Ecosandals strives to offer a variety of opportunities and freedoms to our Korogocho staff, including:

• the provision of training in a sustainable and marketable skill set, including business management and computer training, to residents of Korogocho shantytown, one of earth’s most materially impoverished communities
• the offer of steady employment and a decent source of income to Korogocho’s young adults, empowering them to accumulate savings and invest it in their families and their futures
• the utilization of locally available resources in the production of sandals, employing ecologically sustainable products and processes
• access to relationships and business opportunities on an equitable global stage

Currently, Eco-Sandals employs more than 25 individuals in Korogocho. Here are just a few of their inspirational stories:

Roselyne | Michael | Joel

Roselyne

Roselyne Egosangwa was born 40 years ago in Goibei village in rural Western Kenya. Of her six brothers and sisters, only two remain alive today due to the trials of ghetto life. After completing high school, Ms. Egosangwa performed manual labour at a publishing house. She has also spent time as a nursery school and adult education teacher. Roselyne has five children of her own, along with four orphans she also cares for. Through her work with the Project, she is able to feed, clothe, and educate her entire family.

Ms. Egosangwa joined Ecosandals soon after our launch. A rapid 500% increase in orders enabled the Project to hire many more people, and Ms. Egosangwa quickly started ornament and beading efforts to supplement our sandal-making. She recruits area women to learn to produce ornaments and bead sandals. Today Roselyne is the marketing coordinator and is critical to sales efforts in and around East Africa. She remains a sandal-maker, though, and assists with beading on most orders. She enjoys the many challenges presented by Ecosandals, including working with others, managing strict deadlines, and developing new strategies for improving production efficiency. She also is happy for the friends she has made, and her newfound computer skills.

Outside of work, Ms. Egosangwa loves to read and study the Bible and sing in church choir. She also enjoys listening to music, but her favourite hobby is probably eating a good lunch.

Ms. Egosangwa recognizes the differences working with the project has made in her life and realizes that it can do so much more. (Especially if you buy a few extra pairs of our sandals and take them to a few local stores, and see if they want to join our distribution network.)

Michael

My name is Michael Karuri. I am 20 years-old and I want to be the future managing director of Ecosandals. I was born in Korogocho as the youngest of four siblings. My father passed away when I was ten, as did my mom shortly thereafter, leaving my grandmother to raise me.

I was able to finish standard eight (comparable to eighth grade in the United States), but my grandmother did not have enough money to send me to high school. My grandmother struggled to make ends meet by selling second-hand shoes in the Gikomba Market, one of the biggest open markets in Africa but lost her business due to a lack of customers. My grandmother has been unable to find other employment, but luckily my sandal work provides some much-needed income to our family, allowing us to buy food and clothing.

I first heard about Akala Designs at PROVIDE International, a twenty-four hour emergency healthcare facility located in the heart of Korogocho. I was looking for work, so I thought I'd try to make sandals.

When I am not making sandals, I am either playing football for the Mathare Youth Football Association or helping my grandmother at home. My dream is to open up my own sandal-making project to compete with Ecosandals or maybe to one day be the Ecosandals managing director.

In 2001, a few months after Ecosandals.com started selling over the Internet, a customer in Halifax, Nova Scotia wanted to bring me there for business training. I was in Halifax for two months. The people were very nice, the city was beautiful, and I even got to sell sandals to the mayor. I learned a lot, including that our sandals can sell, and there are many opportunities for me and my neighbours to carry ourselves out of poverty. We just need your help to market our goods.

Joel

My name is Joel Chege Kariuki. I came to Nairobi from the rural countryside of Murang'a, Kenya at the age of five with my mother, father and younger brother. My parents brought us here seeking a better life, where jobs are more plentiful than on the farm. The reality of this place hit us hard, however, as my parents struggled to make ends meet. We landed in the place known as Korogocho, with barely enough money and food to survive from day to day.

Sandal-making as the only way out

My mother sold potatoes and tomatoes at the local market, and my father worked at temporary jobs, together earning only about 3000 shillings monthly ($40 U.S.). I studied at Korogocho Primary School through standard eight, where I enjoyed the arts and crafts instruction and flourished in English classes. I started Form One, comparable to ninth grade in the United States, at Our Lady of Fatima in Korogocho, but my family did not have enough money to pay school fees. I left school and had nothing else to do. In 1999, my parents left Korogocho and returned to Murang'a to work on the small family farm, where they grow maize and coffee. Left to care for my younger brother, I joined Ecosandals.

Starting my own business

My work at Ecosandals combines my love of arts and crafts with hard work. I believe that a creative mind and hard work will take me far. So far I have done well here. I make a decent salary and even am a 5% owner of the entire Akala Designs business. With the proceeds from my work, I have started a separate business of my own. Taking advantage of the need for plastic bags in the local markets, I employ my idle brother to recycle used plastic bags and resell them. The bags are appropriated from huge trash heaps in the middle of Korogocho, where young boys scavenge to find recyclable items. We buy the recycled bags at a low cost and sell them to local merchants at twice the cost. My business has been very successful. I make about 2000 shillings a month (about $25 U.S.) from the business. I hope to make enough money from my recycled bag business to open up a convenience store. When I am not sandal-making or running my business, I play football for the Mathare Youth Football Association.

Sadly, both Joel's father and mother recently passed away, dramatically increasing the already heavy burdens carried by Joel.