Our Story

The People

The vast majority of Kenyans are proud, cheerful, friendly, welcoming, courteous and, when respected themselves, are respectful. Those you may meet in the towns and cities are like townsfolk elsewhere in the world - business people, civil servants, shop assistants, policemen, and workers from offices and factories. Many of the most hardworking people are employed in the informal/"Jua Kali" ("Harsh Sun") sector, usually in the open air , and frequently without benefit of either mains electricity or shelter. They usually work on the outskirts of the city, travelling into the city on foot from the sprawling slum regions. Another large group of people work as hawkers, making small profit from the goods, often second-hand, they market on foot, weaving dangerously between cars and other vehicles stopped at the traffic lights on the highway. Handcrafted goods in a wide variety, and especially woodcarvings and Kisii-stone sculptures express the creative ability of a diverse people.

Land has always been valued, and continues to be the main source of wealth and employment for the country whether producing raw materials or processing them. As we are particularly interested in improving the status of women in the country, it is of immense concern to us that only six percent of land titles are held by women, as against 64.6% by men. The proportion of households with title deeds held by parents is 29.2%. In all the eight provinces, over sixty per cent of the households' title deed holders are men (Nyanza Province 71%). Land fragmentation into small uneconomical units has been on the increase, largely due to population growth. About half the households report that they require agricultural credit. About 64% source it from cooperative societies. A high proportion of households complain of high interest rates.
(Welfare Monitoring Survey III, 1997).

 

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