Search Results for: saturday program

March 17, 2020 By Paula Meyer Leave a Comment

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!

November 11, 2019 By Kelvin Thuku Leave a Comment

Letter from Nairobi

Currently, all primary and secondary (Form One to Form Three) students in Nairobi are on a long holiday that will end when schools resume on 6th January 2020. Grade (class) 8 students took the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams on 31st October 2019 while the final high school examination (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education, or KCSE) for Form 4 (seniors) began on 4th November 2019 and will end towards the end of November. Their respective schools had prepared the students to tackle both key exams confidently.

During the long holiday, the students who are not sitting for exams will be taking part in various activities ranging from life skills sessions, career guidance and counseling, sexual/reproductive health training, menstrual hygiene education, drug use, and abuse sensitization sessions, group discussions, library sessions, and computer studies. The activities will take place concurrently with each class tackling a different area. High school students will learn life skills, group discussions, sexual/reproductive health, computer studies, and career counseling and mentorship. Primary school children will enjoy the library and computer studies.

We conduct drug use and abuse sensitization sessions for the upper classes (Grades 6 to 8). Girls in the upper classes receive menstrual hygiene education. During this time, the children are happily receiving breakfast and lunch which couldn’t have been available were it not for your generosity towards NRCF. Due to extended holiday periods, we have expanded the Saturday Program to provide children with activities that enhance their talents.

We divide sessions into four broad categories that aim to foster the holistic development of children. This involves psychosocial health (yoga, cheering, singing, fun activities, brain games, talent shows, and team building). Other areas are cognitive development (arts and crafts, book reading, debates and presentations, crosswords and puzzles), and social development (clubs and societies, e.g. drama, music, scouts, dance club, journalism, and St. John ambulance). Finally, physical development (soccer, Katie, taekwondo, soccer, rugby, volleyball, handball, and athletics). On Saturdays, children also enjoy a well-balanced lunch that is part of the nutrition program.

The highlight of the holiday season is the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for all NRCF stakeholders (children, parents/guardians, local community, NRCF staff, volunteers, and board members). During this meeting, we share our achievements, successes, challenges, lessons learned, and plans for the coming year. We normally share Christmas lunch as a family on this occasion. Families get Christmas packs with chicken, maize & wheat flour, cooking oil, rice, sugar, beans, veggies, and fruit.

We have scheduled the event for December 7th, 2019, in Nairobi. This year’s AGM is special since we will be launching our new entity – Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF). We will be transitioning from an “Association” to a “Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)”. The children are excited as they look forward to the event since it will be joined by the founder and President of Friends of Ngong Road, Paula Meyer. After the celebration children normally break for the Christmas holidays. Some travel to their rural areas to celebrate with their extended families. Others remain behind to continue benefiting from what the program offers normally such as library and computer lab access.

Thank you all for creating a big impact in the lives of these once desperate and hopeless children in Nairobi who have been given an opportunity to transform their lives.

Sincerely,

Maureen Mulievi
Programme Director
Ngong Road Children’s Foundation

October 15, 2019 By Kelvin Thuku 1 Comment

Kelvin Thuku’s Trip to the U.S.

Kelvin recently returned from a ten-day visit to the U.S. Kelvin is the Programme Coordinator at Ngong Road Children’s Foundation and joined the organization in 2013 as a computer lab instructor. Today Kelvin leads our Information and Communications Technology Department, Summer Camp, and Saturday Program hence he gets to interact with all the children in the program and understand them quite well. During his visit, he was able to meet various sponsors and donors and spend time with the US-based staff. Kelvin was able to help sponsors understand the supportive community programs that their sponsored children engage in and how these programs help them in the journey of transforming their lives.

A Tight Schedule
During his time in the US, Kelvin traveled throughout Minnesota, Iowa, and Texas meeting with sponsors and donors as well as giving presentations to churches (Christ Lutheran Church of Alamo Heights and Our Saviors Lutheran Church in the San Antonio area, friends and family, and of course at our Annual Gathering and Friends of Friends fundraising breakfast. He also met individually with some sponsors and donors and gave insight regarding the students they sponsor.

Kelvin is responsible for the technology and budget planning, therefore he was able to spend time with the tech team and gain a deeper understanding of the systems that the organization is leveraging to better support operations at NRCF. He also spent time with the board member in charge of financials and controls. He also spent time with the strategic planning committee discussing the scaling plan.

In addition to these meetings, Kelvin was able to experience life in Minnesota where he visited some of the landmarks such as Stone Arch Bridge, the Minneapolis sculpture garden, and the Mall of America. And he tried lots of new foods. He also had many opportunities for professional development working with our U.S. staff and board members and by meeting with other professional groups like the South Metro Minneapolis Evenings Rotary club and individuals like Paul Walker of Gallup to gain insight and experience.

A Great Experience
For Kelvin, the trip from Nairobi to Minnesota was a long one, but quite fulfilling since it was his first time in the US and his first trip out of Africa.

Kelvin is grateful to the organization for giving him the chance to travel to the US and get all the exposure and interaction. He is also grateful to all the sponsors and donors who spent time with him and for allowing him to share his perspectives of the program.