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How Livestock As A Business Transforms Lives
Water is Life Kenya has developed clean accessible water supply for tens of thousands of people and their livestock in dozens of communities. We knew that once women had their time freed up from walking hours every day for clean water, they could use the time in so many productive ways. WILK offered the opportunity to these women to join WILK’S Livestock as a Business program to improve the way family livestock is kept, thereby to increasing incomes, improving drought resilience and providing access to scarce capital through microfinance. Below you will find the testimonials of women from our 2020-2021 program cycle of how WILK’s LAB program has enriched their lives and those of their families.
Making Families Stronger in Orngosua: Women Chip In & Husbands Love It
Now husbands see that the money they initially contributed by paying their wives’ monthly contributions to Oloirien group has been a good investment. Members of Oloirien are able to borrow money from the group savings. So when families periodically struggle to pay school tuition, women can get a loan to help out at home. Part of the profits from the interest are paid out as dividends to the members at the end of the year, and another part re-invested in more livestock and in crop farming (see the photo of Oloirien women in their tomato patch). In addition, business skills learned in Livestock as Business are bringing profit to the family through improved livestock management and small businesses.
Men are supportive of the group activities and it’s easy for them to give wives freedom to do group activities. Their wives are widely admired in the community. Now when they need to travel to seminars and meetings, permission is given freely.
Women's Testimonials
Priscilla Ene Shinina
My name is Priscilla Ene Shinina. We have started a women’s only group and it has 19 members called Oloirien group. We started 5 years ago and have been with WILK for 4 years. I have 10 children, 2 dead and 8 alive, 4 boys and 4 girls. We live at Orngosua and this is where the group is based. I am the chairlady of the group and our work in the group is so good.
Before joining a group I was all alone and was having a hard time. My husband is a drunkard and I am the only one looking for school fees, food, clothes. I was getting a lot of pressure from my husband. I was confused and alone handling so many things.
Now at least I can borrow money from the group for school fees and 2 of my daughters have finished school. With what I have learned in the LAB training I can properly take care of my Iivestock.
I also started a business, a small food shop, to sustain my children with food.
Joyce (WILK) has taken us as women a very big step forward. For example, now we know as women that we can take care of livestock by ourselves. I can see myself not as the way I was before I met WILK.
When we start the group the men say we are going nowhere, but when we meet WILK and we started to improve our lives, bringing good things home to our families, like money and food, the men realize we are doing something and start to support us. Now when we tell them we want to go to a seminar and they agree because they see what we are doing is good. It is now that the men of Orngosua are saying now that Joyce is helping women because she is a woman. Our group is known as the best group in Orngosua.
WILK has taken us far as women. Even our minds are a bit different than before we meet WILK. If I can go to do farming now with knowledge that I got from WILK, it is a big change. If I go to the market to sell livestock, it is a big change that I can sell as the men sell. I can choose a good breed of cows like the men can choose. it is a big step to us as women.
Joyce Nderu
My name is Joyce Nderu. I live here in this place (where the video was done). This is my home (Orgnosua). I have 5 children, 3 girls and 2 boys.
I have been having a lot of challenges before I met WILK and started learning about business. But I learned to save my money which I didn’t know before and even selling cows which I didn’t know about.
The cow business now is good to me because I learned how to keep many different types of cows. A dairy cow and a business cow. A business cow needs you to be close to it (to care well for it) because that is the only way you can get more money.
Since I learned how to keep livestock as a business from Water is Life Kenya I learned to control the drought. For example, I cut grass, bean crop residues, maize crop residues and acacia seed pods. Then I bought extra parts for my milling machine, which I only use for my cow feed, and mill them together and store it in bags in my home. During the drought season I have food for my cows.
Kotiyia Kamayo
My name is Kotiyia Kamayo and I am the treasurer of Sing’o Group. I have 2 children, a daughter in Form 3 (11th grade) and a son in Form 2 (10th grade)
My life before Sing’o Group was bad. At home we had cows, but we don’t know the purpose of having them.
Before I learn about keeping Livestock as a Business (from WILK) my cows were a very bad breed – Short and black cows.
My life is now better since WILK trained us in Livestock as a Business. I have a better breed of cows, goats and sheep than before.
