Empowering Kenyan mothers in Nairobi

Help empower Kenyan mothers on this soul-stirring trip to one of our 23 women’s centres on the outskirts of Nairobi. The women you’ll meet are inspirational. Many are single mothers who come to us from hospital or have been living on the streets. During our 18-month programme, they receive housing, medical treatment and childcare so they can heal physically and emotionally, as well as learn the vocational skills to become economically independent. We provide them with the microfinance and advice they need to start a business and build a sustainable future.

You’ll tour the training centre with one of our local guides, who have first-hand experience of our programmes. Along the way, you’ll see the small manufacturing centre where women learn skills such as sewing, candle making and jewellery beading. The women will share their transformational journeys with you as you help prepare and enjoy lunch, it’s often like sitting down with friends and discussing life’s twists and turns. Sharing also helps with the healing process – the further women can get away from the past by telling their stories, the better their rehabilitation.

Talking to the women also gives you an insight into the lives of many Kenyan people. With no social security and a national average income of just $1,900 a year, families often break down in the face of extreme poverty. Children may wander from the home to search for food and a lot of the women who come through our centres are dealing with issues like domestic violence and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). At One Horizon, we’ve learned that the best way to keep families together is by empowering women with new skills to be able to earn an income.

For example, the first woman we helped in Kenya was Tabitha, who was very sick with HIV and weighed just 40 kilos. I didn’t think she’d survive the week but with our support and her will to live, she fought back. Today, Tabitha is the senior administrator and counsellor at our women’s centres and is thriving – she’s remarried with more kids and is an integral part of our team. When she first got better, Tabitha returned home to find her 12-year-old son had gone out onto the streets, trying to find a way to support his younger brothers. Now that their family has been stabilised, he’s been able to go to university. This is just one of our success stories.

I’m proud to say that all the women who’ve been through our centres can now support their families. Many run small stores or work as seamstresses, others have gone on to own bars and eateries or have formed cooperatives where they buy and sell land. By visiting these centres, you directly contribute to funding the projects, so you can give back to the local community while you travel. This isn’t your typical tour experience, it really touches the soul and we find it has a huge impact on visitors and their own priorities. At the end of the day, our cultures may be different but we all want to be happy, healthy and be able to put food on the table.