Alfred    Jun 26, 2017

I have contacted this member again and she says she is repaying the loan left soon.

Alfred    Jun 24, 2017

Hi, i have reached one of the referees of this borrower and i talked with her. She is clearing the amount left and continue enjoying zidisha services.
Thanks

Alfred    Jun 24, 2017

Hi, i managed to reach this member and she said that she is repaying the amount left very soon.

Alfred    Jun 23, 2017

Hi, i have reached one of her referees and i taked with her. She is clearing the amount left and continue enjoying zidisha services.
Thanks.

Alfred    Jun 20, 2017

hello zidisha,I am hereby informing you that from the member's repayment history,the loan has been repaid fully.thanks

Alfred    Jun 17, 2017

This member will repay the little installment left this week.

Wanjira    Dec 30, 2014

due to lack of sustainable income, i was sick thus i could not raise the amount as I was using the little I earned on medication. i hope the new instalment will be paid in without fail. I have on several occasions tried to reschedule my payment without success. I believe that zidisha will consider my application. I will be happy to grow with zidisha.

Wanjira    Aug 12, 2014

dear lenders I thank you for you've remained true friends. As I had informed you when I applied for the loan, the intention was to construct some paddocks for the animals. I have already done this and this has greatly helped to improve the natural behavior of the animals, the animals now move freely for some time everyday rather than been confine in the housing units. this has also helped to supplement for the animal feeds.

Wanjira    Oct 22, 2013

i intend to clear the remaining balance within the next one week. This will enable me to apply for a new loan. With the new loan I plan to repair the green house which were destroyed by a heavy downpour. My husband has remained by My side and has encouraged me not to give up on the green house project.

analinjsaturria    May 23, 2013

Dear lenders,

This is Analin Saturria McGregor, Communications Associate at Zidisha.
Ruth Muraya, one of our Volunteer Mentors in Nakuru, reported back to us on a phone conversation she had with Wanjira regarding the current status of her business and her loan repayments. Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worse for Wanjira and her family.
Back in April, Wanjira wrote in the comment previous to this about her mother's illness. As of today, we've been informed Wanjira's mother has been admitted to the hospital. She even spent some time under Intensive Care. All this time, Wanjira has been by her side taking care of her.
In another unfortunate turn of events, the greenhouses Wanjira and her husband had as part of their farming business were destroyed during the heavy rains that plagued Kenya in the last few months. This leaves them in an even more difficult situation, as now they have some reconstructing to do. We will continue informing you as we know more. We wish Wanjira's mother a speedy recovery and hope weather is appropriate soon so Wanjira and her husband begin rebuilding their farm.

• G

  Gastao    May 24, 2013

  5% of 682 is not 136 USD. Can someone correct this?

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• G

  Gastao    May 24, 2013

  5% of 682 is not 136 USD. Can someone correct this?

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• G

  Gastao    May 24, 2013

  5% of 682 is not 136 USD. Can someone correct this?

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  • Julia Kurnia    May 24, 2013

    Dear Gastao,
    
    I'm sorry for the confusion. The percentage refers to an annualized figure - i.e. 5% per year for each year the loan is held. The amount is so high because Ms Ngure has rescheduled the loan to repay over a very long period. Borrowers normally reschedule for such long periods with the intent to reschedule again when their financial situations improve, thereby shortening the repayment period and reducing the interest that will be owed.
    
    Best,
    
    Julia Kurnia
    Director, Zidisha

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Wanjira    Apr 3, 2013

My mother has been unwell for some time and the medical bill is too huge . she have been visiting diffrent hospital in nairobi for repayment so as to repayment. in most times i have had to accompany her to the hospital. as a result i have not been attending My farming business leasing My husband to do all the work. we also are spending a significant amount of money preparing the land for planting during the rainy season.
However i pray that she gest well i will be able to resume the normal repayment so as to complete paying sooner .

eagle3    Nov 28, 2012

Congratulations on getting your loan. I applaud your hard work and initiative to improve you and your family's life. Best wishes for great success with your project. If You Think You Can -- You Can.

Wanjira    Oct 14, 2012

dear lenders
i take this opportunity to thank you for the generous support you have accorded me in the past. indeed my farming business have grown tremendously . my income have more than tripled in the last one year.

however three days ago the water pump that we use in irrigation broke down and was taken for servicing. this was unexpected and i was left without any money.
l

AchintyaRai    Feb 7, 2012

Hello lenders,

My name is Achintya Rai and I am Zidisha’s new Kenya Client Relationship Manager.
This Sunday (5th Feb 2012), I went to the village of Kianjoya to visit Rahab Wanjira. Rahab’s husband James Ngure is a teacher in Mugaa Secondary School, where I am putting up. When I visited their home I met James in his work clothes, tending to his farm. He was the one who explained the business and its functioning to me.

