Poverty Is Sexist

Twenty years ago, I was sitting in a graduate classroom learning about global development when a statistic stopped me cold: women in rural Kenya were spending 20 hours a week just collecting water. That's two full months of work, every single year, lost to a task that could be solved with the right infrastructure.

I couldn't shake that image. I couldn't accept that brilliant, capable women were trapped in cycles of time poverty simply because they didn't have access to the tools that could transform their lives.

So I did what any idealistic and naive graduate student would do—I decided to do something about it.

Because women deserve better.

Women are the primary caregivers in the home. They are responsible for collecting water, finding fuel wood, cooking on subpar stoves, tending to their farm, and raising their children. As a result, women are chronically time-poor. They are forced to make difficult decisions around seeking healthcare, earning an income, or attending to their children’s education.

Despite the innovations in clean energy and water, the cost is prohibitive for many rural families, making solar lamps, rainwater tanks, and clean cook stoves out of reach. Traditional micro-finance institutions are not equipped to deal with these issues or this population because their bottom line is profit, not people. They struggle in rural areas because of minimal community engagement, low trust, and high fees.

The result? Women continue to be left out and marginalized.

Zawadisha's model is designed to address rural-specific issues like low levels of community engagement and trust by providing in-house credit, direct delivery to villages, after-sales service, and training, all facilitated by a local, Kenyan team.

That 96% repayment rate? Those thousands of loans? They represent something much bigger than numbers on a spreadsheet. They represent women who now have light for their children to study by, clean water at their fingertips, and the time to build businesses that support their families.

What I've learned over the past few decades is that sustainable change doesn't happen through charity. It happens through partnership, through dignity, through creating systems that work for the people who need them most.

When you join us on one of our trips in Kenya or shop with us, you're not just buying beautiful goods and services—you're investing in a model that puts rural women at the center of their own transformation. Every purchase supports our microlending program. Every sale helps us expand our reach to more villages. Every transaction proves that business can be a force for justice.

Sometimes the most audacious thing you can do is believe that change is possible—and then act on it. And what an important reminder given the world we live in today.

With gratitude and determination,
Jen