Beautiful Jewelry Offers the Gift of Hope

Posted on Oct 07, 2007

This summer, Eleanor Campbell and I stayed with the Kaburu family in the village of Ndathi, Kenya for nearly two months. During our time there, we were both struck by the able-bodied, willing women who had almost no work opportunity. The majority of women spent their time doing casual labor – gathering firewood, knitting goods to sell, etc. – or on subsistence farming. These women were, and are, vivacious, talented, and inspiring. Many of them were taking care of several orphaned relatives in addition to their own immediate family, and often times I encountered women who had given up their own beds, shoes, clothing, or food in order to provide for the children in their household.

Eleanor and I were working with one of my professors from Wake Forest, Mary Martin Niepold, trying to figure out what could be done for these women. Kenyan women, on a whole, are driven and determined, motivated, creative, hardworking. They are simply in need of opportunity and direction.

With a little prompting from Poppy Buchanan and some research on Muhammad Yunus’ work, Njeri Kaburu and Esther Gathigia started several micro-lending groups in Ndathi and nearby villages. Through funding provided by Burning Bush, Inc., these groups have already been able to receive substantial loans, and Eleanor and I had the privilege of observing how the women in the community are beginning to reap benefits from the use of their loans. After seeing this success, we wanted to do more in the way of providing these women with an opportunity for employment.