by Kate Holby
March 21, 2022
1 Comment
We often donât 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. Difnaâs neighbors own some remarkably loud and confused roosters. Needless to say, none of us have mastered the mute button.Â
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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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by Kate Holby
May 03, 2021
Difna is the first to tell you that you don't have to be a "mom" to mother and you don't have to be family to act as a family. Our Ajiri scholars have taken to calling themselves part of the "Ajiri Family"--a testament to the love and devotion Regina and Difna show each child.
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by Kate Holby
April 09, 2021
We're taking a scrap of optimism. We're not burdening it with the forethought of grief. We're cultivating it with every student we help to raise, every woman we employ, every box of tea we sell.Â
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by Kate Holby
March 09, 2021
We initially decided to employ women to craft the Ajiri Tea and Coffee packaging because women tend to reinvest over 90% of their earnings back into their families and communities. But we continue to employ women not for what they are doing with their money but rather for what they can't do without it. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa provide the majority of the agricultural labor, yet own anywhere from 1% to 13% of the land.
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by Kate Holby
January 25, 2021
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by Kate Holby
May 08, 2020
Hakuna matata! What "Kenyan Time" teaches us about quarantine time. How we deal with our anxieties to constantly be productive, and our shifting perceptions on what "productivity" actually means.
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by Kate Holby
April 29, 2020
This term of self-care, as we have come to know it, isn't just reserved for bath bombs or face masks, but is an evolving idea that women can reclaim some time or some money for themselves. Perhaps we don't talk enough about the new clothes or the hair or their new cooking pot because it doesn't align within the common narrative of selfless motherhood and womanhood.
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by Kate Holby
April 16, 2020
This past month seemed to float by. We were worried about sales. Worried about the health of our community in Kenya (225 confirmed cases of CV19 in Kenya). We were trying to figure out the transition to teaching by cell phone (not even smartphone) to our Ajiri scholars. And we were worried about how we are going to continue to pay 60 women in rural Kenya when the flow of orders has trickled.
Those worries are all still there. But this past week, instead of swirling amidst the stress and skimming the news and refreshing our browsers, we started to be still.
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by Kate Holby
April 01, 2020
This perfect quarantine recipe is brought to you by the culinary creative, Annie Strong of Annie's Kitchen. This hardy soup combines classic comforting lentils with our zesty Ajiri Black Tea with Lemon Myrtle. Perfect for an early Spring dinner.Â
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