Our Sister Shop in Maungu, Kenya
On the morning our shop in Maungu opened, a line of women was already waiting outside the door.
No one expected it. Not the community, and honestly, not us. Two weeks earlier, it had been an empty storefront.
The short version: Since July 2021, Zawadisha has run a small retail shop next to our office in Maungu, Taita Taveta County, Kenya. It sells everyday household goods to women in the villages we serve, creates local jobs for women and helps fund more loans.
How did the shop start?
During the pandemic, a storefront on Maungu's main dirt road, the artery into all of the villages we serve, was left empty. Meanwhile, demand for household items like cups, spoons, stoves and solar lamps kept growing. After nearly a decade in the community, our name and our products were known and trusted, so we took the space.
In about two weeks, we painted the inside, built shelves, made a new sign, hired and trained Eunice to run it, and drove to Mombasa to buy the inventory. Flyers went out to the surrounding villages. Dozens of people came to the grand opening, and we covered our opening costs in a single day.
"The energy is wild," Jen said at the time. "Everyone is so excited. We are making items available so they can shop where they live and work."
Why does a shop in Maungu matter?
- Women can shop close to home instead of making the hours-long trip to Mombasa.
- It creates jobs and job training for women who might otherwise have to leave for the city to find work.
- It funds more loans, especially for bigger, more expensive items.
What does "a good life" mean here?
Our Kenya Country Director, Monica Makori, puts it this way: the real gift isn't the solar lamp or the hot pot. "Our value to the community is to help make daily lives 'good' for the women and their families who live here."
Jen agrees: "We don't strive to make them rich by Western standards. But to be able to stay on their small farms, own a piece of land and live in peace and quiet, that's a rich life."
How can I support it?
Every purchase from our online shop funds our microlending program in Kenya. Want to see the Maungu shop yourself? It's a stop on our trips to Kenya.
Parts of this story were first written by Anne Marie Gattari.