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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Letter from Nairobi to Sponsors

I take this opportunity to appreciate all our sponsors and supporters of the Friends of Ngong Road (FoNR) and Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF) organizations. Through your enormous support, we are able to achieve more every day and transform the lives of the many children that we support. Towards the end of October, I got an opportunity to travel to the U.S. to meet Friends of Ngong Road. The objectives of the visit were:

  • To meet and connect with our supporters. I shared my story with them in terms of family background, academic journey, past work experiences, and why I am very passionate about working with NRCF.
  • To meet and appreciate our sponsors and supporters in the U.S. for the great support we are receiving from them.
  • To share with our sponsors and supporters our achievements and 2018 plans.
  • To participate in the Portable Sanitation Association International (PSAI) Nuts and Bolts Conference. The conference is designed for portable sanitation suppliers and operators and provided a wealth of knowledge and connections for me as I have recently started leading Karibu Loo in Kenya.
  • Attend training at Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, Leading with a Theory of Change.
  • To speak in Professor Izabela Steflja’s Sustainable Development class at Tulane University.

I am happy to report that all the objectives were achieved through the support of our President, Paula Meyer, the Friends of Ngong Road Board (FoNR), FoNR staff, and many of the FoNR sponsors and supporters in the U.S.

I was humbled, thrilled, and grateful to meet so many strong supporters who make the program possible. As an NRCF team, we are ready to improve on the levels of achievement in order to make the program more vibrant. With the willingness of sponsors and supporters both in Kenya and the U.S., our ability to attain the mission of the organization is unfettered. This dovetails with our 2017 theme of “Ready, Willing, and Able.”

After meeting our enthusiastic sponsors and supporters, I wholeheartedly appreciate the sacrifice and endless efforts put in to make the program successful. I wish to thank in a very special way the President of FoNR, Paula Meyer for the warm reception and hospitality she accorded me when I landed in the great country. I felt at home since everyone did his/her best to make me comfortable. I can’t leave out Keith Kale and all the FoNR Board who hosted me on different occasions in Minneapolis and New Orleans.

Lastly, I promise to work tirelessly in order to ensure that the program is vibrant guaranteeing the less fortunate children a future. This is only possible with prudent management of resources. I am more than willing to work with both the Kenyan and U.S. teams to attain our organizational goals. Once more it is a big thank you to all.

May you have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2018.

Maureen Mulievi
Programme Director

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New Sponsor Portal Launched!

We are excited to announce the launch of the new Friends of Ngong Road Sponsor Portal: https://ngongroad.org/sponsor/

Purpose: The new portal is designed to foster a deeper understanding of Friends of Ngong Road sponsors of the children they sponsor and to form a stronger relationship between sponsors and students. The portal includes a photo gallery, school marks, child assessments, renewal information, and a link to write the sponsored child.

Future Enhancements: As this is version 1.0, sponsors can expect to see updates and improvements in the coming months. In upcoming versions we plan to include:

  • Annual student assessments are delivered electronically instead of via post
  • Donation and sponsorship payment history (an easy way to check on giving history and print receipts for tax purposes)
  • Monthly giving subscription management (ability to update credit cards, pay for multiple children, etc.)
  • Photo library and tagging system (we have a wealth of amazing photographs–too many for our current system to handle–an upgrade is needed to make these photos available to sponsors)**
  • Communication tools and tracking (a history of all written communications between sponsors and children and the ability to correspond more efficiently that supports photo/video, etc.)**

**We are currently seeking funding for these projects. If you are interested in underwriting one of these enhancements, please contact Lacey Kraft at Lacey@ngongroad.org.

Sponsors: To log in for the first time you will need to create an account. Here’s how:

  1. Start by visiting ngongroad.org/sponsor/
  2. Click “New User” under the login
  3. Enter your email address (the one you use to communicate with Friends of Ngong Road).
  4. Check your email inbox. You will receive an email with a link that allows you to create a password. Click it.
  5. Enter your new password. You will use the same email address and the password you create to log in from now on. You can reset the password at any time by clicking the “Lost Password?” link below the login form.

See the brief video demonstrating this process here.

We welcome your feedback as we continue to make the portal and your sponsorship a positive experience for you and your student(s). Please use the feedback form link at the top of your portal homepage. Or, for assistance and comments, contact the Friends of Ngong Road technology and operations team at staff@ngongroad.org or 612-568-4211.

Thank you for helping to transform lives through education!

Andy Walz
Board Member, Technology
Friends of Ngong Road

PS – if you are not a sponsor but are interested in learning more about the new portal, please contact Development Director, Lacey Kraft, at lacey@ngongroad.org or 612-568-4211. She would be happy to give you a demonstration of the portal and explain what sponsorship entails.

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First Annual Urgent Run

World Toilet Day/World Portable Sanitation Day was November 19, and to celebrate the occasion, the Portable Sanitation Association International (PSAI) put on a 5k Urgent Run fun run/walk in Minneapolis that benefitted Karibu Loo! In 2015, we established Karibu Loo as our portable sanitation business in Nairobi. Our mission was clear: to provide income to the non-profit, create job opportunities for graduates, and enhance sanitation in Kenya.

PSAI promotes global access to clean sanitation, aiding portable sanitation firms. It envisions a world with safe facilities for all.

Mike Switzer Urgent Run

On a cold November morning, participants held The Urgent Run at Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis. Several Karibu Loo supporters, including Mike Switzer, the founding manager of Karibu Loo, showed up to test out their running skills in the portable sanitation competition.

Mike won the Urgent Run by breaking the finish line made appropriately of toilet paper. Mike was presented with a medal and Karibu Loo was presented with a check for just under $4,000.

PSAI has been a supportive partner, resource, and cheerleader as we continue working to make Karibu Loo a success in Kenya. In August 2018, PSAI members aimed to bolster support, meet Nairobi’s Karibu Loo, its staff, students, and Kenya’s wildlife.

Thank you, PSAI, for all of your support!

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Meyer Wins the “Friend of the Community” African Award

African Award

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.

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Letter from Paula

Dear Friends,

Dr. Izabela Steflja, professor of Global Development at Tulane University, attended camp 2017. I spoke to a couple of Dr. Steflja’s classes at Tulane in April and at that time we began a conversation that I believe is going to yield deep insights for Friends of Ngong Road. For ten years we have been collecting data about the program using SalesForce.com. We are beginning to mine that data and the results are very encouraging. Our analyses tell us that the program is yielding strong, positive results – in academics and ultimately in employment.

However, we want to understand not just what our results have been but why we have achieved the results. Dr. Steflja designed an interview questionnaire and conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 35 secondary and post-secondary students from the program during her recent time in Kenya. In a future publication, we will share both our results and our findings as to why we have achieved them.

For now, I would like to share a story with you about a question Dr. Steflja threw into the interview at the last minute. She asked each person, “If you were rich, what would you do with the money?” The thing that struck her as unique about the responses is that 100% of respondents answered the same way. Every student she interviewed said that if they were rich, they would sponsor as many children as they could possibly afford.

She explained to me that among children in the program, the definition of rich is someone who can afford to help children they are not related to. For sponsored children, one of the magical things about having a sponsor is that sponsors are rich enough to help children they don’t even know. For our children, that is the definition of wealth.

Imagine – 100% of those interviewed answered the same way.

What would you do if you were rich? For children in this program, you are rich! Thank you for sharing your wealth with them. We hope that sharing your wealth has given you a rich and enjoyable experience.

You are making a difference. Thank you for all you do.

Paula Meyer
President