Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - More than 500 women in Kenya have started a small business, renting mules, running a hairdresser's shop, a clothes making workshop, material shops thanks to TOT project launched by the Kianda Foundation inspired by the teachings of the founder of Opus Dei, Saint Josemaría Escrivá.
Ngarariga and Riara are two villages in the district of Kiambù in Kenya. The soil is good for growing coffee and tea, two products which are a main source of income in this part of Africa. Many people go to Kiambù to look for work. In the harvest time there are jobs but the rest of the year life is difficult.
Masai nomad shepherds live in the Ngong Hills. Their life style makes it difficult for women to get an education. At the age of 15, they have not had time to study or learn a craft and they are given in marriage in exchange for animals.
In 2003, to help women in Ngarariga, Riara and Ngong, the Kianda Foundation started TOT Training of Trainers. Some students go to university and then in turn they teach women how to start a small business.
So far thanks to the collaboration of 73 girl university students, 512 women aged 2 to 60 have benefited from this programme. In fact some of the women who join the project are 60 and over, whose children died of AIDS and now they need to earn money to feed the grandchildren.
The Kianda foundation, which launched the TOT project, aims for the education and social, and spiritual promotion of women in Kenya.
The first lessons the students give are about “behaviour”, how to be honest, clean, polite, helpful. Then they teach them how to start a business: planning, advertising, guarantee continuity etc. When the students have chosen an activity Kianda helps them start their small-business, with funds from the European Union. (AP) (23/4/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:33: Parole:383)
