Recently I returned from another trip to visit the Ngong Road Children’s Foundation office in Nairobi with our board member, John Kundtz. Although I have visited the office, staff, and students many times before, this visit felt different. Overall impressions are that this place is well-run. The team is good at identifying and solving problems. I used to come here and leave them with a laundry list of items to fix, solve, and manage. Now, they handle that themselves.
I met with four alumni students and several other graduates from our program. It was so encouraging and uplifting. Some of those alumni gave an unsolicited, full-throated summary of the many ways their lives have been changed by involvement with the program. It was moving.
Many of our alumni can retain jobs to support themselves and their families. One student I met with did not complete his post-secondary education, and last year seemed angry and disaffected. This year he was well-dressed and seems much more satisfied with his life. He works 3 – 4 days per week for an event company, helping set up and take down tents, tables, chairs, flowers, etc. He has his own place and can take care of himself and as he said, “That is all I want”. Someday he may want more, but for now, he is as happy as I’ve seen him.
John and I had dinner with our tech staff members in Kenya – Washingtone, and Victor, as well as Fammy and SallyAnne, current TechMates freelancers, to get an update on the program. We asked lots of questions and left very impressed with the work they are doing. They are appropriately frustrated that TechMates freelancers are not all finding a way to support themselves with gig work, but are pursuing ideas to improve those results.
We spent a day in the office with the staff of both Karibu Loo and Ngong Road Children’s Foundation. Judy, the new Chair of the Karibu Loo board, has helped move it to the next level – that was pretty energizing for me to see.
The Ngong Road Children’s Foundation staff meetings now include a projection of their various Salesforce dashboards so everyone can see who is up-to-date on home/school visits and report to everyone else and plans for the coming week. It is tight and professional.
We heard from a panel of seven alumni – again, such beautiful stories of lives transformed. Margaret was one of them – she wanted to be a lawyer but didn’t have the grades. She studied Community Development and did an internship in our office but then got a job at a law firm where she made herself indispensable. They supported her efforts to get a certificate in mediation. She was then recruited by a larger law firm in Nairobi and is now the Chief Administrator for that firm which has offices in Nairobi and Kisumu. Her testimony about her journey was so heartfelt and powerful.
Making me extremely happy, Stacy came to participate in this panel. She is (finally, after seven years) going to finish her diploma at her own expense. Meanwhile, she is very successful working for CIO Africa. She is responsible for selling tech firms on being sponsors of their annual conference and has visited seven African countries with them and earned enough to buy herself a little orange Peugeot. I asked her whether they recognized any NGOs and she said “No. NGOs are woefully behind in technology.” We then enlightened her on our Creating Techies path and she invited us to develop a 2-minute video that she will show at the November conference they are holding in Nairobi. Big opportunity!
I visited the U.S. Embassy, which Carole helped facilitate, and then met with Donatus, who will lead our tour in March. I also had dinner with two local board members – Rephah and Patrick.
