A women group's bid to make a difference in the society

It is dawn in Mwala village of Mutomo district. As the sun’s first rays materialize, Diana Kavuli is on the way to the river on a quest for water for raising a tree nursery. For this 70 year old woman it is yet another day to make a difference to her community. Diana is a member of Jaribu Kuzuia Ukimwi Women Group which has various projects to support orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC s) in Mwala sub-location of Mutomo District.

The group was established in 1997 as a merry go round whereby members would pool resources and boost each other financially as well as assist each other in doing farming activities. Initially it was called Jaribu women Group. But in 2001 the group started doing HIV/AIDS awareness campaign and changed its name to Jaribu Kuzuia Ukimwi Women Group.

The group’s name is loosely translated to ‘try preventing HIV/AIDS’ and is comprised of 11 members, 73% of whom are above 60 years old of age. The all-women’s group is undertaking various income generating activities......Read more

Rain water harvesting

Mutomo district is an arid and semi arid area which often receives minimal amounts of rainfall resulting to frequent droughts and water scarcity. As such residents have resorted to different methods of water harvesting to combat these problems.

Elizabeth Kinyungu is a small scale farmer in Mwala sub-location in the district who is practicing rain water harvesting in her home. During the April rainfall season, Mutomo District received very minimal rain and so all her crops have wilted. But the 63 year old woman is happy that she harvested some water, thanks to a rock within her farm on which she has constructed a rock catchment
“My home is near rocks and such when it rained, we would be swamped with water from the rocks.Therefore, I decided to construct a rock catchment to harvest this water” She says adding that since constructing the structure she has been having constant water supply throughout unlike before when she had to fetch it from a far away earth dam some ten (10) KM away.

" Water from the catchment is fresh and clean unlike water fro the earth dam which is muddy and brown therefore lower risks of water-borne diseases,'' she adds

She says that water from the rock catchment serves all her domestic water needs .” When there is sufficient rainfall, the water serves us until the next rainy season “She adds .Elizabeth also uses the water harvested for small scale irrigation on her farm.

“I have planted some mangoes which I sell to my neighbours for an extra shilling ,” she explains adding that she has also started a tree nursery where she also makes an income from selling the seedlings.

Mutomo Maarifa Centre users praise the newly stocked library

Mutomo Maarifa Centre users have praised ALIN for the efforts to provide information to the community through its recently stocked library. The Maarifa Centre recently received reading material form Book Aid International.

James Mburu who is a nurse at the Mutomo Mission Hospital visited the centre during the unpacking of the books.He could not hide his joy at seeing the books “God Bless you for the initiative you have taken.I am very grateful for this Maarifa Centre.Its a very wonderful project for the community"he said.....Read more