I'd like to introduce you to an incredible young woman I met while I was serving in the Peace Corps and living in Kenya. Magdalene Gathoni sat next to me in a matatu one day while I was returning from the market. She asked me my name and I told her my American name was Lisa, and "nina itwa Mwende" (I am called Mwende). Mwende translates to "the one who loves" or "beloved" and had been given to me in training. Her face lite up and she told me her name was Mwende too. We became instant friends.
She asked if I would help her by purchasing some of the furniture covers she was selling. They were beautiful embroidery clothes that reminded me of my grandmother's house. The doilies are common decorations in Kenyan sitting rooms. Magdalene explained that she was trying to earn the money to buy food so she and her daughter could eat. I didn't need the covers and somebody was always trying to sell me something, but they were pretty and Magdalene determination was hard to ignore.
I met her again when I organized a mobile Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) in Kahuho Village. You can read more about Valentine's Day in Kahuho at my Blog, "Where in the World is Lisa Going". She came up to me in the crowd and asked several questions about HIV/AIDS. She posed them in reference to a friend. "Could my friend be exposing her child?", "How would my friend know if she has HIV?" and "Would my friend still have HIV after five years of celibacy?" I looked down at Magdalene's 5 year old daughter and back at her. Unsure of the outcome, I persuaded the thin, white dressed woman to go into one of the tents that had been set up for free testing.
I played with little Sarah while Magdalene went in to learn her status. I wasn't sure what to expect when she reemerged from the tent. The look on her face told me the whole story. She had lived the last 5 years in fear and at last knew the truth, she was HIV negative. She had tears of joy as she thanked me and told me her story.
As a young girl she was sent off to Botswana with the promise of attending school and getting an education. When she arrived she learned that she had actually been sold as a bride to an old man. She longed to return home, but she soon realized she was pregnant. She waited until the baby was born to escape the abuse she had fallen into. She carried baby Sarah her back across Africa. She was able to sneak across country boarders on foot at night without documentation. She was very brave and determined to return home to the safety of her parents in Kenya. She walked most of the way with very little food, caring for and nursing Sarah the whole way. By the time she returned to her family she was so malnourished and thin that they were sure she was sick with AIDS.
Out of fear and lack of resources to care for Magdalene or her baby, her family ran her off. She found faith in her Christian religion and in the love for her child. She promised her baby Sarah that they would survive. She lived on the street and slowly earned the money to buy a few pieces of embroidered fabric from a local seamstress. She spent her days traveling between marketplaces and villages trying to sell the furniture covers for a few shilling profit enabling her to buy food and rebuild her inventory.
I grew to respect and trust Magdalene. When I left Kenya we promised that our common Kenyan name, Mwende, would keep us connected and sisters for life. I promised I would not forget her or little Sarah.
She worked with the women of the Kahuho Restoration Church on the Helpful Hens Chicken Project, Klucking4Kids that I had established as a Peace Corps project. She proved to be a hard working caring person. She learned the business and put together a plan to raise 200 chickens on her own so she could support another group of women in their effort to feed needy children. The project would have fed 20 children and provided work for a small circle of women who take turns preparing the food purchased with the proceeds from the eggs. She had learned the business and was eager to start her own broad of chicks. She desperately wanted to find a way to support herself and her children while helping other single women and children in her village.
She had met an old school mate who convinced her he would take care of her and her daughter. They married and she became his wife number two. She was welcomed by his family and the family of wife number one, as long as she was able to bringing money to support the extended family. Once she learned she was pregnant again and was not able to travel around working they turned against her, beat her and ran her from the home. Again, life had turned on her and her she was desperate to find shelter and food for her family that now included two children. The addition of her new baby son, Samson, made her homelessness all the more desperate. I wanted to help, but I wasn't in Kenya anymore and my reach was limited. I told her I would finance another chicken project if she promised sustainability. She had identified the problems with the Helpful Hens Project and recognized the need to plan for the long-term sustainability of a project.
