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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TechMates

We consider students fully transformed once they are employed. To enhance their employability, we launched several employment programs, one of them being the TechMates program. TechMates is our new technical training program focused on IT and digital marketing.

Launched in September 2021

The program began in September 2021. Seven graduates have benefited from this program so far. Each year we aim to recruit at least two interns every six months. During that period, they undergo basic technical training in WordPress website programming and design. After the training, they develop their websites and work on website enhancement and digital marketing for Friends of Ngong Road( FoNR), Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF), and Karibu Loo as an implementation of the skills acquired during the training. This enhances their technical and interpersonal skills which are key in the professional world.

Techmates Structure

The program is generally divided into two paths that individuals can choose to take depending on preference and area of expertise. They include :

  1. Developer Path – Generally involves web development and software creation and management.
  2. Digital Marketing Path

Experience with clients

We also seek clients that require freelancing services and provide them with TechMates. Our current customers include

  •   Lido Nation a blockchain educational website whose focus is to help educate people about blockchain technologies. We provide we developments and content translation services for them.

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Meet our new Case Manager: Wence

“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet” – this quote would best describe Wenceslaus right from childhood.He lived with his grandmother, the sole breadwinner, and had a difficult childhood, because his grandmother struggled to provide for himself and the family. Wence joined the Ngong Road program in 2009 and his case manager described him as being “polite, well-disciplined, and impressive”.

His leadership skills evident in high school, including dorm and hockey team captainships at Parklands High School. He took major steps even as a young person to become a visionary leader.He pioneered the Youth Peer Providers (YPP) program, a crucial component of students’ Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) training.

Wence is loved by especially the youngest students in the program and takes pride in being a major contributor and facilitator of the Saturday programs. At Kabete National Polytechnic College, he studied social work and community development while volunteering as a facilitator for the Saturday program. He would interact with the kids and created a strong bond, not yet knowing that he would soon get the chance to work with the kids as their case manager.

Wence’s love and commitment to work during his internship led to his hiring as a case manager in the primary department in 2022. He enjoys working as a case manager to express gratitude for the organization that transformed his life and provided him with education. Wence hopes to accomplish a lot for the organization and for himself as he maneuvers through and explores his career.

Thanks to Friends of Ngong Road and Ngong Road Children’s Foundation for transforming this young man’s life through education.

Welcome, Wence!

Friends of Ngong Road 2020 Kenya Visit – day 3 – Saturday Program – Introduction to Ultimate

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Karibu Loo Corner

Karibu Loo has rebuilt the business and is ready for a new year

With the country’s ongoing vaccination campaign and following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, the Kenyan economy is gradually recovering from Covid-19 impacts. 

Rebuilding the Business after Covid-19

The impact of Covid -19 has resulted in 2021 being a rebuilding year for Karibu Loo. In 2021, we focused on growing long-term rentals, now constituting over 60% of this year’s total revenue.  Our primary marketing tool was digital advertising campaigns through Google and social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). The campaigns have yielded nearly 80% of our sales, including long-term commercial, coming through direct inquiry without a sales intermediary.

Long-Term Business is our mainstay

Since the onset of the pandemic, long-term business (primarily construction companies) has been our mainstay in revenue and has enabled us to survive through the pandemic. Short-term business primarily relies on events, and their return has been slower.

During the last three quarters of 2021, we recorded a rapid increase in long-term revenue peaking at 25 cabins per day in the fourth quarter. In recent months, the long-term has contributed almost 70% of the total monthly revenue for Karibu Loo, the highest level we have recorded since inception of Karibu Loo. We believe this trend will progress next year, creating a solid revenue generation base. 

2022 Business Outlook is bright

The coming year outlook remains uncertain and contingent on the impact of the Covid-19 variant (Omicron). We anticipate serving the BATUK (British Military Training Unit Kenya) organization.  They train troops in Nanyuki, about a four-hour drive from Nairobi. BATUK usually schedules military training in phases throughout the year so we anticipate supplying at least 40 cabins per day for three months beginning in January with the possibility of extending through the rest of the year. Despite the complex operations cost behind the business, it provides a significant revenue boost.

Staff Update on Covid-19 

For safety, we urged staff to vaccinate, aiding in Covid-19 prevention, risk reduction, and client protection during services. Currently all our staff are 100% fully vaccinated (complete doses).

