Astrid    Mar 20, 2020

Hi David,
Thanks for your recent repayments. All the best!
Astrid

Astrid    Jan 2, 2015

Hi David,
I wish you, your family and your business all the best for 2015.
Can we expect further repayment from you any time soon? Thanks!
Astrid

mewesten    Oct 8, 2013

Hello David,
I hope your business is coming along well. Best of luck to you and yours.
Write a note of you have time.
Sincerely,
Marvin

David    Jul 18, 2013

Hi lenders. Thank you for your unmatched support. God bless you.
David.

• mewesten    Jul 18, 2013

  Nice to hear from you, David.
  I hope the loan will help you meet your goals of buying and selling commodities, and make additional profit for your farm. It can be risky, so be careful. I wish you good luck.
  Sincerely,
  Marvin

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AchintyaRai    Feb 3, 2012

Hi,

My name is Achintya Rai and I am the new Kenya Client Relationship Manager for Zidisha.

I visited David Kamau on the 31st of Jan. Baba Joshua (as he is popularly known) is obviously one of the most popular Zidisha clients. If one were to believe his stories, he is quite ancient. But he doesn’t look a day older than 40. I asked around and the general opinion is that he is 70. I was thinking what I wouldn’t give to be as fit as him when I’m 70. Then I met his mother, who is 99. She was not only quite active (I once saw her doing the 7 km uphill trek from Mitimingi to Mugaa, from my perch behind a bike taxi) but had perfect hearing and sight.

Baba Joshua explained the science of cow-rearing to me- at what age they should be bought, at what they should be sold, how many generations further can they be interbred etc. He also explained to me how he invested his Zidisha loan and later bought a cow. His job at the Mugaa Secondary School not only gives him a stable salary, but also gives him special privileges like access to the school grounds for grazing his cows. He doesn’t have to take his cows to long distances for grazing unlike other farmers and that saves him a lot of time to look after his other animals.

With his next loan he wants to buy maze from farmers in the crop season and store it to sell it later when the prices go up and traders from the town come looking for more produce.

His present income appears quite sufficient to pay back his loans. He has indigenous as well as German goats (which, I feel, aren’t quite as pretty as the local ones, but he was so proud of them I had to click a few pictures), chickens and now 3 cows. Like very many other Zidisha clients I have met, Baba Joshua also feels a sense of ownership for the company and also a sense of pride to be associated with Zidisha. And quite thankful to Zidisha too.

teddy    Aug 25, 2011

Baba Joshua is a vibrant and entertaining person. He is quite proud of himself to have his loan repayments done on time and says that he organizes himself not to be late. He bought 4 dairy goats which he reared and one of them gave birth. He later sold them (save for the kid) and bought a cow. The cow recently gave birth and he now owns a calf. He intends to start selling cow milk sometime in January which is now being sold for Kshs. 28 / litre. In a nutshell, as far as his business and his loan repayments are concerned, David is a comfortable man.
A casual laborer at Mugaa Secondary School, Baba Joshua has 3 boys in that very high school and 2 girls in primary school. He admits that he does not post comments to his page simply because of his inability to work with computers adequately and their scarcity in Mugaa.
Teddy Onserio
Zidisha Intern

teddy    Aug 25, 2011

Lauren Rosenbaum    Dec 24, 2010

www.overstream.net/view.php...

Teachers at Mugaa Secondary School, where David works, explain the challenges that staff face in providing students with a quality education.

Lauren Rosenbaum    Aug 11, 2010

During the three weeks I stayed in Mugaa, David Kamau became a good friend. Most people at the school call David Baba Joshua or Wajoshua because in Kenya parents are known by the name of their first born child. Wajoshua has nine children, a number only slightly above average for a Kenyan family. As the oldest living son, he is responsible for taking on the family’s burdens, including caring for his parents as they grow old and raising his orphaned niece and nephew. He used to travel to his father’s house by foot, but as the old man’s health deteriorated he moved out of his house, carrying the roofing sheets and sticks that it had been made of to the relocate next to his parents.

In this area people live for a very long time, perhaps because they walk for miles and miles on hilly terrain daily and eat plenty of vegetables that they grow in their shambas. Wajoshua is 70 but he still seems as strong as a man in his 30s. His father died recently at the age of 118.

Wajoshua works extremely hard to make sure that the school is running smoothly, which often requires heavy manual labor. The other day he was personally fixing one of the many atrocious roads that leads to the school, throwing heavy rocks out of the path and carrying bags of sand and gravel to replace them. I am continually amazed by how much energy he has to do these things.

I have been invited to Wajoshua’s house a number of times.The first time he showed me his goats and explained to me all of the measures he takes to care for them. He told me that the goats are better quality than typical African goats because they are able to produce milk and thus generate income without being used for meat. In order to obtain such animals, Wajoshua organized with a group of farmers to collectively breed the goats, rotating males and females among theirselves in order to avoid inbreeding. Wajoshua started with just one baby female, but he now has a full-grown male and another baby male, as well. In order to keep them healthy, he must pay for their food, salts, and medicine. He also feeds them fresh vegetables, like the kales he grows in his garden. Because the baby goat gets cold at night, Wajoshua brings him inside the house to sleep.

Wajoshua is a very social person and doesn’t think much of walking 7 Km to see a friend. He also likes to invite people over to watch his television, which he powers with a solar battery-a common contraption in remote areas that do not have access to electricity. When I come to his house he always makes me mahindi choma ( roasted maize), which is sort of like popcorn for Kenyan families. His kids watch the television with us, an exercise Wajoshua says helps them improve their English. After I leave they begin studying, using lamps powered by the solar battery. As the family values education, many of the children are at the top of their classes.