News - Page 71 of 98 - Friends of Ngong Road

February 20, 2018 By Keith Leave a Comment

Karibu Loo off to a strong start in 2018

Karibu Loo is off to a very strong start in 2018, largely due to several significant long-term rentals. Here are the highlights:

Long-term rentals. The portable sanitation business in the U.S. is primarily based on long-term rentals. It is virtually impossible to build a successful portable sanitation business by only supplying to events, however, events have constituted most of our business to date in Kenya. Long-term rentals are an essential ingredient to profits as they ensure a steady stream of revenue to cover costs.

In January, Karibu Loo rented out 66 units for about 15 days to a unit of the British Army that is training the Kenyan Army and another 10 units to a Chinese construction firm for the entire month. Both of these clients are candidates for long-term contracts. In addition, we have weekend long-term rentals at several churches. Together, these long-term contracts plus normal event business generated just over $2,000 of profit in January.

Employment. Five of our graduates are employed by Karibu Loo in marketing (1), operations (3), and accounting (1). In addition, we employ many recent high school graduates as “sales and operations associates” whose responsibilities include keeping the loos clean and well-supplied at events around Nairobi. This is a good way to provide income for these students and teach them basic workplace etiquette – showing up on time, dressing appropriately, speaking confidently with clients, and following through on responsibilities.

Issues. The biggest challenge faced by the business today is that our only truck has become very unreliable. The truck has served us well for the past several years but is increasingly prone to breakdowns. We have had to outsource the movement of loos and cleaning services when the truck was not functional which cuts into our margins. We are building a new trailer that will be pulled by our pickup truck and can carry six loos.

A second challenge faced by the business is receivables. Despite efforts, reducing receivables remains a challenge as timely customer payments prove recurrently problematic in Kenya.

Growing the business. We are considering ordering more cabins and an additional exhauster. We have had many days in January and February when the constraint on business volume was a lack of available cabins and the logistics of having only one exhauster and truck has become too risky. Meanwhile, we are raising funds to replace the old truck immediately.

February 5, 2018 By Lacey Kraft Leave a Comment

Life Skills Pilot Program Launched

Once our students graduate from a post-secondary program, their chances of becoming employed are over 90 percent. As of the end of 2017, 93 percent of our students were employed or in internships that we believe will lead to employment. But getting them there is hard work.

Over the last ten years, only 83 percent of our students who began secondary school (high school) completed their education. And 87 of those who entered post-secondary completed their post-secondary education. Students drop out due to unintended pregnancies, getting caught up with the wrong crowd, drugs and other challenges teenagers with significant trauma in their background often experience across the globe.

We are determined to increase our secondary and post-secondary graduation rates. To do so, we are kicking off two new programs. In December we launched a sexual and reproductive health program, and just last month, Meghan and Evan Feige traveled to Kenya for the second time to lead a two-week life skills training. The training is designed to support recent secondary graduates in making the important transition from secondary to post-secondary education and into a career following their post-secondary education.

Meghan is the Global Talent and Performance Manager at Cargill Inc. and led students through topics such as personality style, effective communication and listening, emotional intelligence, and resume and interview preparation. Evan is a Senior Planner in Graphics and Design Collaborations at Target. In the follow-up survey, students said:

“I had to critically evaluate myself and think of my inner being and how I carry out my things. I had never done this before, so it challenged and stretched me.”
“The training helped me learn how to communicate better with people and to provide the correct information. It also helped increase my confidence.”
“I believe I can now make wiser decisions for myself.”
The program is going to be launched with all secondary students and recent secondary graduates in November of 2018 in partnership with a Rotary Global Grant. The South Metro Minneapolis Evenings and Kikuyu Rotary Clubs are sponsoring the program and are instrumental in making such an urgently needed program possible for our students to continue succeeding and transforming their lives.

January 30, 2018 By Keith Leave a Comment

A 4-yr-old asks for education for kids in Kenya for her birthday

Marwa’s four-year-old birthday looked slightly different than other four-year-old birthdays. She still had several of her best friends and cousins running around with cake in their hands and singing “Happy Birthday.” But instead of inviting her friends to bring gifts in celebration of her birthday, she asked for money to “Send Sam to school.”

