Testimonials
Meet the women we work with!
Dina Sailepu
For Dina Sailepu, raising several children as a widow has come with many hardships. She found it difficult to meet deadlines to pay for school fees and other expenses without an additional source of income. Through WAEV’s microloan program, Dina has been able to send her son to Rift Valley Secondary School while successfully repaying her loans on time.
"I have been trying to get involved with other women’s groups around Lendikinya, but I have never seen one like WAEV’s groups! As a widow, I feel that WAEV is my great savior. We will always cherish Saing’orie’s mark in our village.”
Noongera Loirita
Noongera’s house prior to joining WAEV
Noongera’s house after joining WAEV
Through participation in business and literacy sessions, Noongera uncovered her potential, leading her to start buying and selling corn and beans at the local market. Her growing confidence prompted her to join a tailoring training program alongside 15 other women, after which WAEV provided her with a sewing machine, enabling her to establish a side business in sewing.
Noongera's single thatched-roof house had become too small for her family. Thanks to her improved financial situation, she was able to build a better house with three rooms. Additionally, she can afford uniforms and other school necessities, allowing her eldest daughter to enroll in school. Recognizing her dedication to transforming her family's life, WAEV awarded Noongera a water tank in August, which she uses to collect and store rainwater for domestic purposes.
"Before I joined WAEV I had no business skills nor capital and I lived in a one room grass thatched house with my four children. Thanks to WAEV, I received business training, sewing machine skills and capital which allowed me to start a small business. Today I am proud to have built a three-room iron roofed house. Thank you WAEV for transforming my life.”
Martha Tumbaa
“Everything changed when I joined WAEV. Through the training sessions, I learned about the importance of tree planting and sustainable gardening techniques. I started with a small garden behind my house. When I received tree seedlings from WAEV, I intercropped them with beans and sweet potatoes to protect the trees and enrich the soil.
The journey was not easy, my husband was initially against my efforts, claiming I was wasting grazing land for livestock. But I didn’t give up. I stayed determined and kept working on the garden, practicing all I had learned.
Soon, results began to show. During the first season, I harvested five buckets of beans, and in the second, four sacks of beans and eight of sweet potatoes. I also established a bigger garden using a drip irrigation system, from which I harvested enough vegetables for my household and then sold the extra produce.
Now my family has started enjoying the first papaya fruits from the trees we were given in December 2023. My husband, who had initially opposed me, is now my biggest supporter. He helps me care for the garden, which has become a source of food, unity, and hope for our entire family.”
Ngaisi Melau
Ngaisi Melau, a 30-year-old mother of five from Lendikinya Village joined WAEV after hearing about it from her neighbor and receiving encouragement from her absent husband. Previously dependent on him and struggling to feed her children through low-paid farm labor, she gained skills in business, gardening, and financial literacy through WAEV. With tree seedlings and a sewing machine, she started a garden and income-generating activities, achieving food security and financial independence. Ngaisi is now reunited with her family, empowered, and a role model in her community, crediting WAEV for restoring her dignity and hope.
“WAEV gave me a voice I never knew I could have during my entire marriage. It empowered me with strength, purpose, and the motivation to keep moving forward. I'm especially grateful that I was able to teach my daughter, who is in Standard Seven, how to sew. She now helps me on weekends with simple design orders. Thanks to the water tank I received from WAEV, I no longer have to search for water every day, especially during the rainy season. Even during the dry season, the pressure to find water is much less than it used to be.”
Nasaru Saiguran
Nasaru Saiguran has been part of WAEV’s Group 1 for over three years now, and has explained how our programs have positively impacted her life. She told us, “I managed to become self-reliant and realized that I can do things successfully, for example, the trees that I planted, I have been responsible for them by myself.”
She noted how she was able to grow and sell vegetables for profit through our Vegetable Gardening Project, and has has built a small shop. In the coming year she looks forward to expanding her entrepreneurial ventures and starting a poultry business!
Leya Loishiye
Leya Loishiye has been a part of WAEV for almost 6 years—in fact she was our very first group member! Here is how WAEV has empowered her socially, economically, and physically:
"WAEV helped me to gain respect from my neighbors, and a place that provides relief from the hardship I experience as a widow in my community. I’m so thankful for the water tank I received - owning a tank has been one of my life dreams that I didn’t know when I was going to achieve!
Through the Microloan Program, I was able to take out a loan to support my daughter as she attended university last year. The environment around my homestead has very much improved with the trees I received from WAEV. These trees have been very beneficial and I’m well trained in maintaining them. Through vegetable gardens initiated by WAEV, I believe that my family's nutrition has improved through consuming vegetables. My family’s basic needs are now mostly able to be met during difficult times because of access to loans to solve such difficulties, especially in obtaining food.”
Naishoki Mbarnoti
Naishoki Mbarnoti has done exceptionally well in both her tree planting and vegetable gardening efforts through WAEV’s programs. She has begun growing African basil alongside her trees in a form of agroforestry, and both have thrived! African basil is a plant that can be used both for it's medicinal properties and its environmental impacts. It is drought resistant, meaning it grows easily within tree lots without regular maintenance and is also helpful in alleviating surface water run-off and erosion. By growing her trees and basil together, Naishoki has helped to conserve soils and water resources, and she has noticed the impacts! Here she stands in her garden holding her produce next to some of the impressive trees she has maintained.