Success Story: Aisha’s Story

VAD Restored Happiness in My Marriage 

Aisha Ikilai, a 36-year-old mother of eight, joined a farmers group established by VAD in 2021. Her group received oxen, knapsacks, improved groundnut seeds, and training in vegetable farming, along with assorted vegetable seeds.

“I adopted tomato growing and planted a 15×30m plot last May. From the harvest, I earned 300,000 shillings,” Aisha shares proudly. This income allowed her to start a small fish (“million fish”) business, further boosting her family’s earnings.

Through her group’s Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA), Aisha borrowed 2 million shillings—investing part in her farm and giving part to her husband to grow his cattle trade business. Today, their household is stable and financially secure.

But life was not always this way. “Before VAD, we had no bulls to plough and couldn’t afford to hire any. We often lacked food, and I even considered leaving my marriage,” Aisha recalls. Her husband initially opposed her joining the group, but when a loan from VAD helped pay for her co-wife’s medical operation, his perspective changed.

Now, Mr. Zamanzan Omuria, her husband, admits, “Even salt and soap were once luxuries, and meat was for public holidays. Today, we have petty cash in the house and can enjoy meat once a week.”

Aisha is grateful for the transformation and hopes for an ELUM Centre in her village to extend these opportunities to more people.