Basket weavers redefine art of giving back to the society
Victoria Musyoka weaves a kiondo in Nyeri town on May 14, 2012. A group of women from the area is turning a profit and helping the needy using proceeds from basket weaving. Photo/Joseph Kanyi
Eagle Neema Self-Help Group has blended commercial interests with philanthropy well and tells the story of umoja ni nguvu (unity is strength).
It also dovetails with the call of finding home-grown solutions to social problems like taking care of orphans and people living with HIV.
Started in 2004, the women group with a membership 4,000, weaves baskets, makes bracelets, necklaces and earrings and now support more than 3,000 orphans and people living with HIV.
The group is composed of caregivers who rely on local materials and creativity to give a helping hand to the vulnerable people in Nyeri’s Marua village.
Two birds
The leadership of the group says their line of giving back to the society as a business has helped them to kill two birds using one stone by giving hope to the weak and selling their products in the neighbourhood.
“The local community is very supportive and has created a market for our products,” says Mrs Hellen Mukure, the group’s co-ordinator.
Initially, the group saved to support members with buying food and clothes, but the horizon is expanding fast to philanthropy, mirroring the corporate social responsibility, associated with the big business.
“Ever since we started going to homes and offering psycho-social and material support, we do not have bedridden members,” said Mrs Mukure.
The group meets every Tuesday in Marua to make their products using materials like banana fibre, waste polythene paper, sisal, and knitting yarn. They get the banana fibres from their farms since majority grow the crop.
Sometimes they buy knitting yarn but commonly use nylon papers because they are readily available. A basket goes for between Sh150 and Sh500 depending on quality, size and material used.
The group buys beads for making earrings and bangles sold from as little as Sh20 to Sh150.
Each of the group’s members keeps livestock and a kitchen garden. They also make food supplements from soya, amaranth and stinging nettle.
After sourcing the stinging nettle, soya and amaranth from Nyeri or Karatina markets, they grind them and package the powder for sale. The packages are sold for between Sh20 and Sh100 depending on size.
These, according to the co-ordinator, have a large market in the area because of their nutritional value.
Members of the group buy the products themselves and or sell to the local the community or visitors and the proceeds are banked.
“Every member contributes Sh20 every week for sustainability of the group. We pool all the money we get and keep it in the group’s bank account,” said Mrs Mukure.
Occasionally, the group also gets clients from as far as Mombasa, Kajiado, Murang’a and Eldoret, who come to learn their activities with a view of starting similar projects in their regions.
The group has 50 plastic chairs which are leased at Sh5 a unit to members and Sh10 to other people from the local community.
The money is banked while withdrawals are restricted with the aim of saving at least Sh1 million every year.
Elderly women
Since its inception in 2004, the group’s leaders say Eagle has assisted hundreds of people living with HIV “back to their feet” through proceeds from the activities and a monthly contribution of Sh100 revolving fund.
The caregivers, the majority of whom are “elderly women,” contribute Sh80 for the children they support monthly.
The Special Programmes minister, Ms Esther Murugi, has urged Kenya to develop local solutions to social challenges instead of relying on donor funding, which account for more than 85 per cent of the budget used to fight the war against HIV and Aids.
“I am happy to have joined this group. We do different activities and raise money from selling what we have made.
“We save money in a bank account from which we can support ourselves for a while if the funds are exhausted,” said Ms Theresa Njokia, a member.
