In April, our Chief Executive Jamie spent ten days in Kenya visiting communities in West Pokot County and seeing first-hand the transformation occurring in the lives of many hundreds of people there.
We began working with the Centre for Indigenous Child Rights (CICR), a small grassroots community organisation in 2022. Since then, we have together supported the development of three women’s enterprise groups, drilled two deep boreholes, helped establish several community tree nurseries, collaboratively developed a community-focused climate action plan, and are in the process of constructing latrines at two rural primary schools.
During Jamie’s visit he had the opportunity to sit down and share food with some of the women from one of the enterprise groups who spoke openly about the challenges and celebrations in their lives.
Over a simple meal in the roundhouse, we got on to the conversation of children, I showed a picture of my three young kids. ‘Ahh, that is not enough; you need more children!’ joked the women to much laughter and teasing. Asking how many children these women had they took turns around the group, answering with obvious pride: 10, 12, 11, 14, 16. In many of the communities in which we work 6-8 children may be normal, but this was double that!
Not only that but these incredible women were for the most part doing it on their own as their husbands divided their time between several other wives, not regularly contributing financially and only visiting to eat. Housekeeping, child raising, fetching water, and tending any crops and vegetables landed squarely at the feet of these joyful, strong women.
We had just come from visiting one of the schools where we are currently building latrine blocks and supporting girls to attend. Two of the women in the group, Susan and Paulina, began talking about the impact this would have on the surrounding communities. All nodded in agreement, recognising the importance of education to change lives. Paulina then said something that stunned me; sitting tall she recounted how recently she had travelled by bus to Nairobi (12+ hour journey) to attend her son’s university graduation ceremony. She had previously not travelled outside of the County, had never been to school, and wasn’t fluent in Swahili (national language of Kenya) – talk about a fish out of water! And yet, here she was proudly talking about the local government job he has secured and how he is supporting his siblings’ education.
This is what we are all about; we help plant a seed. That’s all. Three years ago we provided training and a modest revolving loan to this group of women, and they have seized the opportunity and are flourishing. Not only are 100% of the women generating sustainable income from their small businesses, but they are also sowing the seeds for a better tomorrow through educating their children. It seems that until recently only three people in the whole area had been to university. Now there are eleven, eight of whom from this women’s group.
One of the mothers, Monica, spoke up, “we women may only have one kanga (cloth used to wrap around as a skirt) and no shoes, but our children will go to school”. Wow. The absolute clarity of vision and tenacity of this group of women was quite incredible. Here we were in a remote, underserved, outlying community sitting on the border with Uganda with a group of women most of whom had received no formal schooling and they saw and prioritised education as the only route out of their situation.
We almost never even made it to this community. My visit had coincided with the start of the ‘long rains’ and that day the thunder had been rolling non-stop as the heavens emptied and the lightning flashed, making the dirt road I was driving along almost impassable. Last year our vehicle became stuck in a flooding river, so I was slightly more cautious this time round. But we pushed on, and I am so glad I did.
This was one of those instances where you feel so incredibly honoured to be able to have these conversations. To be entrusted with such personal stories is an absolute privilege and these are what energise me; what keep me going on those long days at my desk completing grant applications or reviewing finance spreadsheets. To be able to see with my own eyes the totally transformative impact of the programmes through the hard work of these women, to personalise each £ from the spreadsheet encourages me beyond words and I hope it does you too.
