Kenya
Getting to the nearest town is difficult for many rural women who have only their own legs to carry them. For some women in Kenya's Taita district, there was only one solution: to buy a bus.
The women in Mraru got angry one year. The nearest market centre for this cluster of eight villages in Kenya was the town of Voi, about 12 kilometres away. You can't carry heavy goods to market or a sick child to the clinic on foot over that distance. There aren't many buses to Voi, and they are nearly all full by the time they reach Mraru. Any space left goes to the men: this is the tradition in the Kenyan countryside.
But in 1971, the Mraru women decided to do something about it. They decided to buy their own bus.
These women are not wealthy or well-educated; they are like village women all over the world. They raise large families and produce the family's food. When they can get to market, they earn a little cash from selling maize or cassava. In a good year a woman may make about 1,000 Kenyan shillings (about $130) which she usually spends on the family — school fees, additional food, corrugated roofing for the house.
In 1970, 47 women joined together in affiliation with the national women's organisation, Maendeleo ya Wanawake (meaning 'Women's Progress' in Swahili). At their meetings they discussed the need for transport, and began to save for a bus. They agreed that each member over time should contribute about 200 shillings ($27) and this would be the value of one share. Savings societies are common in Kenya, and each month the members brought what they could afford — even eggs, hens and fruits if they had no cash.
Two years later they had saved 27,000 shillings ($3,600), but found they still needed more to make the down payment. The bus would cost about 112,000 shillings altogether.
The women switched their fund-raising efforts into higher gear. The bus was ordered.
It's never easy to discover what makes for success, but whatever the magic was, the Mraru women had it. With no assets, no special talents, and no wealthy members the group saved 41,000 shillings in three years. Now the bus could come out of the warehouse.
The Mraru women now had a full-scale business on their hands, for their vehicle was to ply regular trade like the other privately-owned buses — but giving preference to members of the savings group.
The bus was an excellent investment. It was always in demand; debts were repaid and the Mraru Women's Group began a new savings account, setting up a duka (shop) and other enterprises.
But the rough roads took their toll on the bus, the main money-spinner. After four years or so it had to be taken off the road. Inflation meant that a new one would cost almost three times as much, and even with the trade-in value and their savings, the women's assets fell way short.
Yet it seems likely that they will find some way of obtaining the loan they need. Their track record testifies to their ingenuity and determination, and it probably won't be long before a new bus pulls out of Mraru on the road to Voi.
Adapted from 'Village Women Organise: the Mraru Bus Service' in SEEDS, 1980.