MOHI Made Me An Entrepreneur

Meet Nancy, a resilient mother of two. She and her children live in the Waitemere slums, just a short walk from our Nyeri Centre. As Nancy anticipated the arrival of her second child, life took an unexpected turn when her husband decided to leave upon learning of her pregnancy. The prospect of providing for two children became overwhelming, thrusting Nancy into the challenging role of a single mother.

Determined to care for her children, Nancy initially took whatever work she could find including physically demanding work at construction sites, hauling cement and building blocks. However, because she had just given birth, she soon faced health complications, prompting her to seek medical attention. The worried doctor helped Nancy heal, but insisted that she find less strenuous work. This worried Nancy very much. She feared would not be able to provide for her family. As a single mother, the pressure to make ends meet to weighed on her. She did not give up, but this led Nancy to take up washing clothes and performing household chores. Despite her efforts, the income remained inconsistent, making it a constant struggle to make ends meet.

All hope was beginning to feel lost especially when her youngest reached school age. Nancy valued education and desired that her children be educated, however, she knew that she could hardly afford to educate two children at the same time. Nonetheless, Nancy embarked on a quest to find an affordable school for her children. During her search, one parent at our Nyeri Center who was a friend of Nancy's told her about MOHI and connected her to a social worker at MOHI. The MOHI social worker visited Nancy's home, resulting in both her youngest and oldest children enrolling in the school.  This was a tremendous relief for Nancy. She knew that now her children’s future was secure and despite all the struggles of the slum they had a way to break free from the looming cycle of poverty. 

It wasn’t long after her children were enrolled at our school that Nancy's social worker introduced Nancy to a community empowerment program run by MOHI. This program enabled community members to save money and access loans for starting small businesses. After six months of saving, Nancy was able to secure a $200 loan. With it, she bought second-hand children’s clothes. Determined, she began to sell the children’s clothes to passers-by and shop owners.

This new business changed Nancy's life. "MOHI saved my life. I will not need to do construction work that was hard on my body, that kind of construction work could have killed me. But this job provides for my family, now I will never worry that my children won’t be able to go to school. We now have enough,” Nancy says with a smile.