"A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader.  A great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves." ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Nereah Obura, Growing Hope in Kenya

Notes from the Field By Linda Hagen Miller, Newsletter Editor

Dear P4P Friend,

Notes from the Field is usually devoted to activity reports written by Nereah Obura, our woman-on-the-ground in Kenya, but this month, we’d like to tell you about Nereah.

P4P hired Nereah a year ago to be facilitator and Program Coordinator in Kopanga/Giribe. We took a chance, hiring a woman in a male-dominated society.

Overseeing the progress of our programs meant she would need to earn the respect of local leaders, educators and villagers, most of whom are men. She would travel from village to village on her own. She would spend days at a time in Kopanga/Giribe, separated from her husband and two small daughters. On weekends, she would travel home to spend time with them. She would coordinate P4P’s service trips in Kenya, and she would be expected to provide P4P administration with thorough and frequent written reports.

We could not have made a better choice. Nereah is a picture of efficiency, grace and dignity, speaking quietly but with authority and resolve. Committed to the well-being of fellow Kenyans, Nereah dedicates long hours, many miles and much tenacity to her P4P duties.

Nereah is at the forefront of an emerging trend of female empowerment in Kenya. Most Kenyan women marry by age 20 and in short time, have an average of four children. Even though 62% of Kenyan women are in the labor force, the majority work as subsistence farmers or hold menial jobs.

“Not many people embrace women leadership, including women themselves,” Nereah says. “No one ever believes that you merited your position, in most cases they think that you have a relative in the organization or that you bribed your way up.”

Things are changing, however, and Nereah is one example of this trend.

“You see more women in leadership positions,” she says. “I recently attended a church leadership forum where we learned that the first delegation in 1994 had less than 10 women. This year, half of the delegation was women. We see more women in elective positions, and we currently have three female governors.”

Nereah is catching this bow wave of change and she gives credit to her parents who were dedicated to educating both boys and girls. Her late father, a primary school head teacher, was adamant that she would attend school and was often a benefactor to other family members.

“My mother recalls a time when a total of 17 people were living in our house,” Nereah says, “a number of them being relatives that my father supported in one way or the other to go to school.”

Nereah lived with her parents until she was in the sixth grade when she moved in with her older brother. With the help of her brother and other siblings, she was able to attend university where she attained a bachelor’s degree in economics and sociology from Kenyatta University and a certificate in program monitoring and evaluation from the Kenya Institute of Management. English is her third language.

In 2012, Nereah married Ambrose Orege and they have two daughters, Kayla, four years old, and Krystal, just over one year old. The family lives in Kisumu, 70 miles from Kopanga, and Ambrose works as a program officer at FilmAid International at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Turkana, Northern Kenya.

Juggling a career and family is a challenge in every society, especially when work requires a husband and wife to live apart.

“Ambrose has always been very supportive of all that I do,” Nereah says. “I count myself very lucky to have Ambrose as my husband. Not many men allow their spouses to work far away from home.” The couple has hired a nanny to care for the girls and they treasure their weekends together.

“I always pray to God to keep and preserve Kayla and Krystal,” she says. “The best Ambrose and I can do as parents is to give them a good education and spiritual guidance to enable them to be the best that they can be.”

Operating on the belief that it is vital to empower communities and give people a voice, Nereah hopes to see P4P interlink its various projects for sustainability. One of the main challenges she sees is securing food supplements from the Kenyan government for the Power of Milk children.

“For the last year,” she says, “we’ve not received any Plumpy’nut™ from the government, yet we continue to receive many children in need. They survive thanks to the supplies we receive through P4P from the U.S.”

“P4P is doing a great job in this community and is very well known here,” Nereah adds. “We have built strong partnerships. It is important for the community to play a part so then they own the projects and our programs have bigger impact.”

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