13 Apr 2016

The rains arrive in Kenya

Being situated on the Equator, Kenya doesn't get a huge variation in seasons like we do in the UK. But the seasons do vary, from rainy season to dry season with long rains occurring around March/April to May/June and short rains arriving in October to November/December time.

The seasons have an impact of everyone since agriculture is the second largest contributor to Kenya's GDP, but for the women of Kenana Knitters it is because they, like most Kenyan families rely on subsistence farming.

All the ladies involved in Kenana Knitters lead extremely full and busy lives, they are responsible for the family homestead and this includes care of the inhabitants both children and animals. The advent of the rains means that planting can begin and thanks to the support of all of you around the world, the sale of the Kenana Critters means ladies such as Nancy Nyambura, have money to buy seed, fertiliser and rent land to plant crops. Knitting the Critters takes back seat over the next 2-3 weeks as the ladies take advantage of this short planting window.



And again in 3 months’ time the knitting will take a back seat, as the harvest begins. The food produced by the harvest will be used to feed the family and livestock and any extra is sold to gain some welcome additional funds for the family coffers.




Kenana Knitters is set up to work around these periods in the ladies lives, we accept that they are the backbone of their family and that for the project to work it needs to be sensitive to the demands on the women from their families and ensure they can maintain both aspects successfully. This is the core ethos behind Kenana and Nancy Nyambura is just one of over 300 ladies who is benefiting from the Kenana dream of changing their lives stitch by stitch. Thank-you for your support.

View the range of lovely toys now at Wildly Woolly Ltd 

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