Tujikaze Women's Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to the Tujikaze Women's Group group, consisting of Jeremiah Waweru, James Lihanda, Malebu Khatilwa, Dorothy Khasai, Rukya Shisauilu, Caroline Khatsika, Petronila Gathoni, Mary Ayuma, Isabela Maklits, Anasticia Keleky, Venjilyne Musimb, Doris Sungu, Mourine Musimb by Opportunity International- Wedco Ltd. in Kenya. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 10 months, Opportunity International- Wedco Ltd. will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Update by Zack Turner, Kiva Fellow with OI-Wedco Kenya:

I met Agripina during a break from her work as an employee at a hair salon in Kakemega town. She spoke softly while winsomely sharing her heartrending story and was able to update on Jeremiah Waweru who was displaced. Agripina is a member of the Tujikaze Women’s Group although she was not in the photograph and because of Kiva policy wasn’t listed on the business profile. Previously, she ran her own salon and general shop. The businesses were a wedding gift from her husband.

The night of the presidential election announcement mobs attacked her shops and home. She lost both shops, her vehicle, and her home due the riots that evening. The motivation behind the violence was because her husband is Kikuyu, while she is among the majority tribe of the area, Luhya.

Together they fled to Malemba and then stayed in an IDP (internally displaced persons) camp in Nakuru for a few months. This is where she gave birth to her only son, Hans, who was born on March 11th. They named him after the German man who supported her husband during his education.

They have recently returned to Kakemega in order to pay the loan. Unfortunately, she is the only one working as her husband has yet to find work. He used to be a driver for a company and made a good consistent wage.

After repaying this loan she hopes to reopen her former hair salon and eventually the retail shop. Her strength and hope are stronger than the bitterness and disappointment of what happened.

Jeremiah was the Kiva representative that was described in the group profile. Agripina is close friends with him and they speak on the phone every couple weeks. During the peak of the violence in Kakamega his shop was looted and he fled with his family because he is a Kikuyu. He is planning on coming back, but is waiting for safe and proper timing.

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Special Note:

This loan was posted mid-cycle on Kiva for extraordinary reasons. After peace and stability was restored, Opportunity International-Wedco chose to reschedule the loans of groups impacted by the post-election crisis. Kiva offered to help by posting the groups that were rescheduled, thus this extended update.

A self-help group is a legal community of people that band together to provide collateral. In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a group of individuals bound by a 'group guarantee'. Under this arrangement, each member of the group supports one another and is responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members if someone is delinquent or defaults. For the Kiva posting, we select one member to represent the group with their story and business.

For a summary of the post-election crisis start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007%E2%80%932008_Kenyan_crisis