An open letter, from an open heart.
The World Bank has calculated that agricultural investments have at least twice the potential to reduce poverty as investments in any other sector. With this in mind, Tandum continue to be committed to developing and facilitating the life changing, long term sustainable projects in regional parts of Kenya, because together we really can make a difference.
But first, to understand the real difference that is being made you need to understand the stories, the human impact behind the projects.
This is a letter to you from Ruth, Tandums Co-Founder and Director.
An open letter, from an open heart.
In July of this year I sat down with a woman in regional Kenya, she is a mother and part of a women’s group that partner with Tandum. She told me her story of when she first met up with the women’s group and the changes she has seen in her own life and those of her family.
Her story is compelling, not because it is of horrific unimaginable nature, but because it is not unique. It’s a story you may be familiar with as it’s a common struggle for millions of women in poverty stricken countries. Women, who generally face the challenges of trying to raise and feed their family alone, and try to make the best of the situation.
Because that’s what women do, they make the best of it, they get on with it. As the only support for their family, they have no other choice.
This young women, this young mother told me that she had to drop out of primary school in class 8, which is the last year of Primary school in Kenya. Her family did not have the money to send her to high school so it was decided that she start working. Due to not graduating primary school and having no specific training, she worked with her mother trying to eke a living from some land they had access to. By the time she was 20 she had three small children to look after with no partner to assist her. All of her children had been diagnosed with malnutrition and rickets which caused issues with their development.
At times she felt lost. But never gave up hope.
Through local community word of mouth she was told about the women’s group that Tandum works with in a region close to her. She started attending the women’s group gatherings, anxiously at first, but with an open heart and open ears she found a lot of support there as many of the women had a similar story to hers.
The Tandum project gave her hope. It gave the women ownership, partnership and united them empowering the women to provide for their family. At this time it was a small chicken enterprise business which was really starting to flourish, all due to the women’s united commitment for success.
She rallied the courage to join the women in the chicken venture and for the first time she was able to start saving some money. Money that she could put aside for her family, her families future.
It wasn’t too long before the Tandum Greenhouse project was established, and again she stepped forward with a nervous but brave heart.
The greenhouse project thrived, and with this her savings grew even more. With each small step her confidence grew and she knew this was the turning point for family.
She now has her own small business that is doing really well. She is providing for her family and has even enrolled in a short course that she is hoping will give her more skills to expand even further.
So if you have ever wondered why greenhouses, why support or partner with Tandum on a greenhouse project?
Well, this woman, this mother, her story is the reason we do what we do. Not only has this greenhouse had a massive impact on her life but also that of her three children. This means that she will be contributing to the economic development of her community, it means she will be able to afford medicine for herself and her children if need be, it means she is able to provide nutritious meals for her family, it means her two daughters and son will be able to go to secondary school and hopefully have choices about what they do.
Partnership works because of p
eople like her. She does everything she can and Tandum does everything we can and together we can see change.
Tandum will continue doing greenhouses and other sustainable projects because we have seen how they work. That they work. If you want to know more on how to part of a project like this, write us a letter. And thank you for reading mine.
Ruth
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Tandum Co-Founder and Director
Tandum greenhouses are sourced through Amiran www.amirankenya.com a world class organisation offering quality greenhouses, training and ongoing assistance.
By putting up a quality product, this ensures that the community looking after it have a great foundation to build on.
To find out more about Tandum’s current and future projects go to www.tandum.org
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/tandumonline
INSTAGRAM @tandum_org
Tandum is proud to be a partner for Project J845N Tandum Development Project with Global Development Group (ABN 57 102 400 993), an Australian NGO approved by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to carry out quality humanitarian projects with approved partners and providing aid to relieve poverty and provide long term solutions.
