Jeniffer Sindiri checks supplies in the business she began after learning to read and write at a CWS-sponsored literacy program in Kenya. Photo: KALA
Most of the more than one billion people in the world today living in extreme poverty are women and girls. “Their impoverishment is a product of inequality, circumscribed participation in decision making, and being deprived of economic opportunities, access to resources, education and support services,” said CWS Executive Director and CEO John L. McCullough.
This International Women’s Day (March 8) activists from around the world, including a delegation of women from the National Council of Churches Women’s Program, representing Church World Service, are concluding meetings at the United Nations on the status of women.
The question of empowerment for women, an issue that CWS is successfully addressing through initiatives in poor communities around the world, was high on the agenda at the U.N. meetings. Here is the story of a Kenyan woman who personifies the idea of empowerment. She learned to read – and changed her life:
From Illiteracy to entrepreneurship in an African village
Jennifer Sindiri says a Kenya-based CWS literacy program helped her gain a sense of real purpose – purpose that is improving her life, the life of her family and her community.
Sindiri, who lives in Namuja Centre in Naivasha and is married with four children, says she is “honored to be a beneficiary” of the program. She has a small shop that sells food items such as sugar, tea leaves, milk and salt.
But before Sindiri’s enrollment in the program – which CWS runs along with its local partner, Kenya Adult Learners Association, known as KALA – Sindiri felt there was something of a hole in her life.
“I was in the dark,” Sindiri said. “I was unable to deal with a problem such as sickness or even provide my family with proper food. I used to think as long as they ate, it didn’t matter the part of the diet.”
However, upon her enrollment in 2008 in a literacy class, Sindiri saw what she was lacking – an opportunity “to learn and open up to new useful knowledge. I realized for the first time that our traditional culture was a barrier that did not allow women to participate in their own development.”
On learning how to read and write, she and others were taken through basic business training and it was there she learned “how to save money so I could borrow a loan. I also understood the benefits of loan repayment within my group and how to calculate interest.”
CWS provided Sindiri and other classmates with seed capital in order to develop their particular business plans. As a lucky recipient of 10,000 Kenyan shillings (about US $100), Sindiri used the money to purchase food items for sale. Her profit increased threefold and eventually she developed her own vegetable farm, where she grows different varieties of crops. “I am now a wholesale dealer with attractive profits,” she said.
“From my business, I’m able to feed and clothe my family,” Sindiri said. “My husband is supportive and we are growing stronger together. I’m able to take care of my children on a daily basis. I want to thank both CWS and (CWS partner) KALA for changing the lives of communities through this program and empowering me to be where I am.”