Mary Gaikia

NAME:  Mary Gaikia

REGION:  Central Region

COURSE:  Skills in Adaptable Technology

I am Mary Watiri Gaikia from Nyahururu. I’m a retired civil servant for four years now after working with the Government of Kenya for twenty nine years. I have been a co-worker with myhusband in the Church ministry with the Anglican Church of Kenya which is a church membr of NCCK.

I must admit that the course I attended was an eye opener to me and I really value what was imparted on me in that workshop. It has brought joy and great change in my life and others. Below is a brief report on what I have been doing.

1. After the course in which we were able to acquire skills on soap/shampoo making, juice processing, yoghurt making, entrepreneurial skills and screen printing, I have attempted to do or make each of these items but I have majored in only two of these. Each trial was a success part from yoghurt which failed on the first trial. Of the two that I majored in, which are soap making and screen printing, I have gained tremedous experience and I enjoy doing and imparting this knowledge to other people.
2. This course is not only of benefit to me, but also to the people in our church. I have been able to organize different workshops to about one hundred women in our church on knowledge and skills needed in soap making and this has benefited most of them a lot. Some at individual level or as a group. Case in point:-

(a)   In Kinamba parish, a group of widows was trained by one Pauline Ngigi who is a member of the group that had attended my workshop and they are doing very well. After making soap they started a tree planting project at the Church where they meet, which has also continued to help them.

(b)   At an individual level another member of the same workshop specialized on soap making and the last time we met she wanted to start up a business of selling the chemicals and ingredients used in soap making to women whom she also trained in Baragoi Parish.

The communities around those who make the soap also benefit as they do not go to town to buy soap. In my case I can hardly remember the cost of Omo since 2008. My family will always remind me that there is no soap as they also enjoy using it. My daughters are also able to make the soap which has been of great benefit to them too.

1. I have individually benefit from the screen printing skill as welll as the department of Mother’s Union at my church. I do print the Mother’s Union headscarfs for them which we used to purchase from Nairobi. As I said, this has been an eye opener, and as a result of the huge amount of work required in screen printing, I do not do it personally, but I enjoy someone else do it for me. I am therefore creating employment opportunities. To date, I have printed four hundred and twenty scarfs, and I currently have another order of three hundred and thirty headscarfs. I must thank God for this opening that he has granted me.
2. Challenges are inevitable in most things that we do in life. There has been challenges here and there. I had initially progressed with the soap making and was able to supply it in many hotels in Nyahururu, but many people got the skill saturating the market which was not all that good. I also wanted to register with the Kenya Bureau of Standards so that I would be able to reach a larger market, but then the process was complicated and expensive. I therefore make the soap for family use only. However, with the little money that I got from the soap making, I was able to switch to Green House Farming which has kept me very busy.
3. In conclusion, I would recommend that many more women be empowered with the skills. If possible, the NCCK should help in marketing process of the products procuded by the trainees.

Long Live the NCCK and all the donors to the organization.