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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New COVID-19 Updates Page

Dear friends,

This week we are launching the “COVID-19 Updates” page on the Friends of Ngong Road website. So much is rapidly changing. Practically every moment we are trying to understand this pandemic from our own perspective and experiences and from the perspectives and experiences of others. We are adjusting to this new reality, and we are doing so together as a global community, with the realization that many of our human responses are shared.

We created “COVID-19 Updates” with the purpose of strengthening our connections. Our aim is to keep one another connected by providing updates on the well-being of our children and their families in Nairobi, as well as connecting fellow sponsors and supporters from around the globe. Here you will find timely and relevant updates on physical, emotional, nutritional, and financial issues. We will let you know what the organizations’ actions, plans, and priorities are, as well as ways you can help. And, as in all communities, it’s about supporting one another. 

For the past couple of weeks we’ve shared what our priorities are today; ensuring our children and their families are adequately nourished. We started by diverting resources and asking for help in supporting the Food from Friends campaign. 

We hope this page becomes the place where you can return for continued connection, read weekly updates, hear, watch and read personal stories coming from Nairobi, and discover ways you can help and be connected through the months ahead. Please visit www.ngongroad.org and click on the “COVID-19 Updates” button right in the middle of the home page. 

Having visited the program and children in Nairobi four times since 2012 as a photographer, videographer, and podcaster, I have learned that we each live what we believe to be our own “normal” lives and that some of those normals are as different as night and day. But, the lesson today’s pandemic may teach us all is we all are living a “new normal.” And wouldn’t it be wonderful if that included us being just a bit more connected, regardless of where we’re living?

Steve Kotvis
Volunteer

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Launch of “Food from Friends”

Dear friends,

Last week I told you that one of Friends of Ngong Road’s priorities in our COVID-19 response in Kenya is to focus on family Food aid. We are calling this new initiative Food from Friends. In the course of a normal week during normal times, our program provides elementary-age students with breakfast and lunch each school day as well as a hearty lunch on Saturdays. Boarding school students receive 3 meals daily plus tea. As a result, when students are home these families experience extreme stress in just providing food for everyone.

Caseworkers for Ngong Road Children’s Foundation have contacted each family in our program over the past week. So far, no families in our program (including staff) have been diagnosed with COVID- 19. But, we’ve learned that two-thirds of our families have no source of income during the economic lockdown in Kenya. There are very serious limitations on movement and economic engagement including a curfew from dusk to dawn each day, enforced by police. Thus, our focus is to provide food aid for those families with no source of income. In our first week, we distributed 130 packets, but we must do more. 

Each food packet contains beans and rice, corn flour, and cooking fat. Families eat beans and rice as a meal. Corn flour is used to make a staple dish called ugali (a thick cornmeal mush) that is typically eaten with collard greens or spinach. A food packet costs about $10 ($40 a month) and we estimate will feed a family of four at least one meal a day for a week.

We expect the need for food to grow as Kenya’s shutdown goes from days to weeks. Thank you for your commitment to providing Food From Friends. Please click on the Donate button to give today.

Sincerely,

Paula Meyer

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Personal connections, a world away.

Friends of Ngong Road has been working with Kenyan students for 14 years, helping sponsors and supporters build personal connections with Kenyans. The organization is committed to helping sponsors and donors establish relationships with the students in their program. In our world today, now challenged by COVID-19, we may be a world away but personal connections are still indispensable! 

Kenya has 28 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with international flights prohibited after midnight on March 25. The president and his deputy have taken 80% pay cuts, while high-ranking officials have taken 50% cuts. The government has waived income tax for those earning less than 24,000 KSH per month and reduced it for higher wage earners.

Our normal process is to distribute 15 food packets monthly to families in the greatest need. From March 23rd to 27th alone we distributed 50. We will try to increase this food distribution as we get more information about where the greatest need lies. A food packet is pretty basic: 1 kg of beans, 2 kg of rice, 500 g of cooking fat, and 4 kg of maize flour. A family of four can enjoy Kenya’s ugali daily with collard greens or kale for a week.

The Kenyan offices are operating with a skeleton staff and handling meetings by appointment only. The computer lab and library are closed. We may allow some students to use it by appointment in the coming days and weeks. Caseworkers conduct weekly calls to support families, collecting data on job availability, those who travelled to rural areas, and support needs. This helps identify those in need of assistance and ensures a better understanding of their situation.

Thank you for the personal connections you have made with our friends in Kenya. We’re all in this together!

Paula Meyer
President and Founder

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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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The Impact of COVID-19

We are all feeling a bit overwhelmed by developments in the world over the past two weeks including the spread of COVID-19.  This is a brief update on what is happening to our program in Kenya and also to our team in the U.S.
Our objectives are:

  • to keep our staff in both Kenya and the U.S. safe and healthy;
  • to comply with public health recommendations and mandates in both countries; and
  • to make decisions that enhance the likelihood the organizations will successfully weather this storm so we can continue to focus on our mission of educating students and transforming lives post-crisis.

It is important to note that the community we work with in Kenya is extremely vulnerable to the harm this situation will inflict on people. Most of the student’s parents and guardians have pre-existing health conditions; they all have limited income, usually earned by performing casual labor that has already evaporated; and in the slums, there is no such thing as “social distance”. You will note in our summary of the situation in Kenya that we have increased our budget for emergency food aid and believe it will be sorely needed in the coming weeks. If you would like to make a donation to support providing basic food packets to our families in Kenya, please click on the button below. A $40 gift can provide food packets that feed a family for a month.

Donate now to provide food support for families who are impacted.

In Kenya:

  • Several cases of COVID-19 have appeared in Kenya.  The government of Kenya has taken aggressive action to prevent the virus from spreading in the country.
  • Kenyan public health officials have mandated no gatherings of large numbers of people, they have closed all schools effective this week and require that employees work from home.
  • We have formed a Crisis Management team for both Ngong Road Children’s Foundation and Karibu Loo Limited.  The teams in Kenya meet daily and provide written updates to the U.S. Crisis Management Team, along with a global weekly touch-base meeting.
  • Ngong Road Children’s Foundation will operate with a skeleton staff and will communicate with students and families through text messages, updates to our website, and printed flyers. This is in regards to the measures in place to deal with COVID-19.
  • Caseworkers are available to students and families by telephone or by appointment in the office in case of emergencies.
  • Saturday Program, home visits, and school visits are suspended during this crisis.
  • We have cut staff hours, salaries, and other expenses in an effort to preserve options as the crisis unfolds while also ensuring our staff has enough income to cover their essential needs.
  • Karibu Loo business will also be curtailed as long as there are prohibitions on gatherings and social events as a move to curb COVID-19 spread.  As with Ngong Road Children’s Foundation, we have reduced expenses to a minimum.
  • We have significantly increased our budget for food aid for families, as we expect this crisis to result in significant food insecurity for our population.

In the United States:

  • We have formed a Crisis Management Team consisting of Paula Meyer, Amy Johnson, and Keith Kale; we meet daily.
  • Our associates in the U.S. operate on a remote basis and will continue that practice. We have made no changes to staff compensation or hours, though changes made by daycare providers are affecting several of our team members.
  • Paula Meyer and other board members have increased the amount of time working on Friends of Ngong Road matters and we expect that to continue in the coming months as we work to navigate these unprecedented times.  Our board of directors will meet this week and again in April to deliberate issues facing the organization.
We remain committed to our mission and will work to successfully navigate these challenging times.  If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to paula@ngongroad.org.Thank you, and stay healthy!