Boror village in the Kamara District of Kenya’s Rift Valley region holds few opportunities for unskilled labourers if they do not have land to work.
And many young men and women don’t have their own property –a situation which has prompted many to flee their native communities in search of a better life in the country’s bigger urban centres.
This rural to urban exodus has resulted in an growing humanitarian crisis, as crime, disease, and depravation are widespread in such slums as Nairobi’s Kibera shanty town, where as many as three quarters of a million people now live in abject poverty.
Thanks to the support of Self Help Africa, a group of young men from Boror have found an alternative source of income for themselves, and are now running a successful business producing clay bricks which they sell to local builders.
Cutting the rich top-soil from a 1.5 acre plot of land adjacent to their village and placing it into handmade moulds, the 22 strong Magonda Brickmakers Co-Operative sun dry their bricks on the ground before piling them into a kiln shaped structure which they then fire with local wood.
Self Help Africa's outreach staff have been working with the Magonda Brickmakers for the past year, giving them training in their craft, in establishing the necessary management structures for their enterprise, and through a micro savings and credit scheme being operated in the locality.
‘We have been selling our bricks at 5 Kenyan shillings each ( 5 Cent), and are selling them to people to use in building all of the time’, said father of 3, John M'Ogoti.
John M’Ogoti says that the majority of colleagues with whom he is working on the enterprise are young men who had not been working previously, and claimed that the success of their operation has resulted in a second similar brick making venture being established in the locality.
As a result of the achievements of the Magonda Brickmakers Co-Operative, most of the participants have managed to invest in purchasing land, in undertaking improvements to their homes, or in purchasing food and clothing for their families and dependants.
In John M’Ogoti’s case he has been able to purchase the materials to build himself a new house, and has also bought a one acre plot adjacent to his property for the purpose of establishing a back yard garden to grow food for his family.
The Magonga Brick Makers are planning to upgrade their operation in the coming months, with the construction of a storage shed in which they can keep their dried bricks.
‘At present we are losing some of them because they are drying too quickly in the sunshine. If we have a shed we can protect them from both the sun, and also from rain which can be damaging if they have not been dried properly’, John M’Ogoti explains. |
Self Help Africa in Kenya |
Self Help Africa began working in Kenya in the late 1990's - initially in partnership with the Franciscan Brothers at Baraka Agricultural College, and in more recent years as a seperate, independent agency.
The organisation continues to work closely with Baraka College on a Beekeeping Extension Programme and other activities, while it has also established it's own area based development programmes in the Rift Valley Province. |
