Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers

From Claudia Ward - All Saints', Carmel:

In 2001 while in Kenya, a friend discovered Annah Warature and the Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers through a chance encounter. Being a spinner herself she sat and spun with the ladies and when she left she shipped home a bunch of their products which we then sold, returning the proceeds to Africa. My friend and I belong to Anne’s Web, a spinning guild here in Monterey County and since then the guild adopted the ladies in Kenya as a woman to woman project and we have individually and corporately sent them money for several years. We also continue to sell their products which they ship from time to time.

At some point I discovered that Margo Sisler, a fellow member of All Saints, Carmel, was involved with a knitting group in Nanyuki that obtain their yarns from the Spinners. Margo, until recently, has gone to East Africa annually for many, many years. After our serendipitous discovery, she hand carried the money and small gifts to the ladies every time she went. Also, my friend went back two or three more times.

We discovered that Becky Adams, the daughter of the Rev. Wayne Adams, retired pastor of Cypress Community Church in Corral de Tierra, founded and runs an orphanage in Nairobi. Wayne has visited the Nanyuki ladies several times when in Kenya to help his daughter. When All Saints and another church in New Jersey sent money to buy additional grazing land, Mr. Adams handcarried the money, helped Annah, the project director, make the purchase and open a bank account to which we could wire money in the future, making it much easier to help them.

Since the Rev. Adams retired, he has founded an organization called Hands of Hope International. Its main project has been Becky's orphanage but it has other projects as well and one of those is the Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers. The beauty of this arrangement is that any donation through Hands of Hope is tax deductible. They wire funds to Africa at no cost.

Now the story gets better. I am a co-supervisor of the Monterey County Wool Show. For the past several years we have had a display on this African project. At the 2008 fair a man came up to me and told me about his daughter, Megan, going to Kenya that fall on a Rotary scholarship. She is studying how to help women's organizations market themselves.

The big obstacle to financial success for this organization has been their limited access to international markets. Until recently they relied on the safari trade which was decimated after 2001. The political turmoil in Kenya in 2008 and now the world economic situation have continued to exacerbate their problems.

The most exciting news is that Megan is in touch with an organization out of Santa Cruz called Rising International which sells the products of artisans like our group from around the world. I connected Megan with the ladies in Nanyuki. She has been there, met Annah and placed an order which has now been shipped to Rising International. Pray that this organization has success in selling the rugs which have been the staple product of this organization. It is connections like this that will lead to financial success for this women’s cooperative.

If you are interested in being involved with the Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers project or would like to see some of their products, please email Claudia Ward: claudiajo@redshift.com.