Ingrid: Jamii Bora benevolutionary
“Ingrid can walk through any slum in Nairobi without fear for her security. She is known and loved by the street people who she has always been good to. She is considered a white-skinned African.”
Micro-credit, alongside being seen, heard, understood, believed in, and loved: Ingrid Munro and the famed fifty recasting lives.
Ingrid Munro
When Ingrid accepted a two year African invitation for the Africa Housing Fund staying in the position for 11 years, setting up the foundation which became Jamii Bora and the herculean feats which followed must have been very hard to see.
Ingrid’s affinity for the poor lead to the establishment of the Jamii Bora Trust. It created a deep and responsive collaboration intially with a famous “first fifty”. It has now created help and hope for hundreds of thousands of individuals. For some this has been life-changing.
Read more of Ingrid’s story here >>>
Janet Bett
Janet is one of the original “famed fifty”. She trained as a teacher and fell upon hard times. She was on the streets for many years. As part of the initial group she agreed to go through a process of rehabilitation and training during – learning or relearning basic skills that had been lost during their years of extreme poverty.
Janet is a powerful voice for women’s leadership and micro-finance seeing through to many’s potential the closeness people can have, despite dire circumstances, to start the climb out of impoverishment.
Read more of Janet’s story here >>>
Esther Wanjiku Kanotha
Esther lost everything in the post-election violence. As one of the “famous fifty” she played an important role during that crisis and in the rebuilding and reconciliation process that followed. She is a living example of this – forgiving the people who destroyed her home and her livelihood.
Joyce Wairimu
Photo: Malcolm King-Fontana
Claris Adhiambo
“We always move forward, never back” is a Swhali song. It could be a tag line for Claris. Another of the first fifty her journey – assisted by care, love and microfinancing – she says saved her children from death or lives of crime.
Read more on the hand up but not the hand out and Claris’ story here>>>
Joyce Wairimu
Jocyce lost everything when she was driven from her home. A series of micro loans and her business, insight, care and dedication over time created the wildly popular African Brothers Restaurant. At the time of writing it employs upwards of forty people! Read more here>>>
People who rock (and roll!)
These are just a selection of the reshaping, remodelling and paradigm shifting personal waves that flow from Jamii Bora. Please explore more!
- Margaret Kanuya >
- Andrew Otieno >
- Gabriel Kadidi >
- Tom Thiong’o >
- John Oyoo >
- Jacob Muli and Hilary Moseti >
Andrew ‘St. Andrew’ Otieno
Photo: Malcolm King-Fontana
Ingrid’s reflections
Ingrid often expresses her gratitude that Jamii Bora was created in her later years rather than when she was a young woman. If it had, she asserts, she would have made the mistake that so many organizations with a mission to help end up making.
Organisations tend to rush. Experts from the outside do not have the intimate understanding, context, or commitment that lay people on the inside have. Often they address a large and complex issue for a period of time and then pack up and go.
The Power in the Programs post (here) explores more of this context.
Note: since the visit described above (2012) Jamii Bora has evolved. Linh Vo’s 2019 Rotarty Peace Centre article describes aid challenges and a little of Ingrid’s perspectives on these.
Background: Benevolutionary beginnings
The post you are reading summarises some earlier benevolutionary explorations. This is as, starting out with (be) Benevolution, I know there are an amazing surfeit of stories – inspirational, reforming and showing people revolutionizing lives and our worlds.
In fact, there are so many it’s very challenging to pick a starting point.
I can’t help be immersed in that wondering (yes, it’s not without some frustration). However, I am and have been surrounded and submerged in some of these stories. I have been spending time with many people who’ve been creating such shifts. Fortuitously, I have been writing about this over the years.
There’s many benefits – not the least a very rich life :-). A particulary tangible piece is being able to reflect back. That leads to summarising and integrating. It is genereating a series of posts the first of which is from Kenya – this one featuring Ingrid!
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