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So much is rapidly changing for every one of us as we are experiencing this pandemic in real-time. Everyone is advised to hunker down and isolate to protect ourselves when it is our nature to trust that our strengths are in being open, able to connect and to help and support one another. This webpage is aimed at keeping us all connected. We will do our best to keep the information coming on this page and invite each member of this Friends of Ngong Road community to also become involved and engaged through any of our social media channels.
Latest News
Letter from Nairobi
Hello Friends of Ngong Road, The last quarter of this year has been a busy time for staff in Nairobi as they reflect on the year’s achievements as well as the following year’s plan. We note that there is much to celebrate, from moving to a new office to students resuming school after the 2020 COVID-19 school shutdown. It has been more than just surviving. It meant embracing resilience and dealing with the challenges posed by the pandemic. Compressed school calendar leads to unrest The last quarter was the second term for students in primary and high school. This is due to the change in the school calendar and the introduction of a 4th term to make up for the lost year in 2020. This meant that students would stay longer in school with minimal school breaks. It also meant a…
Karibu Loo Corner
Business Update The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt business performance in Kenya and the world at large. At Karibu Loo, the short-term event-based business has experienced the largest downturn due to the restrictions placed on public gatherings put in place by the government. However, with the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, the economy is starting to gain traction, potentially allowing short-term…
COVID-19 Update
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create havoc globally, positivity rates in Kenya continue to rise and fall in multiple waves. President Uhuru Kenyatta refers to this pattern as a “’containment seesaw.” Like other countries, Kenya is trying to manage the Delta variant. Within the slums of Nairobi, poor sanitation and overcrowded living conditions make social distancing impossible. Positivity rates…
Karibu Loo Corner
Business update Karibu Loo has been affected by the pandemic. With the emergence of COVID-19 vaccines and with much of the world gradually lifting lockdowns and restrictions, the Kenyan economy had started to gain traction. We were hopeful that 2021 business performance would improve, but in March 2021 a second COVID wave came and restrictions were re-imposed. As a result,…
Vaccination Low. Economic Uncertainty High.
In Kenya, the vaccination rate hovers between 0.5 to 5 percent. Projections of reaching just 10 percent by the end of the year taint cause a real sense of uncertainty. Unprotected, the lingering threat of the Delta (India) variant is as real as the almost predictable electrical power brownouts that roll through Nairobi slums.
Continue Reading >> Vaccination Low. Economic Uncertainty High.
Our students are back in school!
The Kenyan president has lifted the lockdown, allowing students to go back to school last week. COVID-19 cases in Kenya have been declining in recent weeks as a result of the lockdown measures that were implemented in March. Fortunately, there was no impact to the school schedule as there had been a planned break for all students during this time.
Our students are now in lockdown.
Dear friends,We learned late Friday afternoon that due to a significant escalation in the rate of COVID infections, especially in Nairobi, the President of Kenya has announced containment measures including a lockdown. Nairobi county and four adjacent counties have been declared to be a “red zone” and movement into and out of this area has been prohibited as of midnight on Friday.Included…
COVID-19 Assessment Results – November 2020
In November, case managers completed another round of assessment of families to find out the status of the household’s health, finances, and students’ schooling. The students are very much looking forward to going back to school in January. Kenya, and Africa as a whole, seems to be managing this pandemic much better than the US – in fact, the Washington…
Continue Reading >> COVID-19 Assessment Results – November 2020
Food from Friends Wrap Up
One of our biggest successes this year was the Food from Friends campaign. In March, we explained to our supporters that due to the students staying home from school (where they normally receive two meals a day), and the lack of options for income for their families, we needed to raise the money to be able to feed every single…
COVID-19 Family Tracking Report: October 2020
Our Case Managers in Kenya have completed another round of check-in calls with our students and their families to determine how they are doing amidst the changing COVID-19 situation. If you joined one of our Annual Gatherings, you heard Kelvin report that Kenya has performed better than expected in this pandemic due to quick action and stringent enforcement of shut-down…
Continue Reading >> COVID-19 Family Tracking Report: October 2020
The Sponsor/Student Portal Experience
Since its inception, Friends of Ngong Road has operated with the principle of establishing one-on-one relationships between sponsors and students.