My name is Peninah Lesorogol, I am the founder of Samburu Beads Shop. I come from the Northern part of Kenya, a place called Samburu. Samburu is both a name for the place and it is also for the tribe which is among the 42 Kenyan tribes. As the Samburu tribe, we have retained our rich culture and this has been passed through generations. Currently, I live in Austria but this has not changed the perception of my culture, my Culture lives in me forever. I started this business to support Women in my Village where they make beads and I find markets for them here in Europe. Among the women are also young girls who pay their school fees through beadwork. Being born and raised in Naiborkeju village and in Samburu county, I have always wanted to change the position of Women in my tribe. They depend so much on Men, so I started Beadwork to Empower them and give them the opportunity to earn their own income. My family gave me an opportunity that these Women never had, that’s education. I am one of the first girls to go to university in my village so I have a responsibility to show my community that Educating girls and giving them opportunities equally as boys is very important. So I am giving back to the same people who believed in me and who made me fight against all the odds. Every time I asked my grandmother a question for example”Who said girls should not go to school?” She always told me “The first Man said” but three years ago before my Grandma passed away at the age of 105 years old, her last words to me were” In 100 or 200 years to come, when a child asks Grandma the same questions like you asked me, she will say the first Woman said, and that woman should be you”.
By buying our jewellery, you will be giving this Women and girls an opportunity to overcome poverty, dependency and it’s a perfect opportunity to create healthier Communities where everyone’s opinion counts.
After Corona, everything fell apart. Our beadwork business was affected as well. I started a new project of Agroforestry. The aim and objectives of this project is to create a sustainable food Securities. We started a food forest where we plant Indigenous trees, vegetables, fruits, maize , beans, herbs and spices. We have 10 women working at the farm where they water the trees and food. They work everyday in this farm. They get paid at the end of the month. Also have 12 students who work on holidays there to pay their school fees. 4 of them now finished High school with the help of our Food forest project. We started at the worst time possible when there was a terrible 4 year drought. So we used to buy water twice a week for the trees/farm. One trip always cost 40 EUR and we get two trips per week. Since last month(April) the rain started. Our food forest is doing so much better now. We will keep planting more trees and food and create more job opportunities to women and the community at large to sustain themselves through Nature . My dream is that this goes from one village to the next so that our people can sustain themselves instead of depending on the government.
Nature is our Religion and the good thing about Nature is that she takes care of you if you let her inn. She Always gives back in abundance of love and blessings.
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