Sam was the student she gravitated to when Marwa and her parents looked at students who needed sponsorship on the Friends of Ngong Road website. Her parents think she connected to him as a peer because he looked younger than the rest of the students. Marwa loves school and wanted Sam to also have the chance to go to school too.

It wasn’t without the nudging of her parents, however. They recognized that Marwa as an only child was experiencing holidays centered around herself. Birthdays and Eid celebrations all unintentionally included a focus on what material item she would unwrap. They wanted her to focus on more than presents at celebrations and to learn the joy of sharing. So they taught her about kids not having the chance to go to school. They looked through pictures on the Friends of Ngong Road website together and excitedly talked with Marwa about what a great choice she was making to invite her friends to bring money for school instead of presents.

The day came, and Marwa had a big decorated box for her friends to drop their gifts of money. When she presented it to Lacey, the Development Director at Friends of Ngong Road, she proudly shook the coins in the box exclaiming that it would help send kids to school. Her smile said it all when Lacey said Sam was now going to be going to school.

Marwa got a taste for sharing and helping out friends across the world. Her birthday wish came true and Sam was going to school. He has since been sponsored full-time by another family, and Marwa plans to help send another child to school on her birthday next year.

January 8, 2018 By Lacey Kraft Leave a Comment

Notes from Paula

Dear Friends,

As Friends of Ngong Road begins our 12th year of operation, I would like to share a few thoughts with you about the progress the organization is making in leadership succession. Our board of directors began thinking about this challenge several years ago and we continue on the path we devised. Although I expect to lead Friends of Ngong Road for the next several years, it is prudent to lay plans.

Staff and Board. We are making progress in transitioning from a volunteer-run organization to one with a more traditional staff/board model. Lacey Kraft completed her second year as Director of Development and we added a part-time Operations Associate and a part-time Chief Financial Officer. Jil Bakko is our long-serving, faithful accountant and together these people are transitioning activities from volunteers to staff where appropriate.
Financial Model. We are also making progress in creating a financial model that does not rely 100% on U.S. philanthropy. The elements of a sustainable long-term financial structure include building a successful business in Kenya (Karibu Loo), a strong endowment fund, and a professional development program. I believe that Karibu Loo will start to contribute to our charitable work in 2018 and with each year that passes our endowment grows and our development program matures.
Leadership Succession. We are continuing to involve more people in the organization and remain committed to an active and engaged corps of volunteers who can provide substantive leadership. While we have not yet identified my successor, we are working on it. I feel confident that the right person will emerge.

We have much to celebrate in Kenya:

We had 38 students finish 8th grade in 2017. 12 of them (31.5%) have been selected to attend national high schools, our highest percentage to date. This demonstrates the impact of more selective student selection processes that began in 2012. Our experience has been that when students are successful in academics they don’t get into as much trouble during adolescence!
We had 27 students finish high school in 2017. 25 of the 27 (96%) are enrolled in our post-secondary program. They are currently taking computer classes, have completed a 2-week Life Skills training program, and will begin college applications soon.
In December, we launched a new Sexual & Reproductive Health Program with strong support from Dr. Patty Kissinger from Tulane University. Our objective is to ensure that students understand their sexuality and feel responsible to manage their own bodies, that they have access to contraception and that there are safe places for them to go to get help. We trained 20 Youth Peer Providers, 8 of whom are leading the education of all students in Class 7 and higher. We believe this Youth Peer Provider model is the most robust available. We hope it results in fewer unplanned pregnancies among girls.
We welcomed 31 new students to the program in 2017, giving them each hope for their future. Our waiting list remains long with over 200 students and our goal for 2018 is to add 40. If you or anyone you know would like to have a direct, positive impact on a child in Kenya, please follow this link to sign up: https://ngongroad.org/sponsor/

This work would not be possible without the hundreds of you who believe that education can transform lives and partner in this important work with us. Thank you!

Paula Meyer
President and Founder
Friends of Ngong Road