It’s past noon. The sky is clear, and the sun remains high and sharp, despite it being mid-June. The heat presses down steadily, and after a full morning visiting different locations across Elang’ata Wuas with my colleagues, we arrive at our final stop for the day.
We park the car and step out onto a flat stretch of compact, dry earth. The ground is hard beneath our feet, the air quiet except for the occasional rustle of wind through the trees. A small manyatta stands on one side of the compound. From its entrance, a woman steps out and walks toward us with a warm smile. She greets us and invites us to sit under the shade of a large tree at the centre of the homestead.
Her name is Hannah Shinai, and we’ve come here to listen to her story.
Hannah is 30 years old and a mother of five, four daughters and a son. The youngest, her son, runs around playing with a few puppies, soon joined by one of his older sisters.
She got married when she was 17, and like many other women in her community, she never had the opportunity to attend school. Despite traditional norms and economic hardship, she is determined to change this narrative for herself and her children. She explains:
“I want my children to go to school so that they can support themselves and live a better life than I did.”
Hannah tells us about the drought that swept through the area and how she lost all her cows, her family’s main source of food and income.
It was during this period that she connected with the Ildookilani Women Network (IWN), a community-based organization dedicated to supporting women across Elang’ata Wuas. The organization focuses on raising awareness about women’s rights and empowering women economically through several activities. Through the network, she found the support she needed, and after her situation was assessed, she received a pregnant Galla goat. After giving birth, its milk, rich in nutrients, became a vital lifeline. Regarding this, Hannah says:
“The goat’s milk helped me feed my babies when we had nothing. It kept them healthy while we were struggling.”
That one goat also marked the beginning of a new path. Today, Hannah has four goats and is slowly building up her herd. Her goal is to create a stable income, enough to sustain her family and ensure that all her children can access education.
At the same time, Hannah continues to strengthen her household’s economic stability. She supplements her income by selling food at the local livestock market each week and is an active member of the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA), where she saves and borrows money to support both her business and her family’s needs. She explains:
“Selling food at the market and saving with my women’s group has helped me stand on my own. I can now support my family and plan for the future.”
As we listen, it becomes clear that her story goes beyond rebuilding her livelihood. Hannah is a survivor of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a practice that, despite being illegal in Kenya since 2011, continues to affect girls in many rural communities.
Through the awareness and advocacy work done by Ildookilani Women Network (IWN), she began challenging this deep-rooted social norm that has shaped the lives of women in her community for generations. After participating in awareness sessions, she and her husband made the decision not to let their daughters undergo this practice. She says:
“Even though I went through FGM, my husband and I have agreed that our daughters will never face the same. We now know it’s harmful and against the law.”
As we prepare to leave, Hannah walks us to the shed and shows us her goats. Standing there, one cannot help but reflect on what people can achieve when the right community support and empowerment are in place. Rather than offering temporary relief, such as food aid that would have lasted only a few weeks or cash handouts that would have been quickly spent, IWN provided Hannah with the means to build a sustainable future. The single goat was not just a form of assistance; it was an investment in her capacity to become self-reliant. With the right opportunities, women like Hannah are not only surviving climate and economic crises, but they are also rewriting their stories and those of their daughters. Hannah’s story is just one of many that the Ildookilani Women Network, supported by ActionAid Kenya, continues to nurture across Elang’ata Wuas
Author: Elena Milani, EU Solidarity Corps Volunteer – Rebuild Project/ActionAid Kenya