Ngong Road Children's Foundation

We empower Nairobi children living in poverty to transform their lives through education and support, leading to employment.

2023 Post-Secondary Career Camp

We had to put our summer camp on hold since the start of COVID-19 in 2020. After things calmed down in 2022, we redesigned the camp to ensure that students have fun while also gaining educational value. Instead of having a general camp for the high school and post-secondary students, we introduced a career camp meant to educate students, especially new KCSE graduates preparing to join colleges and universities on career training and college and university applications. 

The camp took place at Naivasha West Beach Camp which is on the shores of Lake Naivasha from Friday, the 21st of April to Sunday, the 23rd. The camp theme was “WePower PS Career Camp” which translates to “We are Empowering the Post-Secondary students through this camp”. The students were able to demonstrate this through the discussions that they had with their paired buddies, who were selected Post-Secondary students in the different career fields that our high school graduates aspire to pursue, and external facilitators who we invited. This was to ensure that the high school graduates of 2022 can be able to fully understand the careers available, the placement process, and post-secondary life and move together as a team.

We had a total of 53 campers that included 26 high school graduates, and 15 buddies. We had a number of career development programs in store for the high school graduates which was the main purpose of the camp. Nelson, a guest speaker, from Generation Kenya facilitated a career discussion about selecting career choices based on interest and enthusiasm, as well as the effect that it makes. A representative from Zetech University also guided the graduates through courses, institutional selection, and placement. They were educated on how the Kenya University and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) handles placements. This is in regard to cluster points and subject combinations. 

We also had buddy group discussions that were facilitated by the selected buddies. The buddies were able to clearly explain how things work in higher learning institutions in specific relation to the courses they were taking. This enabled the graduates to have a better understanding of the various courses they had selected as their most preferred courses. The campers also enjoyed all sorts of activities ranging from summer Olympics, obstacle races, balloon relay, music and dance, swimming and team building activities. These activities were meant to be both fun and forge a teamwork spirit.   

The camp was successful and we would like to extend our gratitude to all donors and sponsors for the education support they accord our students. We would also love to thank the teams from Generation Kenya and Zetech University for honoring our invitation and sharing knowledge with the campers. 

George’s Educational Journey

My name is George. I live with my parents and two siblings. Getting the opportunity to join Ngong Road Children’s Foundation was a lifelong dream for my educational success.

I joined the NRCF when I was in third grade. I sat for my Kenya Certificate of Primary Education in one of their focus schools and got above-average marks. My KCSE performance secured me a slot at a boys boarding school Bungoma County

I am currently a student there. I love attending practical lessons at the lab for Biology and Chemistry subjects, and I am also involved in extracurricular activities such as football and the debate club. I am working hard to ensure that I get good grades in my exams and am able to get into University once I am done with my high school education.

I aspire to join the University of Nairobi and pursue a course in Aeronautical Engineering. I have always had an interest in planes, and since my father is a mechanic, I developed an interest in working with different tools. He is my role model, and I hope to become even better at working with tools. I am grateful to the Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF) program for believing in me and taking me through my education, and I hope to achieve my educational dreams and make myself and them proud. 

To sponsor and transform a child’s life, visit https://ngongroad.org/sponsor/

Coding partnership with DirectEd Development Foundation

Ngong road children’s foundation

The world is now fully digitalized and computer literacy has become the norm. We have slowly moved from basic computer skills and ushered in the computer programming era. We want to make sure that as our students transition to higher education, they can be able to get this much-needed skill. 

In our quest to achieve the above, we recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding and forged a partnership with DirectEd Development Foundation. DirectEd is a UK-based charitable organization on a mission to deliver evidence-based, highly scalable, and cost-effective coding boot camps and scholarships to under-resourced high-potential students in Africa, through the use of blockchain technology and decentralized identifiers. They so far have partnered with different top learning institutions in Kenya and Ethiopia. Some of the institutions in Kenya include Kagumo high school, Mang’u high school, and Maryhill girls high school. We are excited to be part of this partnership.

