Profile
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The Strength of One Woman
“Dreams do come true,” that is probably the first thing that Vicky Kimuhu will tell you if you asked her to narrate her life story. Vicky, a single mother of one child, is enthusiastic about the team work involved in shipping finished goods from the Wildlife Works Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project EPZ factory to their final destination abroad. She’s been with Wildlife Works for just over two years now. “Handling shipping successfully, which is a new thing to me, excites me a lot! Though I am an enthusiastic professional and versatile designer with extensive experience in garment production from the raw material to the end product, I am happy to…
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Meet Rehema, a Student Who Never Gave Up On Her Education
Born in 1990 in Kale village in the Marungu area, Rehema never knew what her future held. At the very best, she was certain that she would end up growing old in her rural village. Rehema Mwaka is the second born in a family of four. Her parents are both subsistence farmers in Kale village. She joined Kale primary school in 1997 but because of the extreme poverty in her family, she was forced to dropped out for 2 terms due to of lack of school uniforms and tuition funds. However, she went back to school in the 3rd term and managed to maintain top position in her class and…
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Wildlife Works Gives Paul Makau Mwanzia a Chance to Do What He Loves Most
Paul Makau Mwanzia, a father of two, has been mechanic at the Wildlife Works Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project garage for over three years now. Together with his colleagues, he works to ensure that the company vehicles are in top-notch condition at all times. Lucky for Paul that repairing broken vehicles is his favorite thing to do because our vehicles get quite a beating in the rough Kenyan bush terrain. We caught up with him at the garage to learn what he loves most about his job, what challenges him and what makes him smile. We also talked to him about his work and life before he joined the Wildlife Works…
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Nora Matunda Shares Her Tough Journey to Success
Nora Matunda, a mother of four, has been a seamstress at the Wildlife Works Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project Eco Factory for over 13 years. ‘’I am passionate and motivated by my work because of the quality products we produce as a team. Our work empowers the community with job opportunity, growth, development and wealth creation for our families,” she says. Nora grew up in Maungu, a town adjacent to Wildlife Works sanctuary. ‘’15 years ago, Maungu was a very small village with very few people who depended on mostly charcoal burning and bush meat to live, ’’ she recalls. Growing up in poverty-stricken Maungu provided very little opportunity for young…
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Margaret Mschai Rises Above Life’s Challenges and Shares Her Future Aspirations
Margaret Mschai, a mother of two, makes her living by completing various tasks at the Wildlife Works Kasigau Corridor REDD+ eco-clothing factory, and is wholly grateful for it. Her tasks include trimming, folding and packaging the fabric and finished clothes. “I love what I do mostly because it is an important part in the chain of events that creates unique outfits for export,” she says, adding, “We cannot all be machinists or designers. Someone has to trim the loose threads and fold the clothes so that they are presented neatly for the final consumer.” As Margaret never had the chance to continue her education past primary school, she was therefore…
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Brown Kimonge Makes a Living from Screen Printing
Brown Kimonge, father of five and screen printer at the Wildlife Works Kasigau REDD+ Project screen printing facility, is the subject of our latest who’s who post. “I started work at Wildlife Works in January 2012,” Brown recalls. Born into a polygamous family in 1962, Brown was the fourth of twelve children. For as long as he’s able to recall, life has been a consistent struggle for survival. Like most children in rural Kenya, Brown walked to school barefoot and undertook menial jobs, including fishing at the local dam, to supplement his family’s income. Fortunately, Brown was able to progress up to his ‘O’ levels (standardized tests for high school-aged…
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Getting to know Daniel Munyao: Wildlife Works EPZ Factory Manager
In our latest who’s who profile series, we caught up with Daniel Munyao, production and quality control manager at the Wildlife Works EPZ factory as part of our Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project. Daniel was born in Machakos County and recalls his early life as a constant struggle for survival. He frequently went to school hungry and without shoes on his feet. At a young age, Daniel was forced to stop attending due to the high financial stress it put on his parents. Fortunately soon after, a humanitarian organization called World Vision that had begun to form a presence in the area, was sponsoring young people to study vocational courses in…
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Elizabeth Juma Mwamkono: Utilizing an Opportunity
Elizabeth Juma Mwamkono, a seamstress in our eco-factory, can attest that life needs to be faced with every ounce of courage that can be mustered. Born and raised in Taru, Mombasa County, Elizabeth has faced a number of challenges in her life. Elizabeth said that while she was growing up, many of the young people in her neighborhood, faced with uncertain futures due to financial hurdles, turned to prostitution, drug abuse and violence. She was determined not to fall into these traps, and decided to focus her efforts on getting an education. Liz remembers being sent away from school frequently due to lack of funds, but even her prolonged absences…
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Grace Wanjala: Sewing her own future
Grace Wanjala began school as a young girl, but was forced to abandon her studies at age 14, due to a lack of funding. Grace, now 22 years old, remembered putting away her school uniform at Class Eight, knowing in the back of her mind that she would never put it on again. This was a real blow for the young girl, but Grace had no one to pay her school fees expect for her father who had lost his job. Grace accepted her situation and tried to make the best of it. Regardless of the setbacks, Grace had hope that there would still be a great future for her…
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Kasim the gardener creates works of living art
Kasim has been a gardener at the Wildlife Works Rukinga Sanctuary Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project for only a few months, but already his work speaks volumes. Kasim is a true artist, blessed with an innate sense of beauty that allows him to create imaginative landscaping including fun, natural signage that create a warm welcome for staff members and visitors to the sanctuary. The 47-year-old father of seven never got to finish his studies, due to lack of funds to pay school fees. He managed to get by, working security jobs at various institutions until he began working for Wildlife Works. Kasim doesn’t let his lack of formal schooling interfere with…