Esther Muhemi

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Esther learned the art of basket weaving at school and has been in the business for 25 years now. Today she is coordinating the “Sweet Mamas” weaving group. Esther is very proud of the fact that weaving made her pay for her kids school fees, when she was left by her husband. The income from weaving allowed her to send one of her children to University. Her dream for the future is that all her children can finish school and she will be old, still weaving and enjoying life.  

Josephine Mulalya

 Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Josephine learned weaving from her mother when she was still very young. The difference between her and the other weavers from the “Sweet Mamas” is that she learned weaving before she knew it was a business. Nevertheless, today she enjoys the benefits that she gets out of basket-weaving and therefore also teaches other women to weave and make different patterns and design. The unique patterns Josephine creates reflect that Kiondo-weaving is her big passion.

Ellen Esther Velle

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Basket-weaving has always been part of Ellen’s life and provides her with an additional income to help bring up her children. She is grateful to be part of the women’s weaving and saving group, as coming together and working together makes it easier and unleashes energy to do more. Especially in moments when she feels alone, the group gives her good hope and spirit. Ellen is very proud about the fact that basket-weaving has allowed her to educate her kids, to see her kids getting to the next level. Seeing the fruit of what she did is what makes make her very proud. Her dream is that the value of the baskets will increase, so she can find a job that will give her even more stability and income. 

Siopatra Musyioka

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Siopatra has been weaving since a young age, it’s a craft she knows very well. She is grateful for the economic and artistic opportunities weaving has given her. Siopatra didn’t go to school, therefore she is very proud to be able to send her children to school and see them grow. Siopatra sees the biggest challenge in finding good markets for the baskets because it’s difficult to find buyers who are willing to pay a fair price.

Angelina Gove

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Angelina is 72 years and has been weaving for the last 15 years. She started weaving for fun, but then saw that she can earn an income with it to pay for food and her kids school fees. What she likes most about weaving is seeing someone buying her basket. With the age, there are a lot of challenges for her like for example to cut the sisal fibers and prepare the thread, since this requires a lot of strength. She is very proud to be part of this weaving group. It keeps up the spirit. Angelina says: “If we are together, we can move fast.” Her dream for the future is to stay healthy and enjoy life.

Naomi Paul

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Naomi is grateful to be able to weave because it helps her and her husband to share responsibilities in the house. When her husband is still waiting for his salary, Naomi can contribute with the proceeds from basket-weaving. She enjoys the activity of weaving, however preparing the sisal fibres and threads is something she would rather want to avoid as it requires a lot of strength.

Juliana Mutongoi Kaithga

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Juliana was taught how to weave by her grandmother, 35 years ago in 1987. Back then, she was weaving together with her mother to support her because her Dad left them when she was young. She remembers the moment when she could buy a pair of shoes from the money she got from weaving. Juliana says that weaving keeps her busy and relaxed, it’s like therapy. Juliana is proud of her weaving skills. She lost her husband some time ago and weaving is sustaining her and her children. Her dream for the future is to use the proceeds from weaving to invest in other things like cows and goats.

Esther Kitili

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Esther got married in the village and was then taught how to weave by the “Sweet Mamas”. She was very happy when she finally produced her first basket, which got sold at the market. Esther is still improving her skills every day, especially when it comes to different patterns and styles. Weaving has helped her get part of this great group of women and pay the school fees for her kids.

Makaa Frances

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Makaa started weaving with the goal to support her family. The biggest challenge is to get the materials and to pull and prepare the sisal. If she doesn’t do anything at all, it takes her a minimum of 4 days to weave a big basket. She feels proud when finishing a basket and getting money in return because she knows she does this for her family. “It’s all about the family” she says. Her dream of the future is to have access to endless materials – ready-made threads that she can use for her weaving.

Lilian Kanini Peter

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Lilian learned weaving at school. Some years ago basket-weaving was a mandatory class for girls at school. And she is grateful for this because weaving has allowed her to get an additional income to pay school fees for her children. Being part of a weaving group means a lot to her, because she enjoys coming together with other women to talk and weave together.

Angelina Mwende

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Angelina made her first experience with basket-weaving 19 years ago, at a time when she mainly dedicated her time to producing sisal threads. She prepared the threads for other weavers. Only later, she learned how to weave herself. Her dream for the future is to get enough money from the baskets to buy a cow that produces milk and then a donkey to help get water and plow the land.

Jane Muthusa

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Jane learned the art of basket-weaving when she got married in the village around 2000 (she says she is a “millennial” weaver ). She really enjoys weaving and coming together with other women. The biggest challenge she sees is the preparation of the sisal threads. Sometimes when they run out of materials it can delay the production quite a bit. Also, she hopes that the prices for the ‘Kiondos’ will increase in the future, since it takes so much work and time to produce a single basket.

Agnes Kalekye Kavuvi

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Agnes started basket-weaving many years ago and through the proceeds has been able to bring up her children and cater for necessities in the household, including education and health care. Her dream for the future is to raise the overall living standards in the village and live a better life.

Maria Kolonzo

 Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Maria started weaving a long time ago, when she got married here in the village and joined the “Sweet Mamas” weaving group. Weaving has helped her to finance school fees and food. Maria thinks the main challenge is that weaving is very time-consuming and doing this besides the day-to-day duties of a mother and wife is not easy and needs quite some organizational skills.

Christine Ndaka

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Back in 1994, Christine was going through a hard time and decided to start weaving to have an occupation and get an income for herself. Christine says: “I am proud of my baskets, very proud! Basket-weaving has allowed me to rise up and contribute to my family – I have done it, I am doing it, and I will do it.” Her dream for the future is to invest the money she gets from basket-weaving and one day be able to buy land.

Mary Ngeana

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Mary learned the art of basket-weaving from her mother and grandmother. She saw that other ‘mamas’ are part of a weaving and saving group and she wanted to be part as well. Through weaving and the group she started earning her own money, not depending on her hushand anymore. In times when her husband has no job to do, she can help her family by contributing with some money from weaving. Her goal is to educate her children, make them get good education, so that someday they come back and say “Mummy, you worked hard, now you can rest, we take care of you.”

Judith Makasi

Weaving group: “Sweet Mamas”
📍Kenya, Kitui County, Moranga Village

Judith has been weaving baskets since 2003. Judith highlights the fact that basket-weaving is very time-consuming - from making the threads, dying them, to weaving them into a basket. She says it usually takes an entire day to produce a medium-sized basket, but the women can’t weave a whole day because they have other things to do. So, it takes 2-3 days to finish a basket. Nevertheless, she enjoys the activity of basket-weaving besides her other work in agriculture.

Felistaus Syoringya Kwosa