A mother’s joy
Becoming a mom was the catalyst—her daughters would not relive her upbringing. This is Judy’s journey to becoming a ME to WE Artisan
Judy Cheborkei savours her Monday morning ritual. She wakes up at 5:30 a.m., milks her cow and then wakes her two daughters and gets them ready for school.
Then, she gets ready for work.
In 2010, Judy became a ME to WE Artisan. After her girls leave for Enelerai Primary School, Judy will follow in their footsteps when she heads to work at WE’s Empowerment Centre, located on the school grounds.
Set in the Maasai Mara, Kenya, the Empowerment Centre brings together women from across the Mara who are now making a sustainable wage celebrating a traditional pastime of the region—beading.
Judy, a Kipsigis woman without any previous beading experience, never thought this would be how she would finance her daughters’ educations. In fact, eight years ago, the security of her kids’ schooling was in jeopardy. Judy’s work ethic and determination are the reason this everyday routine exists.
When she became a mom, first with Daisy and then three years later with Faith, Judy realized she needed to take action if she didn’t want to repeat her own upbringing—being forced to choose between food, clothing and education. She was determined to find outside work and earn an income.
She started by selling charcoal and firewood. She would walk five hours to buy the goods, and then walk back to her village to sell it. Walking such a long distance, sometimes at the break of dawn, took a toll on her health. She developed chest and back problems. She was forced to quit, and started to look for something else.
During this time a new income opportunity with WE presented itself. By 2010, WE Charity was wellestablished in the region, implementing its holistic, sustainable development model. Most well-known in communities for building quality schools and water kiosks, WE rebuilt Enelerai Primary School, located a stone’s throw from Judy’s house and where her girls would go.
WE knew one of the core challenges for families trying to break the cycle of poverty was limited ways for parents to earn an income. Most were not formally employed and depended on small farms to support their families. WE Charity partnered with community groups to help identify income and saving opportunities. One of the core components of WE Charity’s Opportunity Pillar is looking at what is working well and is common in the area, and how that can be a means of support. Maasai jewellery was very popular, but women didn’t have a place to sell their goods. ME to WE, a social enterprise and WE Charity’s sister organization, started an artisan program to enable women to sell their beadwork—and learn to bead, if it wasn’t something they had done before.
In 2014, WE opened the Empowerment Centre. The new space gave women a place to come together and build comradery and friendship along with each Rafiki strand.
Whether beading at the centre or home, more than 1,500 women are earning an income through ME to WE Artisans.
Over the past eight years, Judy has transformed her family’s circumstance. She managed to buy a cow and a goat, and built a household toilet. In 2016, she and 13 other women from the Empowerment Centre formed a savings group. Over time, with her savings, Judy has doubled her family ’s plot of land. She and her husband have planted more maize and now have extra to sell. Judy also recently purchased new roofing sheets; she plans on building the dream home she’s always wanted.
For Judy, the biggest difference—and her greatest achievement—is educating her daughters.
On weekends, when the girls are not outdoors playing, they help around the house cleaning and fetching firewood, and then do their homework. This is the part of the weekend Judy likes best. She’ll take out her beading and nestle beside them on the couch. Occasionally, she’ll let them make a strand, but her focus is on their schooling. Judy is a proud mom, a role model who wants to see how far her daughters can go.