“Iweyowa nang’o” – “How are you leaving us, now that you are going?”

“Iweyowa nang’o”, loosely translating to “How are you leaving us, now that you are going?”) is a Luo phrase a woman uses to ask her husband when he leaves home for his daily hustles.

It is also a round-about way for a wife to ask their husbands for cash to cater for the day’s provisions or needs, especially food – an indication of her dependency on him.

However, for Awino (Not her real name), an adolescent mother of two, who has been empowered under the Reaching The Last Girl project, this phrase is conspicuously absent in her household. Since joining the programme, she has established her own business, a kitchen garden, and poultry farming.

Following a series of trainings by Youth for a Sustainable Word and East Africa Child Rights, Awino was able to save up part of the facilitation fee and start a Mandazi (donuts) business that has since transitioned into a samosa (stuffed pastry) business. To make the samosas, she began cooking with one kilogram of flour and a quarter kilogram of green grams. Gradually, demand increased, and now she cooks with two kilograms of flour and three-quarters of green grams, which she sells every day. The profits she makes from her business leaves her with enough money for her savings, for contribution to the village Savings and Loan Association with other young mothers, clothes for her children, and food for her household.

“Even he knows. I do not ask him for money, since I joined the programme. He gives me when he has, but I don’t need to ask him for money. I am good, and I am comfortable.”

– Awino, a Young mother in Migori