OXFAM GB- Catherine Wangui's Story from the Field

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Name: Catherine Wangui, 28 years, lives in the Kibera informal settlement in Nairobi County, Kenya. She participates to the project promoted by Oxfam called “Promoting livelihoods and Inclusion of vulnerable women domestic workers and women small scale traders”.

What was life like for people living in the area before the project?

Before the project Catherine was working in a hotel earning Kes.300 (2 GBP) a day and not saving. The earnings were not enough to feed her family and take her daughter to school. To supplement her income she started a small grocery shop with a loan from friends.

What is life like for people as a result of the project?

Through support from the project, in July, she joined a women’s group called ‘sacred heart’. Catherine says that through her group she is able to save at least Kes. 200 (1.30 GBP) per week. With this money she hopes to secure a loan that will enable her to expand her grocery and cereals business, and thereby to pay back her first loan, to improve the nutrition of her family, to pay house rent, to pay levies and fees to the County, to pay the rent for her business premises and to pay school fees for her daughter and her siblings. Read more at the Stories from the Field Section.