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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Don’t forget to contribute to our Annual Appeal!

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Thank you to the many friends who have already donated to our annual appeal! We are making great progress but still need additional supporters to achieve our goal of raising $150,000 by year-end. 

These funds are critical in supporting costs not covered by student sponsorship, including areas critical to education and development such as the safety and well-being programs, the computer lab, the library, and the Saturday programs.

Your support will be DOUBLED thanks to the $75,000 matching gift from the Ted and Kathy Truscott Family Foundation. You can also consider a gift of stock to fit in with your year-end tax planning.  

It’s not too late! Help us transform lives.

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Year-End Donation Planning

As you plan your year-end gift to Friends of Ngong Road, please keep in mind the many ways you can support us beyond making a cash gift.

  • Donor-Advised Funds. Donor-advised funds allow you to make a charitable contribution, receive a tax deduction and then recommend the grant to Friends of Ngong Road.
  • IRA Rollovers. An IRA Rollover gift can fulfill your required minimum distribution, decrease your taxable income and make a world of difference to our children in Nairobi. Any amount you donate this way counts toward your Required Minimum Distribution and reduces the taxable amount of your IRA distribution. This lowers your taxable income even if you take the standard deduction.
  • Stocks. By donating your appreciated stock, you will save on capital gains tax on the increased value of the stock while also making a charitable gift. The entire stock is transferred at its valued price to Friends of Ngong Road.
  • Planned Giving. After providing for your family and loved ones, you may want to remember the Friends of Ngong Road and the children we serve. A gift from your will, trust, retirement account, or life insurance policy will help to secure the long-term future of our work.

Consult with your tax advisor for the final planning of your year-end gift. If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Development Director, Charlie Levine.

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Notes from Paula – March 2020

Dear friends,

Greetings from a world that has changed. We are all coping as we work to understand what COVID-19 will mean for people across the globe and what the downstream economic harm is likely to be. Like most people, I don’t yet understand the long-term implications however I have already deeply internalized an important lesson: We are all in this together!  Viruses do not respect borders, income levels, or political preferences. We all have to pull together to overcome this threat beyond 2020.

In that spirit, Friends of Ngong Road board members Amy Johnson, Keith Kale, and I have been working long days for the past ten days to establish a Crisis Management process for Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF) and Karibu Loo (KLL) in Kenya and for Friends of Ngong Road (FoNR) in the United States. Teams meet daily in Kenya while the U.S. and global teams confer weekly. We have taken steps to reduce expenses in both organizations with the goal of weathering this storm.

There are several important staff changes you should know about…

  • Lacey Kraft joined Friends of Ngong Road as our first full-time paid employee in February 2016.  Her assignment was to build upon the work volunteers did during Friends of Ngong Road’s first ten years and formalize the organization’s development program.  Lacey tackled this assignment with great energy and made significant contributions during her four years with the organization. Sadly, she has decided to leave for another non-profit in the Twin Cities. We are sorry to see Lacey go and wish her all the best in the future.
  • We have made the difficult decision to eliminate the position of Program Director spanning both NRCF and KLL in Kenya.  Maureen Mulievi is the current incumbent in that role and has served the organization well. We are sorry to say goodbye to Maureen and wish her the best in her future endeavors. In this environment, we believe the organization must streamline leadership so we are as effective and efficient as possible.
  • Kelvin Thuku will assume leadership of NRCF while Emmanuel Mukasa (business development) and Steve Muendo (operations) will co-lead Karibu Loo through the crisis.  This move will spearhead the 2020 plans

In all cases, Kenyan staff members will report to Crisis Management teams comprised of people in both countries.

In Kenya, 2020, the immediate and significant need is for food aid.  Families in our community faced great food insecurity before this crisis hit.  Today, they are also told to stay home and work remotely – except when their work is casual labor such as cleaning homes, doing laundry, or construction, remote work is not possible.  And these families don’t eat if they don’t work. We are increasing food aid and appreciate your support in helping us feed these children and their families. For $35/week we can provide enough basics so a family of four can eat at least one meal daily – with 255 families with children in our program, the unplanned-for cost could be as high as $9,000 per month.

If you would like to help us provide food aid in Kenya, please click here. We are all in this together, thank you!

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Letter from Nairobi

Currently, all primary and secondary (Form One to Form Three) students in Nairobi are on a long holiday that will end 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. Their respective schools had prepared the students 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 counseling, 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. High school students will learn life skills, group discussions, sexual/reproductive health, computer studies, and career counseling and mentorship. Primary school children will enjoy the library and computer studies.

We conduct drug use and abuse sensitization sessions for the upper classes (Grades 6 to 8). Girls in the upper classes receive menstrual hygiene education. During this time, the children are happily receiving breakfast and lunch which couldn’t have been available were it not for your generosity towards NRCF. Due to extended holiday periods, we have expanded the Saturday Program to provide children with activities that enhance their talents.

We divide sessions into four broad categories that aim to foster the holistic development of 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), and 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 NRCF stakeholders (children, parents/guardians, local community, NRCF staff, volunteers, and board members). During this meeting, we share our achievements, successes, challenges, lessons learned, and plans for the coming year. We normally share Christmas lunch as a family on this occasion. Families get Christmas packs with chicken, maize & wheat flour, cooking oil, rice, sugar, beans, veggies, and fruit.

We have scheduled the event for December 7th, 2019, in Nairobi. 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. 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 in Nairobi who have been given an opportunity to transform their lives.

Sincerely,


Maureen Mulievi
Programme Director
Ngong Road Children’s Foundation

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Note from Paula

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’s Foundation
  • 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.

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 to 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