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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Healthy Students Thanks to Supporters of the Bi-Annual Medical Camp

We held our bi-annual medical camp on a Saturday in April at the Dagoretti City Council Grounds, near our local office.

In one day 376 people received medical, dental, and eye care, along with preventative nutrition, sexual health, and hygiene care.

Of the 376 attendees, 223 were students of the program, 30 were guardians, 20 were staff members, and 103 others were relatives and neighbors of the children in the program.

Medical Camp 2017 Guardian

Friends of Ngong Road provides ongoing healthcare when needed throughout the year to students. This medical camp is vital for detecting chronic issues, delivering preventive care, and ensuring early intervention for better health outcomes.

The clinic cared for students with diverse dental needs, extracting teeth for five individuals among them.

The clinic addressed bloated abdomens, ear issues, headaches, sprains, respiratory infections, and peptic ulcers, catering to diverse symptoms.

The medical camp is an important service we are fortunate to be able to offer our students and community. Our generous sponsors and donors make the medical camp possible, enabling kids to learn better when they are healthier.

This event is co-sponsored in Kenya with Ngong Road Health Centre, Nairobi Women’s Hospital, St. Joseph Catholic Health Centre, Sunrise Dental clinic, Sai Pharmaceuticals Company, Savant’s Bookshop, and volunteers from Kikuyu and Voi Rotary Clubs and Red Cross.

Thank you to the community of Friends of Ngong Road for making medical camp possible.

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Secondary Graduate Test Results are In!

The class of 2016 graduated last December after completing their “big scary school career-end test” called the Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). The KCSE is a comprehensive exam testing students’ last four years of knowledge and is used to determine what caliber of post-secondary school to which a student may be admitted. Even if a student doesn’t typically experience test anxiety, he or she probably does for this one.

This year 31 students took the KCSE. Among test-takers, 15 achieved C- or above, 16 got D or D-, leaving one who didn’t pass the exam.

Although it may sound low to American ears, the Kenyan system based on the old British system does not have “grade creep” and a “C” is truly average. Furthermore, educators believed that the KCSE test posed greater difficulty compared to previous years, potentially causing grades to slightly deviate from students’ usual performance.

Since December, the class of 2016 has been busy at our local office completing a computer certificate course, soft skills training, and preparing their school applications.

This year, the program anticipates the enrollment of four students. Six are expected to receive additional government sponsorships for their education because of their test scores.

Some of the standouts from the class of 2016 include:

Rose achieved a government scholarship by attaining a remarkable composite grade on her KCSE.

She attended one of the most prestigious secondary schools in Kenya after scoring above average on her 8th-grade exam, the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, a similar test structure to the KCSE but for 8th graders. Rose is finalizing her post-secondary plans. Steve and Judy Lewis sponsor Rose.

Francis excelled in KCSE, aiming for Jomo Kenyatta University to pursue veterinary studies after achieving an above-average grade. He learned about the field through Bimeda Veterinary Supply Company in Kenya, a close supporter, and friend of the organization. Andy and Heidi Walz sponsor Francis.

Timothy has been a strong leader in the class of 2016. At the leadership camp, he ignited a passion for leading. As class president, he nurtured and improved his leadership skills. In Kenya, the class president manages on-campus dorms, ensuring students complete tasks and chores, bearing substantial accountability.

Timothy’s KCSE grade was decent, not his ideal, yet he secured a government scholarship for environmental management studies. Francis and Maura Roby sponsor Timothy.

In September, once schools and programs have accepted students, sponsors of the Class of 2016 will receive finalized student plans.

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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

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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

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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.