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Alumni Update

In 2021, 25 students in our program graduated from college. Since graduation, 78% of these alumni have found employment while one returned to school to further her education. This success has been possible due to the enormous support from our partners and sponsors who have walked with these graduates on their journey through life transformation. We would like to highlight 3 graduates who are celebrating the fruits of their hard work and the investment in their support. 

Noah Ngugi – Make-up Artist at M.A.C Store

Noah joined the program in October 2007. As a child, his family’s ability to pay for education was an incredible challenge.  Friends of Ngong Road provided a bridge for him to pursue his dreams. He has now completed his education and is incredibly proud of having a degree, a career, and the ability to support himself.

Noah studied at Uhuru Boys Secondary School and graduated in 2017. He later joined Lintons College to pursue a Diploma in Make-up Artistry and Nail Technology. He graduated in November 2021.  

Currently, he is working at M.A.C cosmetics store as a cosmetologist. Noah is also an active leader at Ngong Road Children’s Foundation as a Youth Peer Provider (YPP) for the sexual Reproductive Health Program.

Wence Njiri- The Social Worker/ Case Manager

As a child with little hope and dreams for his future, life was challenging. Although his parents did their best to provide for the family, they struggled financially. The world and prospects changed for Wence when he joined our program in October 2009.

He was so happy when he learned he was sponsored.  He received a lot of love from the caseworkers and the other students in the program; he met many new friends.  He also had access to consistent support, education, and food. During his time in school and participating in supportive programming, Wence was able to discover himself and harness his skills to prepare for success. Wence became a leader in the program as a Young Peer Provider (Ypp) for the sexual Reproductive Health Program at NRCF.

Wence is a graduate of Kabete National Polytechnic with a diploma in Social Work and Community Development. He currently interns at NRCF in the Primary department with prospects of being hired full-time in the future. There is a saying that we only need one thread to weave our story and for him, Ngong road Children’s Foundation was that thread.

Eric Njuguna- Supply Chain Management Graduate

Eric is the youngest of three siblings. In October 2002 his mother passed away due to illness, and, at such a young age, this loss crushed him and he felt like his life was entangled in darkness. Eric and his siblings moved in with their grandma who enrolled him in school.  Although he was relieved and excited to be in school, it came with a lot of challenges. His grandma was older and had diabetes, so she couldn’t work enough to keep up with the rising school fees. 

Life started looking up when his grandma was told about the sponsorship program by a friend. After meeting the rigorous selection requirements Eric and his brother were both sponsored. All aspects of their lives were taken care of, including health, education, and nutrition. He graduated from college with a diploma in Supply Chain Management and is currently applying for jobs.

Nelson Mandela, the first black African President of South Africa once said that ‘Education is the great engine of personal development.’ Eric is forever grateful to Friends of Ngong Road for providing him with the education and support he needed to transform his life.

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Upgrades to the Sponsor Portal

Photos of Your Student

For a long time, we’ve struggled to efficiently share student photos. We were able to print and send portraits to sponsors, but we had no means of sharing the thousands of photos we have of students from school, camp, Saturday Program, and everyday life.

We are excited to have launched a new photo management system that allows students to tag themselves in photos, quickly linking them to you in the portal. This gives sponsors a more timely glimpse into the transformation of their student’s life. 

To see photos of your student, simply click the “photos” tab on your portal dashboard and click on a photo to enlarge it.  Use the arrows within the picture to scroll through additional pictures.  A picture is worth a thousand words!     

Communicating with Your Student

The portal is the best way to communicate with your student. The “inbox” tab allows you to easily send and receive messages. We’ve recently added video capabilities. This allows you and your student to use your phone or computer’s webcam to send short videos to each other. Students love to see videos of their sponsors. 

Students receive messages and videos through the portal much sooner than handwritten letters. Easily connect with your student anytime, sending a thoughtful “I’ve been thinking about you” message, simplifying your communication.

More Enhancements 

We will continue to make portal improvements to increase communication and provide useful information understanding.   We are going to add tips on communicating with your student, FAQs, program overviews, and more. We’re also planning educational programs where sponsors will be able to get together, learn more about Kenya, our programs, and network with each other. 

If you have ideas for new features, let us know.  If you haven’t been on the portal recently, log back on to see the changes and know that more is to come.