Kenana in Kenya
Kenana UK
Kenana Canada
The Kenana Story
The Kenana Story
At the foot of the rising ground, which forms the Western wall of Kenya’s magnificent Great Rift Valley lays the tranquil farming community of Njoro. There, a group of Kenyan women, growing larger every day in number; gathers wool from the Kenana Farm and now all neighboring farms as the need demands. They wash, dye with all natural plant dyes, and mothproof with natural Pyrethrum Flower (like a daisy) all of the wool and then spin it on old bicycle wheels! They then produce the most precious hand knit animals available.
Unemployment runs 60-80% and those who have work are respected and looked to for the support of their extended family. Agricultural work is easier for the men to come by than the women-folk. Kenana Knitters was formed with the social aim of giving much needed income to local families, allowing the women to work. The success is ten-fold of the hopeful anticipation, thanks to our customers like YOU!
Starting with just a dozen women, the group has now grown to over 300 knitters and 400 spinners; and is increasing on a daily basis! More wool is needed than Kenana Sheep can supply, so we now buy wool from sheep farmers all over the region! The beneficiaries grow daily. It is an exciting adventure and one has never seen a group of happier women in the world. The women gather daily to knit and the speed of their flying fingers is not affected by the constant buzz of conversation. They are good at what they do, and they LOVE their work. Each lady signs her name to the story card that accompanies the product as she completes a piece.
With your support of their products, we now have a health facility on the farm and all ladies have been tested for AIDS and had all of the necessary “lady” health exams. When school opens, each Mom can now fully pay the tuition for her children! We’ve built a new large kitchen facility for lunch, and also with drying racks for the wool to dry on, when the rainy seasons hit. My emails of thanks to the knitters had been passed around for them to read and slowly the ladies came forth, admitting they could not read. May 2005, we set up a Literacy Program, offering different levels of reading lessons needed by the women. Reports are: “Every lady learning to read, has become a taller person, with pride”. Many of them needed glasses to see the pages (we wonder how they were knitting so well)! So again, thanks to our customers, we were able to purchase eyeglasses for all of the ladies. How exciting to part of this!
This project has been the most rewarding and self-fulfilling project any person could ever be part of! The ladies are an active part of society now and their self-pride is so beautiful to witness.
THIS IS WHAT OUR WORK IS ALL ABOUT!! THANK YOU!
For more information about the Kenana Knitters check out: www.kenanaknitters.com
About Kenana USA
Our commitment is to the welfare of our knitters, to respecting and sustaining the environment and to promoting and practicing fair and open trade ethics and principles. By purchasing our handcrafted products you are helping to create income and ultimately a better life for our artisans and their families.
Our philosophy is that crafts people should be paid directly and fairly for their talent and products. In our working partnerships around the world, we work closely with crafts people in product development and quality control without hampering their natural creativity. Thank you to ECA Trade Hub for sponsoring the Kenana Knitters initial trip
to the United States to show their beautiful Critters at the Sources Show in New York, January 2004! For more information on this group, please visit: www.ecatradehub.com