---

Kenya, Africa

KEN11 - Lean on Me

• View report dated: August 8, 2017

• View report dated: February 23, 2021

• View report dated: March 22, 2022

• View report dated: May 16, 2023

• View report dated: October 17, 2023

• View report dated: October 15, 2024

---

Report Date: September 30, 2025

Report from BHW Kenya Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key Person: Jackie Ogutu

We arrived in the afternoon of the 25th of September and stayed one night with Jackie at her mother’s house. On the 26th we went with Jackie to visit the schools that she facilitates health talks at. These schools were Kikongo, Ndiwa, Nyatuoro and Tuk primary. We were able to be a part of handing out the sanitary items to the girls. We were impressed with Jackie's natural ability to relate to and talk with girls empowering them to think bigger than early marriage and children.

Recent Events

Context

The village where Jackie’s projects are based is a very poor village. The road there is very bad, we didn’t think we would be able to get the car down the road it was so bad. The cycles of poverty continue as the young girls leave school early, marry young and become pregnant and so nothing changes.

The 2025 Kenyan protests were a series of youth-led demonstrations that began in June 2025, primarily in Nairobi, sparked by the death of blogger and teacher Albert Omondi Ojwang in police custody and fuelled by public discontent over rising living costs, government corruption, and police brutality. Around 31 people were killed in the protests causing disruption and unrest to partners.

In April last year parts of Kenya were very badly flooded in the El Nino floods which caused damage to different parts. 

Jackie

Jackie lives in Nairobi and travels back to her hometown in Migori where all of her projects are. This is an 8-hour drive one way on the bus. She takes this overnight and arrives at 2.30am where she waits until 5am and catches a motorbike taxi to her mother’s house. She does this on average of once a month. While she is here, she runs her health talks to students at the schools where she also hands out health packs to the girls. She checks on the chicken project, the IT business and table banking group.

Jackie recently received an award from the Royal Priest for Service in the Community. She received an honouree doctorate in Humanitarian Diplomacy and now has the title Dr. 

Chicken Project

The chicken project has had mixed results so far. The first lot of 50 chickens that Jackie purchased came down with an infection in which their beaks and around the eyes would swell up. She is going to start getting them a new vaccine which she hopes will help with this issue.

The second lot is going better and producing 8-10 eggs a day. By day three they are able to sell a tray of eggs. They sell them to people who come to the house to buy, or they sell the whole tray to restaurants.

Jackie has not started with her vision to give chickens to the women in her table banking group as yet as she has been trialling the chickens, working out the challenges and finding solutions so she is better able to equip the women when they do get their chickens. She said she is feeling like she is ready to start this soon and will trail with a couple of the women first.

 

Personal Stories

There were two young women in Jackie’s football team who stopped playing as they had become pregnant. Jackie continued to involve them in the team in other ways. After they had their babies, Jackie encouraged and supported them to return to their school to finish their education which they have done.

 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

In earlier years in Migori the girls would start at school but would drop out around grade 8. They would marry early and be required to look after the cows. School was prioritised for the boys. Now with the help of Jackie's education and health support they are having 25-30 girls per school staying in Grade 9 and sitting their National Certificates.

In the holidays girls can pay a small fee and learn basic IT skills at the centre. Having this skillset will help them if and when they apply for jobs.

 

Ideas for the Future

Jackie would still like to invest in a mill grinder to mill the maize for the chicken feed. The corn in its natural form is too large for the smaller chickens to eat. She would mix this with some fish stuff she gets cheap at the markets and calls the combo Chicken Jam.

Jackie’s long-term vision is to start a centre on a piece of land she has purchased in the village. She would like to make a central hub here for all of her projects to be based. She would also like this to be a place where young people can come for skills training.

 

Current Issues and Challenges

The cost of sanitary items has almost doubled in Kenya making it very difficult for girls to afford.

The cost of living is also very high at the moment which is difficult for many people.

Jackie was making reusable sanitary underwear for the girls but when it was discovered that there was no access to water for cleaning she decided to pause. Now that they are addressing these concerns with the instalment of toilet blocks and water tanks in the schools, she is thinking it is time to start this back up.

The first lot of chickens got an infection where their faces swelled up and many of them died.

The price of the chicken feed and also access to it is an ongoing issue. The closest place that sells the feed is long drive away and the price is high. This all means that is hard to make a profit on the project.

 

Prayer and Praise Points

Praise

1) Jackie's award from the Royal Priest recognising all of the good work she does in the community.
2) Praise that they are starting to see more girls continuing with their education.
3) Jackie put together a manual for starting small businesses that other partnerships in Bright Hope World can use as a resource in starting self-sustaining businesses.
4) Beyond Waters are putting in more toilet facilities in the schools that Jackie supports meaning better sanitation for the children and that Jackie can start making the reusable pads again now that the girls have access to water. Beyond Waters have also donated water filter buckets to one of the schools so the children have clean drinking water.

Prayer

1) For the health of the chickens and good egg production
2) For continued growth in girls staying in school
3) For the table banking women; good health and success with their chicken project
4) That Jackie can start making the reusable period underwear again