Empowering Women of Change in Kenya

Celestine was a 35-year-old mother of five who was rapidly becoming desperate. A decade ago, with limited options and her hope quickly waning, Celestine did what so many others in Kenya have done: she began illegally brewing alcohol in an attempt to generate income and keep her family alive. Her home was soon crowded with customers buying and drinking her dangerous brew. Celestine became stuck in the cycle of brewing from morning to night, and her children often missed meals because she no longer had time to care for them. Between the rough crowd of customers and the police who were trying to crack down on brewers, her home became an unsafe place for her and her children. At times, Celestine would even run away because sleeping in her own home was too dangerous.

Today, Celestine is a successful potato farmer and owns her own chip-selling business! She no longer brews alcohol, her income level has risen dramatically, and her children are attending school full-time. What happened? Celestine says it all started when she attended a training session put on in her community by Women of Change.

Women of Change (WOC) is a community-based organization (CBO) located primarily in mid-western Kenya, with a presence in 41 communities throughout 5 counties. WOC has successfully reformed and trained more than 3,000 women who were formerly illicit brewers with alternative livelihood skills, bringing a better life to over 15,000 different families. WOC participants are trained in poultry skills, dairy and goat farming, wool production, detergent production, kitchen gardening, and business skills.

In Kenya, illicit brewing is a constant threat to the well-being of communities like the ones that WOC seeks to help. Illicit brews (consisting of all the unrecorded homemade surrogate alcoholic beverages) have been associated with numerous methanol poisoning outbreaks in the country and have caused thousands of deaths.

The proposed project in this fundraiser aims to strengthen the economic growth of women and youth in Kerio Valley and the surrounding communities by creating alternative opportunities for improved livelihoods through fruit farming. Currently, WOC is primarily reliant on American donations for funding for its various projects and enterprises; the goal of the project is to make WOC a self-sustaining entity by creating a method for it to generate its own income.

Pixie oranges (also known as tangerines) are a lucrative and very marketable crop in Kenya, and the Kerio Valley region of the country is a perfect place for pixie farming. Raising $40,000 (the equivalent of about 5 million Kenyan shillings) will enable WOC to purchase a 10-acre property in Kerio Valley to start their own pixie farm! The money raised for this project will also allow WOC to install solar panels to power the farm sustainably, drill a borehole on the property to ensure a consistent water supply and purchase 2500 seedlings for the initial crop of pixies. Once the farm is established, all profits will go towards business projects for women connected to WOC, including poultry, dairy, kitchen gardening, etc.

Pixies take three years from the planting of seedlings to being ready to harvest. By 2026 when the first crop bears fruit, WOC’s experts estimate that the farm will be producing 17,600,000 shillings ($140,000) of profit. By the third year of operation (2028), the farm is expected to produce an estimated 35,200,000 shillings ($278,000) of profit annually.

The income the farm generates will be used for loans to WOC participants that will a) provide access to livelihood income and practical skills amongst the women groups and youth at a village level, b) empower women and youth in the region to be role models in their communities, and c) have a ripple effect that will allow WOC to expand into more communities and rescue more women from illicit brewing and other illegal and dangerous forms of work. By donating to this project, you’re not just giving a one-time gift that will temporarily help a group of individuals. Instead, you’re making a long-term investment in a healthy and sustainable means of community empowerment that will have an impact on Kenyans like Celestine and her family for generations to come.

Because WOC is based in Kenya, donations to this project will be facilitated through Spirit in Action, an American 501(c)(3) headquartered in Santa Cruz, CA. Spirit in Action facilitates grants of all sizes to dozens of different nonprofits around the world that advance peace, prosperity, poverty reduction, human rights and children’s education.