[et_pb_section admin_label=”Section” fullwidth=”on” specialty=”off”][et_pb_fullwidth_image admin_label=”Fullwidth Image” src=”http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Judy-feature-image-1.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [\/et_pb_fullwidth_image][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section admin_label=”Section” fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_post_title admin_label=”Post Title” title=”on” meta=”off” author=”on” date=”on” categories=”on” comments=”on” featured_image=”off” featured_placement=”below” parallax_effect=”on” parallax_method=”on” text_orientation=”center” text_color=”dark” text_background=”off” text_bg_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.9)” module_bg_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0)” title_all_caps=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [\/et_pb_post_title][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″]<\/p>\n
Judy Akengo is a 24-year-old single mother who lives in Kibera\u2019s Soweto West village, located on the settlement\u2019s most southwestern edge.<\/p>\n
Judy is one of the estimated 5,000 urban farmers in Kibera \u2014\u00a0a number steadily increasing according to a 2013 study of urban agriculture in Kibera by researchers at the University of Nairobi, Northern\u00a0Illinois University, Michigan State University and Johns Hopkins University.<\/p>\n
Getting to Judy\u2019s apartment and\u00a0garden plot isn\u2019t easy. After a five-minute trek off the main road, winding through the depths of Kibera\u2019s back alleyways and over rivers of raw sewage, her tiny room is tucked into a tight complex of adjoined shacks.<\/p>\n
I offer a Swahili hello, \u201cJambo, habari?\u201d<\/em> as I climb down the three stairs leading to her door.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Judy-and-Natasha-waiting-at-their-door.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”fade_in” sticky=”on” align=”center” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”center” text_font=”|on|||” text_font_size=”12″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n Judy and her daughter Natasha open their door to talk about urban farming and motherhood in Kibera.\u00a0[Photo \u00a9 Evelyn Harford] [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″]<\/p>\n Judy lives in a one room apartment with her two small children, 18-month-old Natasha, and nine-year-old Felix. Only a tattered lace curtain separates her sleeping area from the living space where her family of three cooks, eats and spends time together. As I squeezed into the 3-metre by 3-metre apartment it feels uncomfortably tight.<\/p>\n \u201cMzuri sana<\/em>,\u201d or \u201cvery good,\u201d she replies.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Judy-and-Natasha-in-their-apartment.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”fade_in” sticky=”on” align=”center” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”center” text_font=”|on|||” text_font_size=”12″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n Judy’s daughter sits on her lap eating mandazi.\u00a0[Photo \u00a9 Evelyn Harford] [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″]<\/p>\n Judy begins to say something to me in Swahili with more complexity, thinking I might be able to carry on more of a conversation than I actually can.<\/p>\n \u201cPole,\u201d <\/em>I say, apologizing as I point to a small, clean-cut man in his mid-20s.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is my translator,\u201d I say in English, \u201cAggrey Odhiambo.\u201d<\/p>\n They shake hands and exchange some formalities and some things I can\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n Clothes hang from a small line strung up between two corners in her living area. A pink lace bra balances on the middle of the line. Judy points at her lingerie and giggles under her embarrassed, shy breath. She outstretches her kind hands, offering me some mandazi<\/em>, cardamom-infused fried bread and a cup of spiced milk tea, known as<\/span> chai.<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tea.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”fade_in” sticky=”on” align=”center” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”center” text_font=”|on|||” text_font_size=”12″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n The tea and mandazi Judy prepared for me.\u00a0[Photo \u00a9 Evelyn Harford] [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″]<\/p>\n Her feminine beauty is breathtaking. A radiant glow seeps from her warm brown skin.<\/p>\n Judy\u2019s eyes beam as she looks down at her daughter sipping tea from a mug she holds in her hand. We chat for a little as I sip my sweet, sugary cup of chai. Then she takes me to her garden.<\/p>\n Judy makes her living by farming kale in five sack gardens located a short walk from her house. She uses her side business as a used-shoe vendor to tell the community about her gardening and gain new clients.<\/p>\n Her garden is tucked away in an even tighter alcove behind her neighbour\u2019s shack. Balance is key as we skip over wet rocks and duck under twisted rusted sheet metal to find the garden she\u2019s been telling me about. Judy traverses these obstacles with ease and I struggle to keep up. She skips from stone to stone until I see green leaves peeking out behind the chaos.