The very nice thing about my position as a Client Relationship Manager is, that I get the chance to talk to many different people from many different backgrounds. Each person I interviewed so far had a different story to tell.
Particularly the story of Mr. and Mrs. Fondo fascinated me a lot.
True beauty comes from the inside. Mr. and Mrs. Fondo are beautiful!!!
Mr. and Mrs. Fondo with their son, doughter and grandchild
The retired couple lives in a very small, but incredibly beautiful village called Tezo close to Kilifi town. When I arrived at their very beautiful home, both of them hugged and gave me a very warm welcome. Already outside in their yard I could smell the sweet frangance of their super delicious freshly baked scones.
The Bakery
Before their retirement, Mrs. Nyamawi was a headteacher of a school and Mr. Fondo thought for 6 years as well and thereafter he was active in social services.
Today Mr. and Mrs. Fondo don’t just sit back and do nothing, on the contrary they are volunteers as Community Health Workers, a program in Kenya that brings health education and outreach to the local villages. In this position, the two of them care for 20 families, which they teach how to live a healthy life. Also they give treatments to children to protect them from diseases like Polio or Tetanus.
Their experience with Zidisha
But of course, also any volunteer needs to make a living. Mr. and Mrs. Fondo therefore run a bakery. In order to acquire more information about how to increase its profitability, they attended a business class, that was hold by a local NGO. The class aimed to provide some knowledge about finance, planning and marketing of a business. In the courses Mr. and Mrs. Fondo got to know Jennifer Grimm, who has been a Volunteer for Zidisha as well by that time. The family realized that a Zidisha loan would allow them to purchase a commercial size oven, made by a local craftsman, which will allow up to 100 loaves of bread at a time, reducing costs and increasing profitability.
The oven
Therefore they took a loan from Zidisha in September 2012 and after they managed to pay it back, they took one more in November 2013. This time they used the loan to bring electricity to their bakery and to get a cart. With the cart, their son can sell scones and also juices at the local market. Also they used the money to fix a problem with the air quality in their baking room.
The Zidisha loans helped the couple a lot to pay for their retirement and to manage to carry out their volunteer work. Ms. Fondo told me that she is very grateful for that. Without the money they would not have had the capital to buy the necessary ingredients to bake their products and she also manages to pay for her grandsons secondary school. Still it is not easy for the couple to pay back the amount of money and they are really trying hard.
“The loan was very large. After I managed to pay back the money, I may stop. Zidisha helped me so far. Now I have a stable income.”
Mr. and Mrs. Fondo are also supported by their children. Their son Samuel started growing fruits and vegetables beginning of this year, like greens, bananas, baobabs and many more.
Proudly they showed me the huge plantation. And there is a good reason to be proud. Not just the size of the plantation, the variety of products planted, but also the instalments to increase the plantings efficiency is admirable.
The plantation
Together with the help of some friends, Samuel Fondo built a huge well, where a generator transfers water in a tank. They approximately worked one month to install it.
Overall the love and cohesion of that family and their contribution to the community is incredible.
I wish you all the best!
bahati nzuri kwa ajili ya baadaye