by Kate Holby
February 08, 2023
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by Kate Holby
February 01, 2023
We know love can't be manufactured or bought (despite what the best marketing e-mails tell us). But we do believe love can be cultivated. It might look like making committed promises to yourself and to others in a social contract. And maybe it starts with writing down what you want in the world—kindness, a family, a sense of home.
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by Kate Holby
January 20, 2023
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by Kate Holby
October 06, 2022
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by Kate Holby
August 18, 2022
When does a company stop becoming a start-up? At first, I thought maybe we had reached the next phase when we finally had health insurance. Then I thought we had evolved when we finally invested in a pallet jack. So, have we made it yet?
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by Kate Holby
June 01, 2022
Your tea dollars at work.
100% of the profits from the sale of Ajiri products are donated to the Ajiri Foundation. Learn about our incredible scholars, programming, and how your purchases add up to create an incredible community in western Kenya.
READ THE 2021 AJIRI IMPACT REPORT
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by Kate Holby
April 28, 2022
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.
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by Kate Holby
April 26, 2022
1 Comment
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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by Kate Holby
March 21, 2022
1 Comment
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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by Kate Holby
January 25, 2022
1 Comment
Sara and I have been finalists in five startup competitions, looking to raise capital for Ajiri Tea. Most of the time we are beat out by someone promising change driven by "cutting-edge" technology and huge growth projections. Employing women to handcraft the packaging, supporting small tea farmers, and sending orphans to school---why, there wasn't anything new about that.
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by Kate Holby
November 12, 2021
1 Comment
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by Kate Holby
September 16, 2021
2 Comments
As I think about how our community in Kenya is growing and we are growing in parallel a world away, my mind turns to all of you, our customers. Having not been to Kenya in two years, my work is no longer driven so much by the deep empathy for people I know. Rather, I am waking up and moving forward driven by this larger idea of a world that I want to know. This distance has made it harder to stay motivated. It has made it harder to package tea boxes and ship orders. But then I think of you.
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