Huduma Kitchens hand Kibera slum women a lifeline

Pellaa Nyangatare (left) and Ashah Adam make ugali to feed National Youth Service and Kibera cleaning cohorts at Makina in Kibera on 31/February/2015. The government has initiated Huduma Kitchen to empower women and youths in working on government projects. A plate of meal is charged shs 50.PHOTO.FIDELIS KABUNYI/STANDARD]

A group of women in Kibera are cheerful. In the last few months, they have seen their life turn around and everything generally looking up.

This is because something unexpected happened. There was a government decision to clean up the slum and all of a sudden National Youth Service was all over the place. That was November last year.

With the enthusiastic youths in their midst, the women grasped the glaring opportunity before them. The NYS came up with Huduma Kitchens to feed the youth and hired 50 women to be in charge. They were to provide food for the youth in 16 kitchens across the slum. Basically, there is a kitchen in each of the 16 villages that make up Kibera.

They were also charged with the responsibility of hiring others to help in the preparation of food on a daily basis.

Maimuna Hamud runs one Huduma Kitchen in the area. She says cooking for the youth has created employment opportunities for the women.

The women, who are commonly referred to as 'mathe', are responsible for determining the weekly menu which is similar across all kitchens. Those tasked to cook earn Sh300 or above per day depending on duties assigned.

Mariam Yahya oversees one such kitchen at Laini Saba village. She says, "Lunch preparations begin as early as 8am every morning because we serve a large multitude of the NYS youth and the food has to be ready at the right time."

On Mondays, the women cook githeri, muthokoi on Tuesdays, pilau 'Njeri' (which is a mixture of potatoes, cabbages and a few pieces of meat) on Wednesdays, 'ugali sukuma 'on Thursdays and repeat the Pilau Njeri delicacy on Fridays.

"Whenever we feel that the youth have been good,appreciate their good effort by surprising them with meat delicacies such as matumbo which is among their favourite meals," says Yahya.

Asha Yusuf, an inspection officer of the Huduma Kitchens says the initiative is plucking many young people in Kibera from poverty.

Asha says NYS pays the women approximately Sh1 million a week. This takes care of the costs of food and paying the cooks.

"The money is paid to us through the bank. The women in charge of the respective kitchens will withdraw the money and share their profits equally. The women who had been sourced to cook are usually paid on a daily basis," says Asha.

Asha says when the Huduma Kitchen initiative was introduced last November, many residents were not receptive to the idea as they had not understood it. But with time they understood  that it was actually creating jobs for them and embraced it.

The women organise themselves in groups of five or less and are able to pull resources including finances that go towards buying of foodstuffs and utensils used to cook lunch for the NYS youths.

Although it has been a few months, the women working in the kitchens to fee 300 to 320 youths in a day, are seeing this engagement helping them meet obligations they were worried about before.

Says Maimuna, "From my very first earnings I was able to pay school fees for my child in secondary school. I can now plan for things I had never envisioned before. Most of these women you see here are feeding their families and are able to save, something they struggled to achieve before."