The moringa tree is the current day mwarobaini – a type of a medicinal tree-. When growing up, all I could hear was the marvellous things that the mwarobaini tree had done for many people. Despite growing up in the urban city of Nairobi, the mwarobaini’s ‘powers’ was common knowledge to me. The experts would …
Picture this; a group of women working in a white man’s coffee plantation, each end of the day they get paid Shillings 5 for every debe – jerrican – of coffee that they manage to pick. A decade later what started as a Friday afternoon fellowship, they claim ownership of business enterprises, own small pieces …
“Farming gives me more joy than I had ever experienced while working at the Mumias sugar company. When I was discontinued from work, it was a painful period in my life. Although I was employed on a temporary basis on a small salary, at that time, it was a big thing to be employed and …
Western province is the home of chicken and chicken-loving people. The mention of the word chicken and everyone knows or rather thinks of the luhya people. The Luhya’s are famed for their love for the birds so much that they would do anything to get a piece of it. The trouble with this notion is …
Shirleen Kavugwi* (not her real name), is a girl whose heart is full of melancholy. A girl whose mother passed on over a decade ago due to HIV related complications but no one told her. She later on learnt that her father was also infected but not a word was said to her. This is …
A rabbit’s gestation period is a month- 30 days- and it can give birth up to four times a year depending on how the farmer takes care of them. Rabbits are always ready for fertilization. One rabbit can give birth to between 5 to 10 young ones. Some experts say that they could give birth …
Kirinyaga is a three hours drive from Nairobi. We make our way through the greenery that greets us to a small village in this Central part of Kenya to a village called Kiamumu where we find the Kiamumu organic farmers group. Here, farmers are wary of the chemical components that make up the fertilizers and …
Like the legendary phoenix which rose from the ashes, the women in Mwiyukirie’s women’s group is no different. They have tales to tell, brilliant stories of how they were able to overcome tremendous tribulations that did not deter them from forging ahead. Instead they became even more valiant. The Chairlady of the group, Naomi, a …
One cannot afford to sit and complain of their situation after they listen to the stories of Mwiyukirie women’s group and their treacherous journey that brings hope to the hopeless. Mwiyukirie is a Kikuyu word that means – help yourself to stand on your own – That despite living in the informal settlement areas and …
The pig business is a lucrative one considering that these animals do not need much attention. They can bring high returns in a short span and even people with small farms can keep them the way farmers in Kamuthi have done. Figure this; a pig’s gestation period is 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days. …
