Get to Know Fadhili Trust: A Chat with Samuel Mutua
Learn more about the work we do with our partner, Fadhili Trust, in this interview.
Interested in learning more about our partner Fadhili Trust, and the work that they’re doing across the globe?
Matthew, a staff member at Tearfund Canada, travelled to Kenya in February, 2024 to visit the various projects that are supported by Tearfund. During the visit, he had the chance to speak with a village agent from Fadhili Trust named Samuel Mutua, learning more about the agent’s work and the difficult challenges faced by the community.
Below is an interview conducted by Matthew, where he dives deeper and learns about the present challenges faced in Kenya.
Q: Explain a little bit about yourself.
A: “My name is Samuel Mutua. I’m from Kenya, and my county is called Makueni County. I work with Fadhili Trust as a VA, a village agent. This is my fourth year working with Fadhili as a VA.”
Q: What do you do as a village agent?
A: “As a village agent, we’ve got quite a number of things that we do. One thing we do is we come to an area like this, we mobilize members and come and just talk to them. Then after talking to them, we explain more about Fadhili Trust. We explain to them what Fadhili is, and the benefits of the program that we do. We give them training in VSL, that is the Village Savings and Loans groups, Conservation Agriculture, and things to do like CCT (Church-based Community Transformation).
“So after we’re done talking with them, we come to the groups now and visit them. We educate members on all the good things that they’re gonna get from the group. And then later we come up with the groups then we educate the members on doing the VSL. We explain to them things that have to do with loaning.”
Q: What are some of the challenges people living here face?
A: “We’ve got the challenge of insecurity and of corruption in this area.
“We also have a challenge of illiteracy. In this area, not everybody is educated, not everybody is learned. And you know, education is power. When one is not educated, there are some things that they are going to face as a result of not knowing, or not having the right information and the right knowledge to handle things.
“Also, when you come to this place around the months of August to September and October, my friend, you just feel like crying, because this place is very extra dry, it’s very dry. You can come to this area and find the cows and goats here in this place are starving. And even the people die because of hunger. We got the challenge of water.
“So as you can see, we’ve got a number of challenges in this area.”
Q: How do people respond to these challenges?
A: “The people in the area, these community areas, some people can be walking for like 10, 12 kilometres just to get water. And that’s only one way. To and from, it’s 24 kilometres. And the place where people get the water doesn’t have enough. Just a little. So, you find people walking around 2 or 3 a.m. so that they can just walk to a place that might have water.
“Insecurity is a result of so many youths around having no jobs, many youths get into bad company and as a result of that, they end up doing bad things to the community, like stealing from the community, they rob the shops. So those are some of the problems.”
Q: What results do you see in your work?
A: “As a result of our work [in training Village Savings and Loans groups], the members are coming together. After a period of nine months, those members in the groups come together and have the “share out,” which is something we call graduation. They graduate from their first year to do their second year.”
At the end of each year, VSL groups have their “share-out”, which is where they give back everyone’s culminating savings. Then, the members can choose if they want to rejoin the group for the following year. Most do.
“Now when they have graduated to their second year, we give them the second step of training. We do something called the “group follow-up.” After we mobilize the groups [to run on their own], we get to a point where we just come to the community, educate them, and we just sit down and talk to the members and ask them what good things they have seen from the group. That thing is called the group follow-up, we educate them more and we encourage them to just continue on.”
After the first year, Fadhili Trust takes a step back to let the group run on their own, with follow-ups occasionally.
“As we see this, we are so happy as the village agent! If you see these people coming together and being happy and also having a stress-free life, that is something that we usually feel very encouraged about, as VAs.”
Q: What is something you would like to tell people in Canada?
A: “Let me say this to my brothers and sisters in Canada: We’re so appreciative and we’re so thankful for the help that you’ve been giving us. We are so appreciative because it has changed our life. Now, as you’ve heard from the members of the group, they are so happy because they can now save, they can get loans from the groups and continue building their lives.
“We are so thankful to you guys from there, back in Canada. May God bless you.”
Village Savings and Loans groups is a great program that teaches people, especially women, how to save and manage money, as well as learn things like business skills. They help in times of emergencies by giving out loans and even fostering community and relationships within them. Over the past 10 years, VSL groups have helped hundreds of thousands of people start businesses, send their children to school, and lift themselves out of poverty. All of this is made possible through one-time training!
Fadhili Trust works relationally and empathetically with their communities, providing sustainable, long-term help through local churches. Thanks to donors like you, Tearfund can partner with and support this work, allowing for the transformation of countless communities in the name of Christ.
*Some responses edited for clarity
