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Stories here are collected of how individuals have individually or collectively lifted themselves up as part of the HopeRootz investigations led by Horace Otieno.

STORY STRUCTURE

Scope of the investigation

Hope Roots CBO in collaboration with with Econet team are investigating how to collectively improve the livelihood of the Kenyan population living along the Great Lake Region shore. From our best understanding , the people living around the lake region in Kenya especially Lake Victoria-the largest fresh inland water lake in the world are mainly luos whose main economic activities are fishing, livestock keeping, agriculture and trade.

Administratively, the area is situated in western region of Kenya, formerly Nyanza province. It has four counties with one major city called Kisumu. Kisumu itself has an inland port,an international airport and several stadia. Our investigations are specifically carried out in Siaya county with 4 small towns-Bondo,Ndori, Ugunja, Siaya and other several busy open air markets.

There are 20 beaches within Siaya county where our people do fishing ,farming via irrigation and trading. The population of people living within these areas are consist of men,women and children. The illiteracy level is below the par and most people value only education of boy childnat the expense of the other gender. Fishing is considered both part time and full time activity to both women and women of the age 15 years to 60 years.

Fish species here are tilapia, Nile perch, lung fish, sardines and mud fish. We have also found out that these fishermen and traders are organised themselves into different active groups where they participate in active table banking. They also boost their businesses and pay school fees from profits realised from these activities and even money borrowed from their savings. Agriculture in particular, they plant vegetables and crops such as maize, sorghum, millet, cassava, potatoes, pawpaws, oranges, mangoes, kales, night black shades, onions, tomatoes, cowpeas among others. Hope Roots too, the journey along the lake to learn more about fishing and fishermen and we met Kevin Rapemo who shared his stories...

The Fisher's Story

"I am Kevin Rapemo 28 years old and a resident of Mabinju village. Fishing at Kowang'e Beach. This is my full time job. I started doing it n the way back 2006 as a means of survival. By then I was 10 years old. I found myself here after loosing both my mum and dad after along illness and have been surviving through this activities. I have a boat and nets for fishing. I have build my house and set up a big homestead where I stay together with my family. I also have three active table banking groups where I save and even get loans for emergencies. I would encourage Hope Roots cbo to work towards improving the livelihood of farmers and fishermen. Thank you" Attach:Attach:file.ext Δ

HopeRootz then met different traders from markets within to collect stories and below stories were recorded:

Juliet the Greengrocer

1.This lady here is called Juliet. She is a fruit vendor . By the time I approached her she was selling yams and when I gave her US$50 to boost her stock, she went to buy water melons, bananas, pineapples and oranges. She repaid the money back after 5 weeks. Thereby paying US$13 on a weekly basis. She realised a very big margin of profit and also managed to clear the loan.

Mama Alice the Farmer

This is Mama Alice. A mother of three. She is a farmer of fresh green vegetables-cowpeas and kales. She depends on this activity as her main source of income. here is her story line "mimi ni Mama Alice kutoka Bujumba village. Nimekuwa nikifanya hii kazi kwa miaka kumi. Nimesomesha watoto wangu watatu . Ningewaomba tuu kama mnaeza kutuletea pesa ya mkopo ilitufungwe nao biashara kubwa. Ahsanteni"

Mama Eunice & Her Group of Experimental Agriculture

Today Lawrence Amuoro joined the team as a lead coordinator and trainer. He trained one group on land preparation and planting. They prepared the demo plots and planted cow peas veges as a traditional vegetable after which seeds were distributed to these widows to take home for planting here are the remarks of Mama Eunice in the Luo language "oimore uru. Daher mar kawo thuokoni mar goyone migaw kuom kelonwa puonj machiegni kaka ipuro kendo ipidho kothee. newan kaka group wamed uru jiwore mar nwango gikmoko ailagi. Puonj ni ber nikeech omiyo rieko mar medo keyo. Koro med mana manyonwa kaka wanyalo yudo kothegii mondo wariemb keech chuuth.erokamano" <<<<<<<

Machine translation into English: oimore yesterday. Daher took this opportunity to volunteer by bringing us closer to learning how to plant and grow seedlings. we as a group are stronger than ever. This teaching is good because it gives knowledge to increase the harvest. Now just keep looking for how we can get these to fight hunger completely.thank you

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Ruma Tabletop Banking Group

Ruma Group which is one of the table banking group celebrating after sharing out their end year savings

Aspiring Musician

Maurice Otieno is a hustler from Bumala market. I happened to listen to his stories on how he makes the end meet to his family and this is his storyline. "mimi ni maurice otieno kutoka Bumala. Nimekuwa nikifanya boda hapa kwa town . Kando na hayo mimi pia ni mwana muziki. Nimeandika nyimbo karibu tano aina za ohangla. Naomba mola saana anipatie nguvu ya kununua ala za muziki ili niweze kutoa nyimbo zangu. Nawaomba hata kama mnaeza kunisupport ili nilipie recording. Ahsanteni saana"

Benard Opiyo the carpenter

Hello team. Am Benard Opiyo a carpenter at Sigomre center. I have been doing this job for the past 3 years. Carpentry is a well paying job though it needs a lot of perseverance and hardwork. It self employing and youths can take advantage of this to create job opportunities for themselves. Right now I am so happy with what you people are doing and would only encourage to touch more lives by Empowering me to build and equip a workshop where I can train many youths about wood work and carpentry . This will create more job opportunities and even bring a lot of money through trainings. Thank you.

Victor Odemba Fish monger

I am Victor Odemba. I sell fish and sardines. I take fresh fish and omena from the lake, prepare them through traditional methods of food preservation then take to the market. It is a tedious process since fish is a perishable good. I sometimes sun dry them, smoked or even frying to keep them for at a good state before taking them to the market. It is my full time job though associated with a lot of challenges. As a trader I would ask for soft credit to boost my business and supply more to the consumers. Hello!

Victor.jpg

Martine Ojiambo fruit vendor

I am martine ojiambo a fruit vendor at Funyula market. I fully depend on this job to feed and take my kids to school. I would love asking hope Roots cbo to support our saccos so that we can get access to soft loans to boost our business. Thank you

Jane Awuor the cereal vendor Am Jane Awuor from Bumala market. I retail and sell cereals to get an income to pay rent and school fees to my three kids being that am a single mother. I actually got interested to take cash loans with hope roots to expand this business.

Rajab Muga - needy student pursuing nursing

On our daily tour , we did come across a needy student looking for sponsorship to pay colledge fees to study . This boy is called Rajab Muga. His parents are not working and therefore find it very hard to cater for his education needs. He was asking hope roots cbo to help in organising and mobilising for funds to make him meet his intended academic goals

Sad state to the fishing familly along the lake region

The dreaded crocodiles have claimed yet another life in Rarieda. Second victim in a month. This time the very humble and hardworking young man from my village.

We have KWS officers in Rarieda and it seems they’re as lost for words as the residents. Their main work is recovering bodies and supervising subdivision of crocodile body parts for primitive rituals. I can vividly recall how we did an interview with this teenager last week when he actually asked us to provide them with the necessary support to avoid being invaded by these animals and true to his words ,he is no more. Very sad in deed