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code walking to Judy’s sack garden”]<iframe width=”1280″ height=”720″ src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dSzPGispqW4?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen><\/iframe>[\/et_pb_code][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″]<\/p>\n The leafy kale grows from sacks nearly as tall as Judy\u2019s five-foot frame.<\/p>\n Since Judy\u2019s business is so small she only cuts the vegetables to order or else she would lose money. Customers looking for vegetables will approach her where she is selling shoes and Judy will fetch the kale from her home.<\/p>\n Her entrepreneurial spirit grew from necessity. Left as an unemployed teen mother with her first child at 15 she had no other choice.<\/p>\n Neither of her children\u2019s fathers is around; she\u2019s on her own.<\/p>\n Judy\u2019s story is a common one. She came to Nairobi from her rural village in western Kenya to find a better life.<\/p>\n \u201cAt home, at the village, life was very difficult,\u201d she says. \u201cMy father died, so it was my mother and her friend who found me a job housekeeping in Nairobi.\u201d<\/p>\n It was in 2002 when Judy came to Nairobi to look for work as a housekeeper. She was pregnant a couple of years later with her first child and her employer fired her. Homeless and pregnant and with little money, she was forced to live in one of Nairobi\u2019s informal settlements. So, as a teenager she came to Kibera.<\/p>\n As a single teen mother, she had no one to support her or her child. The cycle of poverty that Judy experienced as a child was repeating itself.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t go to school at a young age,\u201d says Judy. \u201cMy father passed when I was five-years -old. My mother didn\u2019t have the capacity to take me to school, or to pay for my school fees.\u201d<\/p>\n Things didn\u2019t come easy. Prior to farming, Judy used to work as an attendant at a local brothel. As an attendant, you let men into the rooms and help to clean up after clients and the women who service the men.<\/p>\n Small, seedy brothels are scattered around Kibera\u2019s many villages.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brothel-in-Kibera.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”fade_in” sticky=”on” align=”center” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”center” text_font=”|on|||” text_font_size=”12″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n A Kibera brothel stands empty in the early morning hours.\u00a0[Photo \u00a9 Evelyn Harford] [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″]<\/p>\n Men come to have sex with women for as little as 20 cents CAD. Sometimes, they don\u2019t even pay. The women, many of whom are hungry and addicted to drugs or alcohol, will have sex for a simple meal or a bottle of homemade liquor. Women who work as attendants at brothels often become prostitutes themselves. Judy wouldn\u2019t say whether she had followed that path before leaving the brothel for sack farming.<\/p>\n While she struggled to make money to support her child, Judy became pregnant again by a different man. When she gave birth to her daughter she decided she needed to find a way to feed her family and make money to send them to school without the help of her baby\u2019s father.<\/p>\n \u201cThe father of the kid disappeared and did not get it, so that\u2019s why I decided to start farming,\u201d she says, speaking through our translator.<\/p>\n Farming provides Judy with a job that makes her proud, unlike her work as an attendant at the brothels.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople should recognize that I depend on urban farming,\u201d says Judy. \u201cSo that they can stop discrimination, thinking that maybe I am using other means of survival, like sex work, to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n Many women, like Judy, face discrimination from the community if they\u2019ve worked in connection with the sex industry; indiscriminate sexual activity is still very taboo in Kenya.<\/p>\n Judy works hard to make ends meet but the hustle isn\u2019t a choice; it\u2019s a necessity. She wakes up at 6 a.m. every morning to head to a large market close to Nairobi\u2019s city centre. She buys used shoes from the market then re-sells them along Kibera\u2019s streets from 3 p.m. – 8 p.m. most nights. She tends to her kale between caring for her children and selling shoes.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_gallery admin_label=”Gallery” gallery_ids=”149,143,147,153,145,154,144,150″ fullwidth=”on” show_title_and_caption=”on” show_pagination=”on” background_layout=”light” auto=”on” hover_overlay_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.9)” caption_all_caps=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” auto_speed=”5000″] [\/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”center” text_font=”|on|||” text_font_size=”12″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n Photo Gallery: Judy waits patiently to make a sale on her shoes.