If I were to use one word to describe James, I’d call him no less than a ‘visionary’. There are certain people who have that spark that employment advertisements profess to look for. I feel very strongly that James has that spark of brilliance. The things he is doing with the resources he has at this remote location are remarkable.

James has been working in the school for around 8 years. 4 years ago he decided to settle near here and bought this piece of land in Kianjoya. He did not know what else to do with the land so he and Rahab farmed it like everyone else to grow crops typical to here. Rahab also bought a shop in Mitimingi, which she used to take care of. They took their first Zidisha loan to stock this shop.

A year ago, James and Rahab attended a seminar in Naivasha. That is where they got the idea of constructing a green house and using drip farming to irrigate the crops. A green house kit being sold at the seminar cost around 210,000 Kenyan Shillings. James investigated further after returning and was able to construct his first green house (15m x 8m) in around 50,000 shillings. They sold their shop in Mitimingi to arrange for this money.

The returns from the first green house were so tremendous (James claims that a tomato crop inside the green house gives FIFTY TIMES more returns than a tomato crop the same size outside the green house) that they have now decided to gradually bring their whole farm under a green house. They used their second Zidisha loan to increase the acreage under greenhouse and to buy a drip irrigation kit. Now they have three green houses, all using drip irrigation and all made from local materials (polythene/plastic sheeting and local wood logs).

James has dug two tanks in the farm to collect rainwater. He directs water flowing on the road into his farm to collect it into these tanks, which he uses to drip-irrigate his crops for the whole year.

His future plans include lining his tanks with ‘dam liner’, which is a plastic sheet that prevents water from being absorbed by the soil.

When one is in the presence of wisdom, one tends to test his own (perhaps not everyone, just men)- so I asked him that why didn’t he try keeping fish in his tanks to supplement his income. He nodded solemnly and said it was a good idea (I am sure he was smiling in his heart, but is too big a man to smile on my face).

I also met Rahab and James’ little daughter Gladys, who didn’t smile at me till the very end, when I pulled her cheeks.

Achintya
Mugaa Village, Kenya
7th Feb 2012

Wanjira    Dec 13, 2011

I feel humbled by all of you lenders who are so kind to help me and other people like me. I thank you most sincerely and wish you all the best and Gods blessings.

I believe that with this loan I will be able to expand my irrigation system in our farm. I also believe that in not so long I will be hiring some people to work at the farm.

Wanjira    Jul 29, 2010

dear lenders,
I met with Lauren who visited my shop recently. we shared a lot about Zidisha Lenders. I was really amazed by the knowledge of the huge difference between Kenya especially in rural area such as where i come from and America. She was amazed to learn that we still do not have such "basic" necessities such as electricity, piped water, internet services. Indeed, from the place I come from Most of this necessities are not available. To access internet services, for example, I travel to Nakuru town, a distance of 40 km. the means of transport that we use is minibuses commonly called "matatus". the journey is usually rough and takes about one and half hours at least, sometimes even more time. We pay ksh100 for a one way journey to Nakuru. The poor road network makes things even more difficult especially when it rains.

At my small shop we do not have electricity. I recently managed to by a generator which I now use to charge my customer's mobile phones, i also charge car batteries which many people around here use for their TVs and Radios at their homes. to charge the mobile phone a customer pays ksh10, while for a car battery a customer pays between ksh50 and ksh 100 depending on the capacity of the battery. (for less than 40Ahr battery the customer pays sh50).

i have started receiving more customers who come to charge their mobile phones batteries and other items. per day i receive about 20 mobile phones and 5 car batteries. this has enabled my income to to increase to about sh300 per day.

My husband who is a teacher is also very passionate about farming. We have a small piece of land where we grows vegetables such as kales, cabbages, tomatoes etc. We have identified drought as one of the problems that most of the farmers face. About 8months in a year are usually very dry and as such green vegetables during this time are usually very scarce and very expensive.

Three months ago We were able to dig a rectangular pit of 8m long 5m wide and 2m deep. We then laid a polythene sheet of paper in the pit. The purpose of the pit was to collect run off water when it rains. then in tend to use the water for irrigation during the dry seasons.

Since the amount of water is still limited (currently we approximate the volume of the water in the pit to about 40 cubic meters) We have been looking for the most efficient irrigation method. We have identified drip irrigation system as the most economical. Currently we are in the process of installing the system on trial basis. we have already bought the drip lines (lateral) and are left with only some few other components. mean while we have already prepared the nursery for tomatoes. By the time the seedlings will be ready for transplant we intend to have the system ready. My husband is very optimistic about the project and plans to make the project even larger. the irrigation will cover about an eighth of an acre with about 1000 tomato plants.

the months of November, December, January, February and March are usually the hottest in this area.

