Impact Program Updates: Kenya
View the following video to learn about Amina
and the impact made in her life by micro loans
Raincatchers:
18 Raincatchers have been installed throughout Kenya through the HUB Impact Partner program, providing fresh drinking water to thousands of people and families. Two of these raincatchers were provided to women who attended the Women and Water Conference in 2009 sponsored by Women’s Earth Alliance.
As we know, lack of fresh water and dirty water that causes disease is the number one killer in the world. HUB is proud to be able to provide such a simple, cost-effective and real solution to thousands in such a short period of time. Our vision is to see every school roof world-wide with a raincatcher as a way to maximize natural resources in the best way possible.
Microloans:
Our Microloan program is Kenya is facilitated by Equity Bank, called the Listening, Caring, Financial Partner, to over 34 million people in Africa! Their mission is to be the champion of the socio-economic prosperity of the people of Africa. Unlike many who may charge higher interest for Microloans, Equity Bank has been able to provide microloans to tens of millions of borrowers at just 1.5% interest! Each Microloan group goes through extensive counseling and financial literacy and business training before loans are provided. And then our HUB Kenya Field agents continue to work with, uplift, empower and provide expanded business opportunities for all of the women. We are proud to partner with Equity in a full-service Microloan program that is enriching lives of women and families in Africa.
The Self-Empowered Women of Korogocho (also known as KOCH) has thirteen women. All but two now have their loans. (The two who don’t just had babies, and the women will decide together when it is best for them to take on a loan for their business, so they are successful. In the meantime, the other women are helping these two women and are still keeping them as part of the group!) The women and their businesses are:
- Monicah – She bought baking equipment and supplies with her loan and is making and selling bun-cakes.
- Jane – She bought large quantities of groundnuts and sells some raw in smaller sizes, and roasts some and sells them in cones.
- Margaret – She bought a sewing machine with her loan, and is finding empty cement bags, cleaning them, sewing them into market/grocery bags, and selling them
- Grace – She buys greens/ vegetables and resells them
- Rispha – She buys shoes and resells them
- Alice – She buys cosmetics and resells, and also does hair styling and has a beauty shop
- Annah – She is a shopkeeper
- Karimi – She buys and sells water
- Schola – She creates tie and dye
- Amina – She is buying and reselling charcoal
- Teresida (Muemi) – She buys greens/vegetables and resells them
All of these women are also being trained by our field agent Rachel Njeri, and working with local experts, to create products like beading bracelets and beading sandals, for sale in the Global Marketplace. They have already made and sold several hundreds of dollars worth of product, which is what provided the funds for them to buy school uniforms and enroll their children in school and begin living with less stress and more hope as they were waiting for their first microloans! All of the women are on track with repayment of their loans and are experiencing a better quality of life. These women are also supported as part of a larger food program through Feed The Children, who because of learning of these women through HUB, have been providing a month’s worth of staple food items to 300 people in Korogocho! Another example of how Humanity continues to UNITE Brilliance!
The Bank of HOPE Self Empowered Women has fourteen (14) women from the rural town of Rui.
These women have had many difficulties in coming together in trust as they come from different tribes. Before they could receive their loans, they had to go through several months of conflict resolution, team training and financial literacy through the help of Equity Bank and our HUB field representative, Rachel Njeri. They all received their loans in April 2009, and are working together as a family unit. They have however, already earned hundreds of dollars through the sale of Obama bracelets in our HUB Global Marketplace, and will continue to be trained to make other products for sale.
Olympic Primary School:
In the heart of the largest slum in Kenya, Kibera, the Olympic Primary School provides two meals a day to nearly 3000 students thanks to the sustained support of HUB through Feed The Children. These children not have food for themselves, but as we personally witnessed, each one of them takes their leftovers home with them each day. The thousands of children who are fed through this program are actually helping to feed thousands more!
The need for food at school is great. When a child is fed at school their test scores are higher, their attention is greater, their social skills are improved – they just learn more, like school more and receive maximum benefit from the education that is provided!