\u00a0[Photo \u00a9 Evelyn Harford] [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″]<\/p>\n \u201cLife is not easy here,\u201d says Judy. \u201cEspecially, with a business. Sometime the finances are very little, and the landlord needs the rent. The doors are being closed because you have not paid on time; it\u2019s very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n But, her part in Kibera\u2019s green revolution has helped Judy\u2019s independence, self-confidence and finances.<\/p>\n \u201cThe entire process of urban farming has improved my life,\u201d says Judy. \u201cI depend on myself, not on a man to give me money for his daily use.\u201d<\/p>\n Judy used to rely on men for money or security. Many women find themselves in relationships with men who will only \u201chelp them out\u201d for the price of sex, usually without condoms. This is what happened to Judy.<\/p>\n Since she began farming four\u00a0years ago, Judy has made nearly $150 CAD from farming alone. While this may not seem like a lot, for Judy this money has been transformative. \u00a0The extra wages have helped to supplement her wages from shoe selling.<\/p>\n The daily wage in Kibera varies widely but the average income is $1.00 CAD. Judy wasn\u2019t able to share with me how much she makes per year due to a lack of record keeping but it\u2019s clear she is feeling less financial strain.<\/p>\n \u201cI can feed my two kids, I can pay for the rent,\u201d she says. \u201cI am also able to pay for the school fees for my two kids.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Judy-and-her-young-child-Natasha.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”fade_in” sticky=”on” align=”center” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”center” text_font=”|on|||” text_font_size=”12″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n Judy and her daughter visit Savo Foundation to talk about her experience as a teen mother.\u00a0[Photo \u00a9 Evelyn Harford] [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″]<\/p>\n Judy also is able to provide for her children with the little extra money she earns from her five sack gardens.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other times, when I was not farming, I would go to find a job and I would come back home because I could not get a job. My kids would not go to school because of lack of money,\u201d she says. \u201cSince I have been taught how to farm, I have been able to get small money every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Judy was taught by a neighbour and started with the initial investment of about $30 CAD to get the soil, water and sacks.<\/p>\n \u201cNow that my business has expanded, I sell a lot of vegetables,\u201d says Judy. \u201cThe capacity is not good now, but if I can expand further, through urban farming, my kids will be able to get the education they deserve in the future\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n Space for sack gardening is still a major limitation for growth within Kibera. Many women, like Judy, dream that they could return to rural Kenya to plant larger plots and gain more profits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Judy-and-her-sack-gardens.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”fade_in” sticky=”on” align=”center” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”center” text_font=”|on|||” text_font_size=”12″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n Judy says sack gardening has\u00a0changed her life. She dreams of a bigger plot.\u00a0[Photo \u00a9 Evelyn Harford] [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″]<\/p>\n Unless the government carves out land for women like Judy to farm, or in the unlikely event that she saves enough money to purchase a rural plot, Judy will continue to be constrained by space and the small number of sacks she was able to construct. Her activities will help contribute to her family\u2019s food security and her empowerment as a single woman.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”center” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section admin_label=”Section” fullwidth=”on” specialty=”off”][et_pb_fullwidth_portfolio admin_label=”Fullwidth Portfolio” fullwidth=”on” show_title=”on” show_date=”off” background_layout=”light” auto=”off” hover_overlay_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.9)” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [\/et_pb_fullwidth_portfolio][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Judy Akengo is a 24-year-old single mother who lives in Kibera\u2019s Soweto West village, located on the settlement\u2019s most southwestern edge. Judy is one of the estimated 5,000 urban farmers in Kibera \u2014\u00a0a number steadily increasing according to a 2013 study of urban agriculture in Kibera by researchers at the University of Nairobi, Northern\u00a0Illinois University, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[10],"project_tag":[],"class_list":["post-128","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-the-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":667,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/128\/revisions\/667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/taking-root\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tag?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Click on an image below to discover the next story.<\/h2>\n