Our mission at Ngong Road Children’s Foundation is to ensure that we transform the lives of our students. In order to achieve this, we ensure that we provide quality education and provide the necessary resources to smoothen this process. In our quest to get more computers for our Blockchain Lab and the Computer Lab, we applied for computer donations at Safaricom Foundation through the ‘Ndoto Zetu“ which translates to ‘Our Dreams“ initiative. 

The Safaricom Foundation through the “Ndoto Zetu” initiative partners with different organizations and communities and support them in transforming lives by providing them with the needed resources and opportunities. They have worked with communities across all 47 counties in Kenya to provide solutions on Education, Health, Economic Empowerment, Water, Environmental Conservation, and Disaster Response, which are key sectors in empowering and providing relief for communities. We were honored when our application was considered and we received the computer donation. 

On Thursday, the 3rd of May we had a handover ceremony for the computer donation. The event was held at the NRCF offices and we had representatives from the Safaricom Foundation and our programs manager, our employment programs officer and some of our TechMates were also in attendance. The event’s purpose was to acknowledge and appreciate the donation and celebrate the positive impact it would have on our students’ education.

NRCF thanks the Safaricom Foundation for its donations and for joining us at the handover ceremony. The computer contribution will allow TechMates and high school grads participating in the coding bootcamp to efficiently study and enhance their talents, which will undoubtedly help them get better prospects in the future. We have also been able to equip the computer lab at the Elimu Hub with extra computers for our children to utilize, and we feel that by working together, we will be able to build a brighter future for our students via the use of technology. 

By Sallyanne Atieno

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the Kenyan education calendar for over a year. Normalcy in the school calendar has been restored since the beginning of this year. According to the revised school dates, mid-term break for all students began on March 16th and will end on March 19th, giving students a three-day break.

This means that both our primary and secondary students will be at home. We have a number of activities for the students to keep them engaged. First, both primary and secondary students will be writing letters to their sponsors. Students will visit the newly constructed Elimu Hub, where they will have access to a computer and can log in to their portals to update their sponsors on their school and family progress.

Second, we have our regular Saturday program schedule. We will have a variety of activities planned for them, including yoga and light exercises, rock paper scissors relays, brain teasers, puzzle and crossword puzzles, and trivia debates, and have lunch together among other things. The Saturday program will also allow the staff to interact with the students one on one. The Elimu Hub will also allow students to complete their assignments in the library. They can obtain educational reference materials as well as a quiet location to work on personal projects.

When the mid-term break ends, we will provide basic necessities as well as transportation funds to the primary and secondary boarding students. We hope that the students will make the most of their three-day midterm break.

Support our fill a trunk campaign for our high school and some primary students that are in boarding school. 

By Sallyanne Atieno

Appreciating our cultural diversity! What a way to kick-start NRCF book club 2023. The objective is to cultivate a reading culture among the young boys and girls. The first book is “The Elephant Girl” a story of Jama – a young Maasai girl who befriended a Baby elephant.)

The Book club was launched on Saturday 28th, January 2023. A second session was on held Monday 30th. Going forward sessions will be held on Saturdays and weekday during school breaks.
Growing up as a young Masaai Indigenous girl, Tunda (Primary department Senior Case Manager) shared her story with the girls. Listening to her story the girls were very fascinated by her childhood, growing up in the countryside, and were ready to learn more from the book.

We started with only three girls and since we only had one copy of the book. We are applying the read-aloud and around method for the sessions. This way everyone gets to read two chapters before the other.
Since all the girls were born in the city and none of them is Maasai, Tunda thought of sharing a little bit of her culture with them during the second session. She thus adorn them with the Maasai regalia for the session, and then they took pictures at the end of the session. It was an exciting experience for the young girls. They got a feeling of how Jama described her appearance during the community ceremony/occasion she attended with her mother and her Kokoo (Grandmother).

The pioneer girls are:- Dorcas Atieno (from the Luo community) Esther Chebet (from the Kalenjin community and Getrude Ndunge (from the Kamba community) This was also as a way to help us appreciate the beauty found in our cultural diversity. One of the photos is a picture of me showing them a photo of a “sandgrouse” as one of the girls asked what type of animal it was.

Four more girls and five boys have expressed an interest to join the book club thus will be exploring how to incorporate them going forward.