The Ndoto Journal

by Fred Sadia This is not a story of qualified physicians operating in slums. It’s an account of a slum that is producing doctors year after year, young men and women who have overcome all odds to be able to dress in brilliant white lab coats with stethoscopes hanging around their necks. It’s the dream of most Kenyan children to become doctors and study medicine, but because of the high cost of the programs most families cannot afford to send their children.

Do you know anyone who works at the US State Department? We may need your help! On November 13th, it had officially been a year since Michael Omondi, Ndoto pastor and husband to Ndoto Executive Director Allison Schlack, received approval for a five-year tourist visa to come to the United States. Since then, his application has been stuck in “administrative processing”, a bureaucratic black hole in Washington D.C. from which virtually no information has been forthcoming.

by Fred Sadia The dates have been set, the preparations are in high gear, and the graduates are ready to embrace the moment…it’s all systems go for the 2018 graduation ceremonies! In Kenya, the Christmas season is always accompanied by graduation parties, as the month of December is when most colleges around the country hold commencements. Families travel from rural areas to grace these occasions all over the country. It’s always a scene worth admiring: various communities dressed in their traditional regalia, thronging school courtyards, ready to witness their sons and daughters put on the caps of academic brilliance.

by Allison Schlack Phanice, a 17-year old high school junior in Ndoto Everyone told me my wedding week would fly by, and to try to savor it, because afterward it would be hard to remember the details. Hosting a retreat for 300 Ndoto students two days before the wedding, an Ndoto sponsor/student lunch for 50 one day before the wedding, and a rehearsal dinner for 80 the night before the wedding, all led to the joyous blur of the weekend.

by Fred Sadia Africa is a continent filled with lots of opportunity, but leaders who seem unaware. Africa is also filled with hope, but leaders who seem to thwart it. The future lies in the African Child, the child born with skin the color of chocolate. Bright and articulate: strong, bold, and talented. Every single day is an opportunity for the African Child to spin the wheels of optimism in a hostile environment that ranges from lack of school fees, lack of health care, and even a lack of food.