Creating employment for women and supporting education for orphans in Kenya.
Shop Tea Shop CoffeeOur award-winning Kenyan Black Tea is grown in the green, fertile Kisii Hills of western Kenya. Ajiri means "to employ" in Swahili. Our goal is to create employment for women in western Kenya. Each unique label is handmade using dried banana bark. All profits from sales of Ajiri Tea are donated to the Ajiri Foundation to pay school fees for orphans in western Kenya.
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On a recent trip to Kenya I met with old family friends in Nairobi. It was the first trip I had taken since having my son in July 2020. Mrs. Ambundo, who is 85 years old and a mother to four children, took me into her arms and said "welcome to the other side." She didn't mean welcome to "the other side" of the world. She meant welcome to the world of motherhood. The war in Ukraine had just intensified, and Mrs. Ambundo kept repeating "Those poor people, those poor mothers, those poor children. Just imagine." And for the first time, I really could imagine. It is as if parenthood (or sleep deprivation or seven cups of tea) had dialed up my empathy.
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The effects of climate change are being felt the most by women. It is women, after all, who are walking to the river to collect water. It is women who are providing the majority of agricultural labor in Kenya. Where are the voices of these women in the fight of environmental justice? Where are the voices of farmers? All we hear are the voices of companies and politicians and the insidious roar of Jeff Bezos's launch to space.
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We often don’t discuss how we are a family-run organization. I work with my mother, Ann, and my sister, Sara, here in the U.S. Three times a week we have a group call with our colleagues, Regina and Difna, in Kenya. Given the time difference, these calls are early in the morning in the U.S. and toward the end of their day in Kenya. One of our own small children will often interrupt, demanding to being picked up. Regina will be on a matatu or public bus on the way home from work and you can often hear the sliding of the van door open and close. Difna’s neighbors own some remarkably loud and confused roosters. Needless to say, none of us have mastered the mute button.
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