contacting Tom Gleason at tom@ngongroad.org.

Camp 2017 runs from August 12 to August 25 in a beautiful, rural part of Kenya near Mt. Kenya. The location provides students with a once-a-year chance to escape the busy, noisy city. It is the student’s favorite part of being in the program, and you could be a part of it!

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Friends of Ngong Road
100 1st St S #581308
Minneapolis, MN 55458
(612) 568-4211 | info@ngongroad.org

EIN: 20-4690846

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