In December 2022 , Joseph and Beulah Mucharie who serve with the Navigators Kenya Leadership team joined Richard Mwikamba, Navigators (EPTF) Kenya Trust, National Coordinator for a four-day visit to Migori where we have an ongoing pilot project dubbed Micro Enterprise Development Support (MEDS) in Suna East Sub-County, Kwa Ward.
The goal of this project is to sustainably increase incomes of 100 selected households through training and strengthening the capacity of individuals and small groups on Enterprise development and Table Banking.
The Team from Nairobi was joined by David Omondi, Project Coordinator and Joshua Oduor together with Benard Odhiambo the Project team based in the Migori.
The purpose of the visit was to evaluate the progress of the project, meet project participants, encourage the EPTF team in Migori and the larger Navigators ministry work spearheaded by Charles Adem.
Over a span of several years the Adems have diligently hosted Navigator Bible Studies at their home in Mirunga village. The presence of a Navigator Ministry in this location presented a wonderful opportunity for EPTF to launch the MEDS pilot project seeking to impact four villages of Kwa ward. The project is funded by Center for Church-Based Development (CKU) through our partners ASSIST, Denmark.
Our prayer is that the gospel will continue to be clearly shared even as the participants are empowered with entrepreneurship and Table Banking skills. EPTF reaches people from diverse walks of life and religious affiliations in the community.
Field visits kicked off with a courtesy call to the Ward Administrator and the area Assistant Chief. The EPTF team was accompanied by Mr. Adem who is also a village Elder in Mirunga – one of the villages in Kwa ward. Richard gave a brief of the organization and the MEDS Migori project to the area leaders. He also mentioned that the Navigators have had a presence in the community for a long period through the support of Mr. Adem. The project team on ground has kept the leadership updated on its engagement with the community.
The team spent early mornings and evenings together in prayer and in the scriptures. They were able to meet Rabuor Business Women, Opasi people living with disability and Inua Mjane (Support a widow) self-help groups. The Testimonies from members of this groups were very encouraging.
Rabuor Business Women self-help group are very excited about the trainings, they are now able to keep proper business records. Opasi people living with disability self-help group were very grateful for the record keeping trainings and accounting books they had received.
Many of the participants expressed that they had a challenge on sustaining their businesses in light of family responsibilities and how best to deal with difficulty in repaying loans. Mr. Mucharie enlightened the participants on table banking group loans and commercial bank loans with many vivid and practical examples. He guided the participants on how and when loans ought to be taken, and what loans ought to be spent on, stating that a business loan should only be taken with a purpose of growth for the business and not for personal expenditures. He emphasized that as business people, they ought to put their trust in God and learn to build trust on each other.
EPTF is working with 10 self- help groups in this pilot phase of the project in Migori.