Members of Ngong Women's CooperativeYesterday I went with a colleague of mine to visit a women's cooperative connected with the OAIC in a town called Ngong right outside of Nairobi. The group had formed after the 2007 post-election violence, when more than 1500 Kenyans lost their lives in the ethnic clashes that ravaged the country. Nairobi's slum neighborhoods felt the impact of the violence more severely than other areas of the city. Houses were burned, stores looted, and people murdered because of their tribal or political affiliations.
After meeting with the Ngong Women's Cooperative, I realized I was witnessing the aftermath of this violence first hand. Many of the members had lost their homes and businesses to fire and vandalism during the conflict. With families to support and mouths to feed, the women had banded together as a group and appealed for a loan from the OAIC to start small-scale businesses. The large group is divided into subgroups of five women each, and these subgroups hold one another accountable for repaying their loans in small increments over a period of time. Now the members have been able to open vegetable kiosks at the market, beauty salons, and tailoring businesses as a result of their cooperative.
I visited a group member named Alice's beauty salon, which was just a small tin shack with a chair and a small shelf of chemical hair products on one wall. Alice told me that for a while business had been good and that she had a lot of regular customers. Yet in recent months her clients have dwindled. Many people, she explained, are beginning to prioritized other basic needs such as food over plaiting their hair. The current economic hardship that many Kenyans face and the increased prices on commodities have had a clear impact on people like Alice. Yet the beautician remained optimistic, saying that she had almost finished repaying her first loan, and that with her second loan she would buy a hairdryer for her salon.
I felt like yesterday's meeting was very successful and that the women accepted me into their midst. They asked me who I was and why I was visiting them, wanting to know how they could benefit directly from my work. When I told them that I wanted to hear their stories and experiences in order to share them with the public (ie. potential donors), the women were excited. They wish to make their group known in a wider context, to show what they are doing at the grassroots level and to attract future support for their cooperative.
I will revisit the group again tomorrow and spend the entire afternoon with them. They've offered to take me around to see their businesses and to meet more of their members. Hopefully I will be able to take pictures (with the women's consent, of course!) to display on our new OAIC website. I also want to capture the essence of their group by recording the members' individual as well as collective experiences, and sharing these stories with wider African as well as international communities.
After meeting with the Ngong Women's Cooperative, I realized I was witnessing the aftermath of this violence first hand. Many of the members had lost their homes and businesses to fire and vandalism during the conflict. With families to support and mouths to feed, the women had banded together as a group and appealed for a loan from the OAIC to start small-scale businesses. The large group is divided into subgroups of five women each, and these subgroups hold one another accountable for repaying their loans in small increments over a period of time. Now the members have been able to open vegetable kiosks at the market, beauty salons, and tailoring businesses as a result of their cooperative.
I visited a group member named Alice's beauty salon, which was just a small tin shack with a chair and a small shelf of chemical hair products on one wall. Alice told me that for a while business had been good and that she had a lot of regular customers. Yet in recent months her clients have dwindled. Many people, she explained, are beginning to prioritized other basic needs such as food over plaiting their hair. The current economic hardship that many Kenyans face and the increased prices on commodities have had a clear impact on people like Alice. Yet the beautician remained optimistic, saying that she had almost finished repaying her first loan, and that with her second loan she would buy a hairdryer for her salon.
I felt like yesterday's meeting was very successful and that the women accepted me into their midst. They asked me who I was and why I was visiting them, wanting to know how they could benefit directly from my work. When I told them that I wanted to hear their stories and experiences in order to share them with the public (ie. potential donors), the women were excited. They wish to make their group known in a wider context, to show what they are doing at the grassroots level and to attract future support for their cooperative.
I will revisit the group again tomorrow and spend the entire afternoon with them. They've offered to take me around to see their businesses and to meet more of their members. Hopefully I will be able to take pictures (with the women's consent, of course!) to display on our new OAIC website. I also want to capture the essence of their group by recording the members' individual as well as collective experiences, and sharing these stories with wider African as well as international communities.
so jealous! and so awesome. what a great educational/relational experience. miss you, btw.
ReplyDeleteMara great post! So OAIC does this sort of microfinance stuff? That's really cool. I'm applying for a job that would have me working with the Carnegie Corporation's higher-education in Africa program. Hope you're happy and healthy!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Chris