She had met an old school mate who convinced her he would take care of her and her daughter. They married and she became his wife number two. She was welcomed by his family and the family of wife number one, as long as she was able to bringing money to support the extended family. Once she learned she was pregnant again and was not able to travel around working they turned against her, beat her and ran her from the home. Again, life had turned on her and her she was desperate to find shelter and food for her family that now included two children. The addition of her new baby son, Samson, made her homelessness all the more desperate. I wanted to help, but I wasn't in Kenya anymore and my reach was limited. I told her I would finance another chicken project if she promised sustainability. She had identified the problems with the Helpful Hens Project and recognized the need to plan for the long-term sustainability of a project.
Our work to begin a new chicken project were halted when Magdalene could not secure appropriate and affordable housing for her family and the hundreds of chickens it would take to develop sustainability. The risk of being forced out of a rental property by a greedy landlord was too high. We could lose everything.
That is when she came up with a new plan. She is a bright and cautious business woman. She wrote her own business plan and developed the budget herself. I'm sharing her unedited email below so that you can meet the real Magdalene. I believe you too will learn to trust and respect the tall thin woman I met in the matatu that on the dusty Kenyan road.
Kenyans have a saying, "Tuka pamoja", which means "we are together"
Tuka pamoja, we are working towards a sustainable income generating business for Magdalene that will spread her faith and determination to the benefit of other single women and children in the village.
Tuka pamoja, we will do this one uniform and one child at a time.
Kenyans have a saying, "Tuka pamoja", which means "we are together"
Tuka pamoja, we are working towards a sustainable income generating business for Magdalene that will spread her faith and determination to the benefit of other single women and children in the village.
Tuka pamoja, we will do this one uniform and one child at a time.
Below are the emails we have exchanged in the development of the Sewing4School.org Project, from its inception to the reality today where Magdalene lives in a safe and secure home, Sarah attends school and Simon is well cared for. Today Magdelene has hope, her business is thriving and she is ready to sew uniforms for those children who need hope as well. One child, one uniform and one family at a time.
PLANNING
First is to thank you for saving and caring for our lives and also our health. The chicken project was very good but according to the doctor (Anthony) that keeping chicken in the same house we live will cause diseases to me and the kids. It made me afraid because I know I cannot be able to do chicken rearing while we are sick.
The place I stay is for rental and the owner cannot let me build a chicken house or cow shed. I am also afraid that they may sell the place and the person who will buy the place can chase me and left with chicken house. About duka, it is also a difficult business because people will ask unga and say he/she will pay tomorrow or at the end of the month and some will not end up paying a shilling to me and had already cooked the ugali and ate.
I hope it is good to do Embroidery and making clothes e.g. uniforms and also pullovers. I know when I have a shop for all the above items I will make my business grow big because people will buy them with cash money.
The previous business for embroidery was a difficult one because I used to rent a sewing machine and go selling them house to house in order to get money and they were paying little by little which could not help to make a better life. The customers used to say they had not planned to buy them. When I get a shop for the embroidery and uniforms they will come for something which they have already budgeted for, and this will make my business grow big.
I got a shop which I have to pay a rent of six months, the owner said I cannot pay per month because it is a business. The place has a lot of demand; it’s a place for marketing everything so many people are ever busy. People come from different places to buy and sell the items. It is a big market.
This is how the budget is:
1. Sewing machine for embroidery
i) 17,000/=
Table for sewing machine
ii) 5,000/=
Total 22,000/=
2. Sewing machine for uniforms (dresses,skirts,shorts)
i) 8,000/=
Table for the sewing machine
ii) 5,000/=
Total 13,000/=
3. a) sewing machine for pullovers ( knitting plain)
i) 15,000/=
Table
ii) 5,000/=
Total 20,000/=
b) Knitting patterns
i) 45,000/=
Some may need school pullovers and some pattern pullovers. We can buy either one of the pattern or plain knitting machine.
4. Sewing Lessons
6,000/= a month. Lessons for 6 months. Lessons will help generate beginning stock
Total 36,000/=
6,000/= a month. Lessons for 6 months. Lessons will help generate beginning stock
Total 36,000/=
5. House rent 6000/= per month x 6 months
Total 36,000/=
6. License = 10,000/=
(I have to renew it per year)
yours Sister Magdalene.