• Daniel    Feb 27, 2011

  Dear Wanjira -- thank you for an excellent update. You really provide an excellent description of your projects, which I find very interesting indeed. You may not have "basic" necessities, but with enterprising people like you, it won't be long before those basic necessities come to your village. As it is, you're already bringing electricity to your neighbors -- and making a nice profit at the same time!
  
  Best of luck, and I wish you an excellent tomato harvest!

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Lauren Rosenbaum    Jul 27, 2010

I met Wanjira last week in her duka (shop) located in Mitimingi, a small town in the middle of the Rift Valley. The town is very remote and residents rely on small shops like hers to find all of their necessary household goods (flour, cooking fat, shoes mirrors, soda, grains, fruits, veggies, etc.). They also rely on her generator to charge their cell phones (Mitimingi has no access to electricity), for which they pay a fee of Ksh 10. Wanjira travels via public transportation (generally in the form of minibuses called matatus or refurnished lorries) to Nakuru city in order to buy her stock from wholesellers. The trip costs Ksh 100 each way and can take anywhere from one to three hours, depending on road conditions and how quickly the vehicle fills up with people (they usually wait until every seat is full before leaving, This morning I waited in the matatu stage for over two hours before we departed).

Most people in the area rely on subsistence farming for their livelihood. However, variable weather and market conditions can make farming a risky business. Wanjira’s farm suffered during Kenya’s recent two-year drought. Her finances were further affected during the 2007 post-election violence, when she and her husband, a secondary school teacher, housed a number of families who were fleeing for their lives. Wanjira still remembers watching the homes of her friends and relatives burning on the hillsides close to the Mau forest, the home base of many of the violence’s perpetrators.

Wanjira knew that in order to recover from her family’s recent hardships she could not rely on farming alone. She decided to open her business this year and has been happy to have an additional means to provide for her four-month-old girl, Gladys. Wanjira walks four kilometers each way from her home to her shop, Gladys on her back. Even at her young age Gladys is a bundle of energy-walking, giggling, and trying to get into all sorts of mischeif around the shop. She even had older friends who were already in primary school (this usually begins at around age six) visiting her. When I attempted to take a picture of Wanjira and her girl, Gladys wouldn’t stop squirming and trying to talk and Wanjira couldn’t stop laughing.

Faith    Jul 22, 2010

Hello, lenders.

My name is Lauren Rosenbaum and I am the Zidisha Client Relations Manager in Kenya. I have spent time in the country once before, working as a communications intern for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Nairobi. Although I was mainly working in the main office in the city, I also did some field work in Western Kenya designing and implementing educational workshops for farmer groups. Because most Kenyans live not in cities but rather in rural areas where goods and services that Americans take for granted (running water, electricity, healthcare, newspapers, snack food, etc.) are unavailable, I found it very important to work in these areas this time around. I have found that in places where consumer luxuries are scarce people value personal relationships more than material goods and community bonds are quite strong. Last month I was working in Oloolamutia, a village close to the Masai Mara game reserve. I arrived in Mugaa last Wednesday and have since been struck by how welcoming and enthusiastic everyone is. People here are always willing to help others in any way they can, though they may have very little.

My home base is Mugaa Secondary School, where Zidisha loan officer Tom Mwaura works as headmaster. Mr. Mwaura and the teachers and staff at the school are passionate about providing a bright future for the students.Their hope is that if empowered through Zidisha loans, parents who own small businesses will be able to keep their children in secondary school (many students are forced to drop out for financial reasons).

It is amazing how the people in this area are able to maintain such a positive attitude in spite of the harsh difficulties they face. The area is just emerging from a two-year drought that devastated the area, as most families rely on subsistence farming for their livelihood. This drought followed a period of violence that swept throught the country following the 2007 presidential election results, widely believed to have been rigged by president Mwai Kibaki in order for him to remain in power. Because the residents in this area mainly belong to Kibaki’s ethnic group, it was a prime target for this violence. Everyone with whom I have spoken was affected in some way by the violence. Some lost their family members and had their homes and farms burned. Others sheltered families whose homes were targeted, often housing as many as six families at once in their small homes. Many people fled the area and business owners were unable to sell their goods. Those who had loans during this period struggled to repay them, but many still managed to do so; their sense of obligation and hard work is very strong. Now that the area is recovering and people are returning to their old homes, I have much faith that their businesses will succeed if given a headstart from Zidisha lenders.

Best,
Lauren

Wanjira    Jun 17, 2010

I thank Zidsha for accepting my applications and accepting to offer me a loan. i believe that this will go along way in enabling me to attain my goal of being a self reliant lady.

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  t    Oct 8, 2011

  I wish you all the best in your business activities.
  Remember chance will come with taking your own life in human and business affairs in your own hands. I wish you all the best for your employees too.

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  • T

    t    Oct 18, 2011

    As far as is said by Zidisha. The loan is paid back.
    Terrific business this is!

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