Family Economic Empowerment in the Kenyan Slums

In their own words and through their inspiring stories, parents who were once affected by vulnerability remind us of their strength and determination to overcome the most daunting challenges. Through the Macheo Family Empowerment Program, we reached out to women and men who were often left behind – those who struggled with being poor and who were not able to provide/denied basic education and health care for their children, and who suffer greatly from conflict. The parents we serve tell us that through our programs, they have found new opportunities to strengthen themselves, their families, and their communities.

From the field…..

Helping a parent to earn, feed their children and save money: a success story

Ruth is 35 years old with two children. Identifying that she had talent for tailoring ever since childhood, she was targeted and enrolled in the Macheo Family Empowerment Program. She was jobless but had a sewing machine, which was broken and also she lacked materials to use. Her children were malnourished due to inadequate meals at home. After assessment Macheo bought material at the local market for her, she learned how to use a manual sewing machine and transformed the fabric by hand into beautiful clothes. Ruth is now able to pay for her children’s welfare, registering for the National Hospital Insurance Fund, to mitigate a sudden expensive health issue, along with paying for school fees, uniforms and school supplies. This is all due to the help from Macheo and their sponsors. She subsequently has saved her monthly training stipend and convinced her friend to co-sign a loan, so that she could purchase more clothes for sewing. Her tailoring business thrived, and Ruth repaid the loan in a few months. Implicitly she is now learning basic business skills, planning, budgeting and saving, through help from the Macheo classes.

A success like this does not happen in a vacuum! It takes the much needed effort of a group of dedicated people at The Macheo Children’s Center in Thika, Kenya, along with people like you, who see the need and support the cause.

Let’s lift a family onto the first rung of the ladder, one at a time, together. Thank You!

In Kenya, many families live on less than $1.90 each day, which pushes children to drop out of school to find jobs and help provide for their families. At Macheo we believe the best way to care for vulnerable children is to help them and their families before they become abandoned. That is why our intervention on Economic Empowerment for households, provides support to disadvantaged families around urban and rural areas of Murang’a, Machakos and Kiambu counties. We work directly with families and communities to help them to effectively protect and care for their children.

Macheo targets disadvantaged families to prevent crises that can, in the worst case scenario, lead to child abandonment. The programs offered enables parents to better care for their children through:
• skills training
• small business and micro enterprise initiatives
• community development programs on child protection.

Our interventions of seed capital strengthen and ensure that children have access to essential services, supporting families to protect and care for their children. They also strengthen support systems for vulnerable children and their families within the community. We offer families a foothold in the short term, to enable them to reach their medium and long-term goals. We do this in order to not only meet the more immediate needs of families and vulnerable children, but also to encourage families to become self-sufficient and to reach the long-term goal of having the ability to move forward without the assistance of the Macheo Children’s Centre.

Report from the field….SUCCESS STORY OF JACKLINE

Jackline is 37 years old and is a single mother. She has 2 children with whom she stays with in the Ruiru area, opposite the Ruiru Prison. She had rented a single room where she stays with her children.

NEED IDENTIFICATION

During a field visit, Jackline was identified by one of our area social workers, who latter referred her for household intervention. Macheo also did it’s assessment and came up with a number of findings as follows. Jackline was jobless and was being chased out of the rental house due to non payment. She had nowhere to stay after the time she was evicted. Her children had gone without food for days and without shelter. The children were also missing school, as they lacked the school’s basic requirements.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Following the above findings, it was recommended that the client should be empowered economically with seed money and provided with information and knowledge, in order to support her children with ease.

The client was enrolled in the ‘household and seed capital intervention’, where we did our normal process of empowerment, starting with training through seminars as well as giving out personal information during the home visit. In the seminars she was empowered on soft skills such as analytical thinking, communications skills, financial literacy, family planning, safe parenting and inclusion awareness.

She was given Kshs. 6000 approx $58 USD for seed capital to start a small business. She decided to be cooking and serving chapatti and Githeri, a traditional Kenyan maize and bean dish. The business became successful and she started saving and providing for the needs of her family.

PROGRESS

So far the progress is good, since she has been able to rent her own house, provide basic needs for her children with ease. She has also expanded her work and is now selling green groceries.

Jackline has not only benefitted from it personally, but has helped to make important changes in her community.

“The lessons on health and wellness opened my eyes to the importance of cleanliness in keeping me and those around me healthy. Before the training I was not aware of basic hygiene and would only quickly rinse utensils before serving food. I realized this was a risk for my family, as the utensils would not be clean and would put my family at risk of disease,” say Jackline.

Jackline taught her family about keeping their home clean.

“My children help me sweep our compound and the rooms, and wash all the clothes and utensils. I constructed a rack to dry utensils after washing.”

This is a great achievement for Macheo, since the living standards of Jackline and the life of her children have significantly improved. This could not have been accomplished without your help and for that we are sincerely grateful.