We’ve heard from several grandparents and parents that they want to teach their children about the world. They want their children to have empathy for people with less than they have and understand how privileged they are. Sponsoring a student is the perfect opportunity as it is grounded in the relationship that can grow between the sponsor and student.

Some of our sponsors have started sponsoring a child with the intention of their own child or grandchild developing a relationship with the student in Kenya. Their child or grandchild learns that some people live in one-roomed homes with five other people. They have to walk to get their water and sometimes can’t afford to go to school.

The Kenyan children learn about life in the U.S. – about winter and summer (a mystery to these children living near the equator with very little seasonal variations) and birthday celebrations. It is a long-term, meaningful learning opportunity. Importantly, it’s rooted in relationship for both children.

Christa and Travis Rymal

Christa and Travis have known about Friends of Ngong Road since nearly the beginning of the organization. Travis’s mother is a friend of Friends of Ngong Road Founder, Paula Meyer, and was one of the first sponsors.

When Christa and Travis’s two youngest daughters were able to draw pictures, they decided to sponsor two students and chose Griffin and Sarah. Their daughters kept the pictures they received from Griffin and Sarah near their bed and prayed for them at night.

Four years have passed, and the pictures have turned into less frequent letters as all four children are growing up. But the Rymal girls know more about their global community now and have a connection across the world. They’ve learned that their family values include education and giving all children a chance. Griffin and Sarah in Kenya know that they matter, and they are getting an education.

Mary Loyland

Mary attended an event sponsored by Friends of Ngong Road where crafts made by mothers and aunts of students were sold. She was impressed by the presentation and started sponsoring and corresponding with Vivian, a 14-year-old student.

An educator by profession, Mary recognized that sponsorship would be a great opportunity to teach her three young grandsons from Pittsburgh the importance of learning about young children in other parts of the world and the good feeling you get when helping those who are less fortunate than you. Mary and her grandsons started sponsoring Isaiah in 2017. Isiah, who is now 13-years-old, have corresponded a few times and are still learning about one another.

She brought some of the handicrafts to her grandsons to explain more about Isaiah’s life and family. The boys are growing up and everyone’s’ schedules are getting busier. But, Mary is hopeful they will have an increased sense of empathy and compassion with Isaiah in their life.

Do you have a special child in your life who could write with a student in Kenya? Take a look at the students who are waiting for sponsorship. If you want more information about any of the students or have any questions, contact Lacey Kraft at lacey@ngongroad.org.

Norman Kamau joined the program in 2008 when Katy Egan-Benck and Ed Benck started sponsoring him. He was a very shy boy who was dealing with the recent passing of his father as a result of AIDS. He lived in a small two-bedroom house with his mother, who works as a seamstress, and his two brothers. They do not have water in the house, so it had to be purchased elsewhere and carried in. Norman’s brothers were 15 and 18 when he joined our program, so the family was very excited for him to get a quality education starting at a young age.

Norman graduated from Muguga Boy’s High School in 2016 where he only accomplished a D+ on his senior year exams, despite being a bright student. He decided to pursue his dream of becoming a tour guide and enrolled at the Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute for his post-secondary studies where he studied Nature Interpretation & Tour Administration. He successfully completed his one year course, and is now waiting for formal graduation later this year.

In the meantime, he has been working as a Marketing and Administrative Assistant at Karibu Loo where he has been able to gain valuable work experience and job training. He has proven himself to be a dedicated employee, and has even brought in some of his own sales!

With his new diploma, job experience, and skills learned through our programming, Norman has not only transformed his own life, but will continue to improve the lives of his family members and community. His story is just one example of how education and support from a loving network of adults (such as sponsors, guardians, and caseworkers) can make a difference.

Dear Friends and Partners,

We’re often asked how we find students to join our program. They are surprised to learn that it is completely by word of mouth. In the Dagoretti slums of Nairobi there are many HIV support groups and word spreads quickly that Friends of Ngong Program will provide a real chance for their children. It is often mothers or aunts in these programs who immediately bring their children to our office to see if they can join us.

On the waiting list today are over 100 children ages 8-10. They have academic aptitude and guardians who support education. All they need is a sponsor. Some of the students waiting for sponsorship are:

                       

I am a mother myself and wish we could support all of the students. It breaks my heart when ailing mothers come to our office accompanied by their little ones asking if their children have been matched with a sponsor.  It is emotionally draining to see their pain every day. However, they have hope that they will be matched with a sponsor and get to join the program for a chance at a transformed life.

Would you be able to sponsor one of the students above? For approximately $2/day, you can give a student a chance through education. Let’s spread the word and give children like Lenox, Victor and Dorcas  a chance.

Maureen Mulievi

Program Director, NRCA

This spring we decided to ask our sponsors and donors for help raising funds to purchase and fill school trunks for our secondary boarding students. In Kenya it is common for secondary students go away to live at school. This may seem odd for those of us in the U.S. who are used to teenagers living at home until they finish high school but for these students and their families it is a huge benefit. At school the students are cared for, fed, have beds of their own and are able to focus on their studies instead of worrying about life in the slums.

