Pauline Kagendo’s story begins with her daughter, Sarnaver, who, in 2015, was a Form 4 student at Loise Secondary School. Sarnaver was the top student at her school and was chosen to stay with Canadian students at the Rift Valley Adventure Camp when they visited in 2015. A few weeks later, we happened to be walking through Marengo, a slum in Nanyuki, and came across Sarnaver who had been suspended from school because she couldn’t pay her fees. She told us tearfully that her top marks and dreams of being a doctor were threatened in her final semester of Grade 12.
Sarnaver took us to meet her mother, Pauline, who lost her husband to tribal disputes a few years earlier. She was barely making a living by making porridge every morning and taking it to the market to make a few shillings to feed her family.
We decided to use our emergency funds to pay Sarnaver’s final school fees and help her mother start a business. We started by changing the front of Pauline’s home into a simple storefront. A local painter created a large sign that said “PAULINE’S STORE.” We then took her to a neighbouring town to purchase enough maize, rice and beans to begin sales.
When we returned in 2016, Pauline had expanded the store and was now selling various groceries and supplies. Sarnaver is now in her first year of university and Pauline is able to fully support her with the profits from her store.
