Community empowerment
Skill that serves community life
Ndiwa Women Group
Great Light Community Empowerment. Resilience, dignity, livelihoods, community and hope. Their next chapter is a KMUA community legacy project.
Ndiwa means widow in Kamba
Ndiwa Women Group is a community group of widows from Kikumbulyu Location, Makueni County. They came together so women who had lost their spouses could support one another and build a living. The group began in May 2002 with twenty founding members. It later grew to about one hundred and ten women. They are registered under Kenya's social development framework. Their farm is about five acres at Kisayani.
They work the land they own
Ndiwa is not only a welfare group. It is a place of dignity and self-reliance. Over the years the women have worked on water, dry-land farming, dairy goats, indigenous poultry, food and small income. The farm has iron-sheet houses and sanitation. Some of that work still needs care. When support fell away, they kept farming, kept livestock, and kept one another.
The farm opened a window to the world
The year 2005 was a turning point. The farm, water and volunteer friendships grew. Watoto wa Dunia, under Arika Makena, and Kenya Voluntary Development Association, under Mr. Mwachofi, walked with them. More than seventy international volunteers came to farm, build, plant trees and make bricks. Later some partnerships changed. Resources fell. Buildings aged. Fewer women could take part. Ndiwa did not disappear. The County Government put a borehole on the farm. Some of the older women receive the National Government Older Persons Cash Transfer.
A goat, a flock, clean water, a safe roof
Nicky Bita's tie with Ndiwa goes back to 2005. He has kept visiting. Together with Arika Makena, friends and well-wishers, support has gone to water, housing, sanitation and livelihoods. Today about forty women keep dairy goats. More than sixty have benefited from indigenous poultry. Some houses and toilets have been repaired. Water has been strengthened. For a woman who has carried a hard life, those things are hope you can hold.
A home for our future parents
We do not want only to keep the past. We want a future. We dream of turning the Ndiwa farm into a Welfare and Community Resource Home for elderly and vulnerable women. A safe, decent place where our mothers and future parents can rest, meet, read, share stories and feel valued.
We want more than buildings. We want a home of dignity, belonging and hope. Their resilience is their legacy. Our partnership can be their hope.
Water and food
Strengthen water, harvesting, irrigation and dry-land farming.
Livelihoods
Grow dairy goats, poultry and other work that pays a household.
Housing and sanitation
Repair rooms, toilets and other safe, decent places to live.
Elderly welfare
A welcoming centre where older and vulnerable women can meet and rest.
Learning
A library and space for news, reading and sharing skill across ages.
Land and climate
Farming that lasts, tree planting and climate-smart work.
Walk with Ndiwa
KMUA invites friends of Ndiwa, professionals, businesses, churches, foundations, government and people of goodwill to write the next chapter with us.
You can help with a goat, poultry, water, a room, a toilet, books, food, skill or time. Or you can share the dream. Every contribution matters. Write to us. We will keep a record of the work.
From Kisayani
Recent stills from the farm, and two photographs from earlier years of the group.
