While in Karunga, Genevieve met a family that subsequently suffered the loss of their father and husband. This tragedy was compounded by the impact of losing the family’s income, as this man had been the sole breadwinner for his family. As a result, the elder children had to leave school to work on farms to support their mother and younger siblings. Their mother had received no formal education and was unable to obtain employment that would support her family.

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​Genevieve was inspired to provide education and training to women to empower them through financial independence and thus Grandma Jenny’s Training Centre was born and presented at the UN Women's Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World summit in 2012.

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Following extensive fundraising and community consultations, the school, named in honour of Genevieve’s own seamstress grandmother, opened its doors in 2013.  The first intake of 40 women with limited or no education included the mother of the family, Zipporah Mwangi, allowing her children to remain in school while she sought training in a field that would allow her to support her family.

 

The curriculum at the Centre included

• Sewing

• English and Swahili language skills

• Mathematics

• Business Studies

• Health education

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The United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals, used as the foundation for creating Grandma Jenny’s Training Centre, were:

• To halve the number of undernourished people

• To achieve universal primary education

• To promote gender equality and empower women

• To reduce child mortality

• To improve maternal health

• To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

 

Education is the KEY to breaking the poverty cycle
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Following these guidelines the goals of Grandma Jenny’s Training Centre included:

• Empowering women and girls to embrace self determination

• Fostering independence in our students via skills and knowledge

• Developing a Grandma Jenny’s Training Centre Alumni Community

• Developing a sense of ownership of the Centre within the local community by having the Centre run by and for the community

 

FAB Projects, constructed a 50,000 litre community water tank attached to Grandma Jenny’s Training Centre.

 

Providing all students and staff with access to safe drinking water, access to showers, irrigation for a vegetable garden and for the maintenance of the buildings, the water tank was essential to the sustainability of the project.

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The centre also provided a hygienic toilet block for community members and the water tank served as a valuable resource should drought occur in this region, providing local medical centres with clean water.

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Grandma Jenny's Training Centre closed its doors in 2022 as the needs of the community in Kenya were changing and we realised there were greater opportunities for us to provide support to already established community-developed and led programs that were focusing on the betterment of future generations through the outlets of childcare, education and healthcare.

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Over the course of nine years, over 250 students graduated from Grandma Jenny’s Training Centre. That is at least 250 individuals and families that have had the trajectory of their lives changed. The generations that will continue to benefit from this success is immeasurable.