Each year we equip our secondary students with trunks filled with everything they need for the term. The students receive refills of these items each term when they come home to visit their families and stop by the office to meet with their case workers. The trunks are filled with a restricted list of the necessities of life such as shampoo and body wash, laundry supplies to hand wash clothing, toilet paper, feminine products, toothbrush and toothpaste, body moisturizer, pens and other school supplies. All students are required to bring the listed supplies and nothing else – no cell phone, no extra clothing – nothing that would separate one child from another.  In this way, all the children are equal as far as life at school is concerned.

Only about half of our costs each year are covered by sponsorship payments. The rest comes from our Annual Appeal in the fall, individual donations, grants, and fundraising efforts throughout the year. This year, we hoped that giving our donors the opportunity to help us pay for the trunks and supplies to fill them for our boarding school students would give some insight into these efforts. And it was a success! Our goal was to raise $10,000 for this expense this year. With your generosity, we were able to raise just over $11,100. (The extra donations will go towards helping us to fund student expenses like lunch at Saturday Program, holiday food packets, and others.)

Thank you for helping us make the first annual Spring Appeal a success! Your donations will make a significant impact on our fundraising efforts for the year, and therefore will make a significant impact on the hundreds of students in our program.

Asante Sana!

A few times over the years, we have tragically lost students due to a combination of illness and the challenges they face. This spring, we lost a student who had just recently graduated from her post-secondary program, and who was a treasured friend and active part of the NRCA program. Her sponsor, Sally Kenney, wrote some beautiful memories of their time together:

Cynthia Adhiambo joined the program in 2008 in class five. I became her sponsor in 2012 after I first visited Kenya and asked the program director to find a second girl for me to sponsor.

Her brother Godfrey is in 12th grade now and in the program. Her sister, Veraly, is not in the program because she lives with their grandmother in rural Kenya, and Cynthia was always very worried about her. Her mother died in 2015 from HIV related complications. After her mother passed, Cynthia and the siblings were left under their father’s care; she was also close to her uncle. She had an eye condition which was finally corrected by surgery; and she had had malaria which recurred.

She went to St. Mary’s Boarding School and wrote a moving essay about how frightened and lonely she felt when her mother took her there, a two-hour matatu ride from home. She was so disappointed to earn a C- on her exams and told me that she had failed, but I hope I convinced her of how well she had done especially considering of all the obstacles she had overcome. She wrote that she saw herself in the future as “a very successful woman and a role model in the society. I see myself employed in a very big company. And also aspiring to open my own company and employ the jobless in the society.”

She was shy and soft-spoken, easily embarrassed and often lacking in confidence except in church, where she could belt out “Praise God.” The photo of two of my sponsored students, Sharon and Cynthia, is from my first visit, and you can see how shy yet happy Cynthia was. As you can see from the safari picture, she was not sure she wanted to touch the rhinoceros, but she got pretty close. On safari, she tried hard to use the binoculars in order to please me, a birder.

She would arrive in camp clutching plastic bags with no suitcase or pillow. She was especially thrilled last summer to learn how to knit. The photo of her participation in our yoga routine for talent night shows what a beautiful young woman she had become.

Cynthia completed her coursework and final project at the Kenya Institute of Management for a Diploma in Sales and Marketing and was hoping to graduate at the end of the year. Despite her soft-spokenness, she was selected to be a YPP (Youth Peer Provider) trainer in NRCA’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Program. She had also started creating awareness on the importance of menstrual hygiene to primary and high school girls this year. She was thrilled to be selected for the group and listened intently to all the programs. She was also chosen to be a squad leader for summer camp in 2014.

Cynthia was very sick in mid-March and was admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital where she was diagnosed with GBS (Guillain-Barre Syndrome). She died on April 3rd, 2019.

I treasure the many sweet handwritten letters she sent me, although in the last few years we had mostly emailed or chatted via WhatsApp. Her Christmas greeting to me expressed how much she loved the YPP program. I have the beautiful thank you card she wrote to me, always referring to me as Mum. Some of my most treasured memories were of shopping with her to prepare for school and taking her to eat chicken (for a slender girl, she could put away a lot of chicken!). It is hard to convey how much pleasure it gave me to see how thrilled she was to have a new dress or a new pair of jeans, especially when I think of how hard life was for her after her Mom died. Cynthia often found temporary work washing neighbors’ clothes to pay the family’s rent and ensure they had the essentials as she went off to school. Despite the fact that she often went without food, she would be the first to urge me to share our carry out with a hungry child begging on the street.

It seems so sad to lose her now, just as she had really hit her stride and overcome so many obstacles. I love her, will miss her terribly, but will never forget her.

Sally J. Kenney

New Orleans, April 14th