Kanyamfwa Village

FAST FACTS:

Village Location: HOMA BAY COUNTY

# of Villagers: 4,000

Village Started: OCTOBER 2022

# of Households Surveyed: 100

# of Villagers Who Started in the CHEC:  100

Graduation Date: MAY 30, 2023

# Graduated from Health Training: 73

# of Participants in Economic Training: 73

2026 Primary Economic Groups: 

Cereals (26 Members)

Tailoring/Sewing (12 Members)

Rice Farming (15 Members)

Water Purification (6 Members)

Kanyamfwa is GHC's fourth village in Homa Bay County, 17 kilometers north of Olare Village, where GHC first came to the region.

In October 2022, the team ran baseline surveys across 100 households, then launched the 24-week health curriculum the following week. All 100 surveyed households joined the CHEC. Every single one.

The baseline picture was rough. Most homes were built from mud and poles. The main water source was a contaminated river, used for drinking and bathing with no treatment. Open defecation was common. Handwashing was rare. Many children had ringworm.

The community showed up anyway — curious, motivated, and ready to work.

In May 2023, 73 members graduated from health training. Salome, GHC's project coordinator, ran surprise household visits and found real change: drying racks, tippy-tap handwashing stations, kitchen gardens. Members without land started sack gardens. Seventy-three people finished the curriculum and carried it home.

All 73 moved on to economic training, forming income-generating groups in cereals, tailoring and sewing, rice farming, and water purification.

The groups have been running for over two years. Some are doing well. Two are working through real challenges.

The water purification group depends on rainwater — which means when it doesn't rain, there's nothing to sell. The model works, but it needs a more reliable supply to sustain it.

One of the cereal groups is dealing with a harder problem. A member took a significant loan from the table bank and hasn't paid it back. The group is involving the area chief to resolve it, and the dispute has delayed their share out. This kind of thing happens in communities. The governance systems GHC puts in place — the table banks, the committees — exist precisely to handle it when it does.

And then there's the tailoring group.

In December 2025, Kanyamfwa's tailoring group held their 2nd share out since GHC arrived. Twelve members. Here's what they built together:

Total savings: KSh 141,080 Interest earned: KSh 80,010 Profit: KSh 43,000 — which they're putting back into a new sewing machine and more stock.

Three members used table banking loans to buy their own sewing machines. They didn't own them before. Now they do, and their monthly income has gone up.

They celebrated the share out with soft drinks and biscuits. Earned.

Jackline is 45, a widow, and the mother of 4 daughters. She's her household's sole breadwinner.

Her eldest daughter just graduated from university.

Jackline is a member of the tailoring group. She took a table banking loan, bought her own sewing machine, and her daily income went up. She credits GHC and Rotary for making it possible — and she's proud that she can educate her daughters and cover their needs.

"All is at least well," she told Salome, "and will be best as the days go by."

That's Kanyamfwa.