Long-Term Food Security for 4000 Samburus in Kenya

In this project update, we’d like to share with you Naisherua’s story. Naisherua is a local resident of Samburu County, a tree recipient of Sadhana Forest Kenya (SFK) and an invaluable addition to our team!

Naisherua lives near SFK in a village called Lkisheki. She lives with her father, step-mother, and younger half-siblings. She is a mother of two; her daughter is 3 years old and lives with her, while her son is 6 and lives far away with his grandmother.

When Naisherua was 15 years old, her mother passed away. Her father was often away for work, and his new girlfriend began to mistreat her. Naisherua was neglected at home, only receiving food at school. Any money she earned from odd jobs was taken by her father’s girlfriend. By the time she reached high school, Naisherua was often sick and eventually had to withdraw from her studies. After her father remarried someone else, Naisherua helped care for her new siblings and soon got married herself. Over the following few years she had continuous struggles. Her husband was rarely employed and drank too much alcohol, so she became the sole provider for her own growing family. She worked for others until she started her own small business, but her husband then demanded they move to another town, to live there with his mother. By the time Naisherua had her second child, she was out of work, unable to afford food or her son’s school fees, and her new baby was sick. She had enough. She ran away with her baby and was welcomed back into her father’s home.

Naisherua recently started helping out at SFK. She says she has learned so much and that she has proven she can do anything men can do. She’s learned to use power tools and is involved in all kinds of projects in which she had no previous experience. She loves that SFK never limits her because she is a woman. She is treated as an equal and all the men see her as a strong person. This has made her feel truly empowered for the first time in her life. She has taken what she has learned at SFK and implemented it in her father’s home. She no longer has to buy many vegetables because she can now harvest them from the small food-forest that she herself created. She is fully providing for herself, helping to support her younger siblings, and able to send her children to school, which is very important for her.

Naisherua’s dream is to one day have her very own home and to be able to bring her son to live with her. SFK made her feel, for the first time, that her dream is possible. She says her goal is to be “free” and that Sadhana Forest Kenya brings freedom to women and families.

Thank you for supporting Sadhana Forest Kenya! If you are interested in providing us feedback concerning our project, finding out more about our activities or areas of operation, or would like to volunteer with us, please email us at kenya@sadhanaforest.org. We also strongly encourage you to provide feedback at the end of this report.

Ashe Oleng! (“Thank you very much!” in Kisamburu)