Rhoda Kivuva at age 50, was among the first members of Jamii Bora Trust. She started by saving 10 shillings a day. This amounted to fifty shillings a week and it was a struggle to manage this saving.
However, she persevered as she wanted to have a better life. Now she is the proud owner of a hardware shop “Jua Kali” at Kamukunji in Nairobi. She stocks different items that come in handy for many families. One of her main products are metal boxes used by boarding school students to store their supplies and personal items.
Rhoda suffers from Asthma, but her medication costs are covered for by the Trust through insurance she has with the income made form her business. This advantageous since treating many ailments in Kenya is expensive. From her sustainable income, she is able to financially help take care of four orphans besides her own grandchildren.
She has also introduced two of her two children to Yawezekana SACCO.
“One of my daughters sells uji (porridge) to Jua Kali workers while one of my sons is a painter,” she says with pride
“Ingrid Munro-founder of Jamii Bora Trust taught us how to fish and the best that we can do is to teach our children to do the same too.”
Ingrid has been supporting mostly street mothers to realize and exploit their potential so as to rise from poverty since women bear the biggest burden of raising families.
Rhoda knows that this is all possible through sacrifice and hard work. “If I manage to save more, I will be able to open another shop elsewhere,” she concludes.