Yala, Kenya – The world’s leaders want to reduce extreme poverty to three percent by 2030. Mary Anyango would like to see progress now.
Getting to the overall target means halving the number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide by 2020 to nine percent, World Bank President Jim Kim said earlier this month.
“Our strategy calls for more investment in fragile states, and it also calls for working on a variety of fronts to combat climate change; and to improve health and education systems, especially for the benefit of girls and women,” said Kim at the Bank’s annual meeting.
But it is one thing to talk about lifting people above the $1.25 line; it is, of course, another thing to do it.
The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is an initiative aimed at showing how and it started in Sauri, Kenya in 2005. By providing a series of opportunities and interventions, the MVP was designed to meet some of the Millennium Development Goals and create an environment that would tackle problems like extreme poverty.
It has managed to help some improve their lives, but Mary Anyango still struggles. She has benefited from the assistance of the MVP, but her income continues to slide following the death of her husband in 2000. Getting her out of extreme poverty is proving to be difficult.
She build her current home by hand ten years ago. The mud structure shows some cracks around the edges, but features a metal roof. She and the four children that stay with her (two are hers and two are grandchildren) sleep under bednets provided by the MVP to protect against malaria.
The farm is the most significant drive of income for Anyango. She says she used to use local seeds and no fertilizer for her crops. At that time she could only count on one bag of maize per season. Now, thanks to improved seed and fertilizer, she has more than four bags sitting in her bedroom.
“I have benefited a bit from the program,” she said.
Beans are now grow on her two small plots to return nitrogen to the soil. When planting maize, Anyango follows the improved farming methods recommended by the MVP staff by planting two seeds every seventy-five centimeters.
Farmers used to be provided inputs for free by the MVP, but it weaned people in the cluster off slowly and transition them to microfinance loans. The poorest are provided the seed and fertilizer in exchange for one bag at harvest.
Two thousand woman in the MVP cluster, including Anyango, are considered indigent. They are the the most vulnerable and a majority are women who are widowed or abandoned by their husbands. Besides the MVP, Anyango received from the local Community Development Fund and FHI360.
School fees for her children cost 53,000 KSH per year. A sum that Anyango cannot afford. NGO support reduces her annual fees to just 5,000 KSH each year. Without support from FHI360, her children would not be in school.
Some small sewing helps to bring in additional money, but most of it comes during the Christmas season. She uses a sewing machine provided by the MVP to also make school uniforms and other clothing.
The white skirt and blouse that she put on for our arrival was made by Anyango. She enjoys the sewing and wishes she could do more. However the resources to expand are not available.
“If I had a shop I could increase my machines and begin trainings,” she said.
Further support from the MVP is evident on the property. Aside from the farm, bednets and the sewing machine, there is a water pump. The program has helped Anyango and possibly kept her from the brink, but getting her out of poverty remains incredibly hard.
Earlier rains make it harder for Anyango’s crops to grow. A child who fell ill from a school deworming tablet adds another concern. However she remains hopeful.
One of her children, she says, dreams to be a lawyer and another a journalist. She never imagined her children would have such lofty goals. Describing it brings a visible sense of pride to her face.
“I leave it to God,” she says.
