From a Beggar to a Business owner

Rhoda Kivuva 50, is among the first members of Jamii Bora Trust. She started by saving 10 shillings a day. This amounted to fifty shillings a week and it was a struggle to manage this saving.
However she persevered as she wanted to have a better life. Now she is the proud owner of a hardware shop “Jua Kali” (informal sector) at Kamukunji in Nairobi. She stocks different items which come in handy for many families. One of her main products are metal boxes used by boarding school students to
store their stuff.
Rhodah suffers from Asthma, but her medication is catered for by the Trust through the Life Insurance cover. This advantageous since treating many ailments in Kenya is expensive. From her savings, she is able to take care of some four orphans besides her own grandchildren.

She has also introduced two of her two children to Yawezekana Sacco, where they have been saving with their first seed money coming from her. In return, they are able to support their families easing her burden of taking care of the whole family.
“One of my daughters sells uji (porridge) to Jua Kali workers while one of my sons is a painter,” she says
with pride

"Ingrid Munro-founder of Jamii Bora Trust taught us how to fish and the best that we can do is to teach our children to do the same too."
Ingrid has been supporting mostly street mothers to realize and exploit their potential so as to rise from poverty since women bear the biggest burden of raising families. Rhoda knows that this is all possible through sacrifice and hard work. "If I manage to save more, I will be able to open another shop elsewhere.” she concludes.