Mama Africa

I’ve found that since I have been here, it becomes so easy to get dialled into creating processes that you can lose sight of why you’re even in Kenya

While here, I have connected closely with Pamella, our house keeper. We call her Mama Africa, and she calls me her Daughter (watch out Mum, I might not be coming home!). She’s extremely sweet, and taught herself English over the past few years of working in the GIVE household. She told us that people assume she has a university education when she speaks with us since she is fluent (she only has up to a grade 8 education)

She’s been a member of the Bank since the beginning, aka 2007. She claims that the past five years have changed the way she lives her life. Before she began saving, she wouldn’t even have a spare 50 shillings, and her household had no security of any kind. The Bank gave her the venue to do so, though it wasn’t until 2010 that she really got into it. She was a recipient of GIVEs second round of microcredit lending, which she used her loan to grow her little grocery shop in Kanyawegi. Her business grew, and most of all, she was given confidence and strength. Pamella now is a consistent Super Saver, coming to the Bank sometimes more than twice a day! She saves whatever she can, even if it is only 20 shillings (about 30 cents). She can afford to put her children through school, and even had the ability to send her eldest to Boarding School, which is much more expensive than public school here.

It sounds like such a clichéd story you get from a brochure or on those late night infomercials. But it was surreal to hear it coming from Mama herself, and to hear the passion in her voice as she talked about how much the Bank means to her. She’s currently nominated for a Board of Director position at the Bank, and she is the perfect candidate. I almost want to fix the elections to guarantee her a spot, because she does nothing but good for the Bank.