The Alumni Camp was held from Friday, 20th January 2023 To Sunday, 22nd January 2023 at the Duara Flamingo Camp, located in Elementaita, Nakuru (Lake Elementaita Lodge). The camp was intended to celebrate the accomplishments of the 2022 post-secondary graduates and welcome them to the alumni association as well as have their first Job preparedness training.

We had a total of 36 campers that included 31 alumni, 3 staff members and 2 facilitators from the organization. The alumni slept in tents and their meals were prepared by the hotel chefs We had a number of activities and training that were meant to develop their employability skills as well as their emotional intelligence. There was a training session that was conducted by Be The Leader (BTL) on job interview skills, digital marketing, entrepreneurship skills and career development. The objective of the training was to teach them how to be outstanding during an interview, how to make them visible to employers via social media and the basics of starting a business.

There were also lots of team competition activities like crazy games and Olympics. The alumni also got a chance to visit the Kariandusi prehistoric site and African Diatomite Industries Ltd to learn about the mining of diatomite (from skeletons of very tiny animals called diatoms) and its uses.

The camp was a success and we hope that the alumni got impacted positively from all the training and activities. We hope that they use the skills gained to better equip themselves for the employment and self-employment sectors.

Meet Lenox, an aspiring game developer. Lenox is one of our focus schools. Before joining the program, he had no clear picture of what he wanted to become once he grew up. After getting a sponsor, he started attending our programs, one of which was Computer Training. Lenox fell in love with computers, and he has barely missed a class since then. 

In early 2022, when the new students’ resource center (Elimu Hub) was constructed and the computer lab was pimped with new powerful computers, Lenox was one of the proudest beneficiaries of the structure, and he’s among the students that utilize the facility a lot.

Lenox has committed to all that gets taught to him during the computer classes, and his best sessions are usually the programming ones where he gets to apply his critical and creative thinking skills. His programming skills are impressive, especially when it comes to scratch programming. Early in January 2023, he was among the five students that participated in a hackathon for scratch programming (Scratchathon) competition, and he was voted one of the best students during the competition, having led a team in developing a game using the scratch program and presenting it to the audience on behalf of the team. He also got interviewed, where he discussed his love for programming and his aspirations to become a web developer when he grows up.

Emmanuel has been sponsored in his educational journey for 12 years. Emmanuel joined the program in 2010 and was supported through his primary, secondary, and post-secondary education by Susan and Dave Plimpton.

His passion for technology started while in primary school thanks to the NRCF Computer Lab, which offered a platform to learn computers. He began attending computer classes and was eager to learn more, leading him to a desire to pursue a tech career path. In high school, Emmanuel was a good student who was very active in class participation. He was responsible and had leadership skills as the class monitor. After high school, Emmanuel underwent intensive computer training for three months, where he received a certificate from the Computer Society of Kenya and Belmont College. He later joined Jomo Kenyatta University to pursue a degree in Business Information Technology.  He graduated in 2022.

In 2021, NRCF launched a new tech internship program, TechMates, designed to offer on-the-job training to graduates interested in tech careers. Emmanuel was among the pioneer interns of this program and underwent an eight-month training program from September 2021 to May 2022.  During this internship, he was able to gain employment with Lido Nation as a software developer.

In May 2022, NRCF launched an Entrepreneurship Programme to help alumni who were interested in starting a business by training entrepreneurial skills around business start-up, management, and sustainability. Emmanuel was, again, a pioneer of this program, as he was interested in venturing into the business of website development and management. Emmanuel applied for a Tech Entrepreneurship Training Scholarship at Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in Ghana. This is a 1-year training program focused on tech entrepreneurship. He qualified for this program and has been invited to join the cohort in September 2022.

Emmanuel has demonstrated superb leadership and resilience throughout his educational journey. Emmanuel’s personal strengths are as impressive as his intellectual accomplishments. We celebrate all the milestones that he has achieved so far. The sky’s the limit for Emmanuel.

Dear friends,

I had the pleasure of visiting Nairobi from June 23 – 30 for the first time since February 2020.  This was my 26th trip to Kenya and I left with three major impressions related to our work through Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF).

1. Leadership is everything.  I believe that organizations grow and thrive when they are well-led. We have been working toward developing effective leadership in Kenya that is both a reflection of Kenyan culture yet also responsive to American leadership norms. Kelvin Thuku (Programme Manager for NRCF) and his leadership team are doing an excellent job of leading the organization and it shows.  Our staff is long-tenured and mature.  It is clear that they have built a culture where team members bring their best ideas to work and feel comfortable tackling challenging problems.

I observed the team discuss issues in our post-secondary program; they were clear on the problems to be solved and very vocal about solutions.  I visited the Saturday Programme and saw a well-organized, orderly program for 150 elementary-age students. We had many programs running concurrently while I was in Kenya – computer training for recent high school graduates, parent meetings for post-secondary students, Life Skills training, etc. – and it all worked smoothly.

2. Get educated and get a job.  We have done well in helping students get educated, yet we know we have room for improvement in supporting alumni on their employment journey.  We conducted our 2nd Alumni Survey in late June and learned that 51% of graduates had a job at the time of the survey, 80% had one or more jobs in the past 12 months and 72% of alumni are supporting other family members.  These results are modestly improved from 2021. While I was there, our new Employment Services Manager (Martha Otieno) began her job.  She brings strong skills and background in workforce development and good understanding of the employment market in Nairobi.  I expect she will have a positive impact on employment among our alumni. 
3. Even if a student’s path leaves the main road, they find a way.  I spent time with many alumni while in Nairobi, including at least 10 whose education journey was less than we hoped for.  In every case, I found young adults who have grown, are more mature, and are piecing a life together.  Some are back in the slums, but they have one or more businesses or are employed. If there are children, they are in school.  Some are working in the gig economy and earning a living by doing several things like contract workers in our economy. Some are looking for a better job or getting more education or trying to move out of contract employment to more permanent jobs.  Most of them are building on the education they earned; they are determined and succeeding. 

Sometimes the road taken is not straight.  We have 183 alumni from this program whose lives are better than they would have been without education.  In most cases, alumni are building a life and by the time they get into their 20s, they understand the incredible gift they have been given.  Thank you to each and every one of you who have helped these students in their journey.

Warmly,

Paula