Through this partnership, our 2022 high school graduates will take part in a three-part programme that is repackaged from existing material into a structure that works for low-resource hybrid-learning settings and is offered by tutors from DirectEd. The first programme is the 1-week mobile-based coding course. This particular programme is based on open-source material from Harvard’s CS50 introduction to Python. It is done remotely which means that the students will make use of their phones and we will allow those who do not have access to a smartphone to come to the Elimu Hub and make use of the resources available in the computer lab. The team from DirectEd will also help the students to set up the necessary infrastructure for the stipend disbursement.

The second programme which is the main programme is a 12-week computer-based hybrid programme. Here, students will learn full-stack web development in the MERN (MongoDB, Express, React, Node) framework. This programme will also feature some guest lecturers hosting workshops on key soft skills such as acing job interviews and entrepreneurship, with the students studying for at least 40 hours a week. Lastly, the graduate programme. This programme is for students who will have successfully completed the coding programme, and it has two paths. One, entry into a longer full-time coding bootcamp or two, a 6-months internship with specialization in a particular skill while getting real-work experience with DirectEd’s tech partner companies.

For all the 3 programmes, our students need to have attained a specific threshold to move to the next. We will support our students through the help of our ICT personnel to ensure that we have as many students as possible moving up to the graduate programme. We would like to thank DirectEd Development Foundation for this life-changing partnership for our students and the people at Lido Nation, particularly Stephanie King, for being a central part of connecting us with them. We are excited to see our students transform their lives.  

Asumpta’s educational journey

My name is Assumptae. I live with my mother and my younger brother. I got the opportunity to join Ngong Road Children’s Foundation, and my educational journey took a positive path.

I then joined one of the program’s focus schools. I sat for my Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and scored good grades to join high school.  

So far, I have loved being a student at my high school. I spend my free time in the computer lab doing my assignments or carrying out my personal studies and research. I also joined the journalism club because I would like to take a journalism course once I get into college. My role model in the journalism industry is Lulu Hassan, a Kenyan journalist and news anchor at Citizen TV. I also got the chance to interact with one of the program’s alumnae, Sallyanne, who graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication. She really inspired me because she not only successfully completed the journalism program but also graduated with first-class honors. She also gave me a few tips on how to prepare myself for the course.

I am grateful to the NRCF program for giving me the chance to pursue my academic ambitions and to my sponsor for always ensuring that everything I need in school is catered for. I want to one day be able to give back to the program by sponsoring a child to enable them to transform their lives as well.

To sponsor and transform a child’s life, visit https://ngongroad.org/sponsor/

The success story of Nickson

My name is Nickson, and I am a Ngong Road Children’s Foundation program alumni. The NRCF program initiative quickly spread in my neighborhood, and my mother heard of it. She immediately applied, and I was fortunate enough to get a slot.

I attended my elementary education at one of their focus schools. Upon completion of my elementary education, I attended a boys high school in the heart of Nairobi City. I engaged in co-curricular activities that kept me active all through. I was not only participating in one sport but in three. I was playing rugby, which is my favorite sport, as well as football and handball. When I was in form four, I knew that I wanted to take a course in hospitality when I joined college, as I had an interest in cooking and preparing different drinks.

I completed my high school education and enrolled at Zetech University to take a course in food and beverage production. I really loved the course I was taking and would often practice on my own by preparing different dishes at home. I am certified chef. 

I heard of the TechMates program that was established last year, and I was interested in learning a new skill. I went for an interview, and I was accepted to join the program in March of this year as an intern. I took the digital marketing path, and I immediately started taking the courses outlined by the program for that path.

I am a digital marketing freelancer for the program. Once in a while, during the weekends, I work as a chef at the restaurant at Tangaza University in Bomas. I also work as a Karibu loo associate, where I assist in keeping the portable toilets clean and man the handwash area, among other things.

I aspire to start my own restaurant business and use the skills I will have learned from the TechMates program to market and grow it. I am extremely grateful to the program for not only taking me through my education but also for the opportunity to join the TechMates program and for making it possible for me to learn a new skill.