Not only in Kitui, but also in most societies in Kenya, there exists huge gender imbalance, with women being at a disadvantage end.
There are so many cultural factors that work to the disadvantage of women. This, together with general prevailing economic hardships make women be more vulnerable to vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy, political misuse, diseases, HIV/ AIDS, insecurity and domestic violence, among other undesirables.
Avenue for this empowerment is through Catholic Women Association (CWA). This is a country wide association of catholic women, whereby, all dioceses in the Kenya have Chapters, with elected officials.
CWA aims at bringing all women together for common goals, therefore enabling the Church to grow in faith and socio-economically.
In Kitui, the membership to this organization is spread all over the Diocese, with executive committee at the diocesan level, and a Diocesan Women Coordinator. Each Parish has its Office, which draws membership from the station level at the grass-root.
Through CWA, women empowerment in the diocese has two main aspects: Faith aspect and poverty alleviation aspect.
In Poverty alleviation; a credit and savings scheme was developed to help women have access to credit facility. Also several projects have been formulated as a means to increase the women’s economic power.
Currently; Honey project is at its initial stages. In this project, The Diocese, working together with friends of Kitui in Ireland has given out beehives to several members of CWA in different parishes, who have sited the hives, as a pilot project.
The intention is to initiate a honey business in each of the 23 parishes that will be managed, owned and operated for the sole purpose of empowering women financially. In this way the women will have economic power to direct their own lives and have resources to care for their families.
Also Working with the Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA), the diocese is on the process of setting up a Mango processing project in Kitui through CWA.
In this region each year, a lot of citrus fruits including mangos, Oranges and Lemons which are grown here just rot away, with only a few fruits finding a market in the Cities. In some cases, the farmers are forced to give the fruits to the middlemen at a throw away price rather than let them rot. This is because there are no means of storage, processing or marketing the same.
This Mango project is aimed at helping to process these fruits, and thus, give the local farmers a package that can make money.
The empowerment also includes training opportunities on various areas, including micro business management; credit and savings, leadership skills, small scale farming and livestock keeping. This has been conducted via seminars, meeting and workshops.
In faith formation, women’s role and participation in the Church in Kitui is as old as the church itself. One needs to be a catholic woman and a registered, as well as being active in the church, to be a member with the organization.
The diocese has organized retreats, prayer meetings and Mass celebrations, Rallies, Seminars, pilgrimage visits, among others, to build the faith of the women.
Also, the women’s participation in the church needs not to be emphasized. They have featured dominantly in Support during ordinations (priests/ sisters/ Brothers)/ church contributions; Leadership; in Small Christian Communities, Church Music; Support of clergy, the Religious, and all those in formation for the work of the church including the seminarians, catechists, novitiates et al.
Through this diocesan Women Empowerment programme; women have been able to access savings and credit facilities through “Itethye Utethwe” (“Help yourself to be helped by others”) a Diocesan Level credit and savings scheme. Also, women have been enlightened to start Merry-Go rounds, an organization of Pooling funds together, where women can borrow from, alternating, at the grass root level. This pooling is done on weekly basis in various parts of the Diocese.
Also, women have been able to start numerous income generating projects all over the diocese, depending on the needs of a particular area. These projects include; Goat keeping; Community health Projects; Micro businesses; environmental projects such as Tree Planting; soil conservation projects such as Communal terracing.
They have also benefited from capacity building especially in Business management; farming techniques; livestock/ bee keeping, among other areas.
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Faith –wise, Life of prayer of members improved due to the spiritual welfare programmes. This has even led to evangelization to more people, as many have seen action in faith, hence making the church in Kitui grow even faster!
And as the Church is growing, so is CWA!
HONEY PROJECT
