Jeniffer Gatura is married and has four children. When she was ten, her father passed away, and due to lack of money, she was forced to drop out of school. She says it’s often difficult to balance between having enough food to eat and paying school fees for all her children. However, as long as she makes the baskets, she finds life much less stressful, especially since her husband is no longer treating her poorly. 
 
Jeniffer uses the money to buy clothes, shoes, and food. She has also been able to plaster her house and start a small shop in the market where she sells vegetables. In the future, she hopes to be able to construct a better house for her family and buy another plot of land to grow more crops. 
 
Merry-Go-Strong (501(c)(3)) and the Tharaka Women’s Welfare Program (TWWP) work with rural women in Tharaka Nithi Kenya. MGS provides the acrylic yarn to help the women get started and then buys the baskets when they are completed. TWWP manages the adult literacy groups and monitors the wellbeing of the women. 
 
Proceeds from the resale of the baskets go to initiatives like: illuminating homes, providing water collection systems, and building a maker space for workshops and skill-building opportunities.
 
This basket comes with a photo of Jeniffer holding the basket she made.
 
Size: Approximately 6"x 6"
Number of colors: 4
Material: Acrylic yarn
Maintenance: Machine wash in cold and air dry
Storage and shipping: this basket folds flat and is easy to ship and store