Simprosa & the Shop

The front rooms of the Nairobi center are devoted to the Amani ya Juu shop. These three rooms of the converted house overflow with a variety of Amani products from batiked potholders to kikoy-covered notebooks. Each day, Amani customers are treated as honored guests. The shop managers gladly share the culmination of their community’s work.

As you browse through racks of Amani original clothing, wooden handcrafts, quilts, and irresistible Amani Watoto children’s line items, the high quality of style, construction, and charm is obvious. Feel free to peek into the bustling production and design room as you shop and be sure to chat with one of the Amani women serving the customers. All of the items in the shop originate from and directly support the self-sustaining Amani centers in Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi. Some of the other products come from partner projects with which Amani women have formed relationships as an outflow of Amani’s philosophy of women reaching out to women. At the Amani shop, it is not only the products that tell the story, but the hands of those who have learned to work and live together in peace—in Amani ya Juu (higher peace).

Simprosa’s Story

Simprosa’s gentle spirit permeates her every action at the Amani Nairobi center. Whether she is answering the phone, teaching new women in the shop about customer service, or assisting a customer in the Amani shop, she remains calm but strong. She developed this quiet strength that God has given her during earlier days of instability in rebel held territory in her home country, Uganda. As difficult as life is in Kenya as a refugee, Simprosa is grateful for the secure environment when she remembers the many nights in Uganda she, along with her friends and relatives, would have to sleep at the hospital or church compound for their own protection. It was Simprosa’s husband John, Amani property caretaker, who first introduced her to Amani in 2001. While her primary responsibility is overseeing the storefront, Simprosa returns to her first love of stitching at night and on her day off where she is able to work from home. This extra stitching supplements her income which is needed for her growing family of two young sons.

In the shop, Simprosa serves as the head officer. She ensures that the shop is well stocked and oversees the day-to-day details of the business at the store. She not only manages the merchandise but also looks after the many tasks that arise due to high volume purchasing. However, she mainly enjoys the interaction with the many guests that patronize the shop. It gives her confidence in the fine-art of customer service as well as brings her joy to see so many people excited about the products she and her “family” at Amani have stitched out of the labor of love.

The Amani Garden Café & Fidelia

Amani Garden Café means a garden of peace. Customers discover this peace when surrounded by the rich flora and fauna of Africa…aloe vera plants, bird of paradise, bougainvillea, bottle brush trees, double hibiscus. The serene and quiet atmosphere of the garden is a rare thing to find in the busy and crowded city of Nairobi. The garden offers customers a haven of peace where they can enjoy a calm and tranquil setting. It also provides another opportunity for visitors to interact with Amani women, this time as waitresses, and appreciate the peace that lives within them.

Meet Fidelia

Along with the menu Fidelia brings her never-ending, captivating smile. The beautiful smile fails to disclose the burdens she carries. At a young 24 she is the caretaker of her entire family – her two younger sisters and her ailing mother. In order to buy medicine to keep their mother alive Fidelia’s high school age sister had to forfeit her education by dropping out of school. Fidelia works hard at Amani to pay for the medicine for her mother and to keep her youngest sister in primary school.

Fidelia patiently waits for you to look over the menu and give her your order. She’s hoping you will order a mocha, latte or cappuccino. She loves making those even though she would never drink one. She prefers Kenyan chai, a mix of milk, sugar and hot tea, which is a favorite among Kenyans. The chai is made with Kenya’s highland tea -- the best in Africa!

Are you ready to order? You could try one of the gourmet garden salads -- the Serengeti, Abedere or Amani -- which are known to be the best in Nairobi.

Fidelia does her job with such ease and confidence. You would never have known the challenge it was for her to learn dishes and drinks that were not part of her local cuisine. She confesses that when she first began as a waitress at Amani she would sometimes mix up orders but now she knows the menu so well she can even describe for you the ingredients of each salad.

It’s a privilege to be served by someone who works with such dedication, love and sacrifice. Thank you Fidelia for showing us what peace looks like.

Production and Design & Sarah

It’s a busy time of year for Sarah because production for the Serengeti Season 2006 has just kicked in at Amani. The color palette of the “spring/summer” season reflects the climate of the Serengeti region, set deep within the Rift Valley of Kenya. The Safari Collection resonates the hues of the savannah during the warm months of the East African region. The zebra, giraffe, gazelle and elephants that congregate at the water holes form part of the landscape of the Serengeti and have become the neutral colors of the Safari Collection. Also included in the Serengeti Season palette are the bright colors of Africa – hot pink, grape, turquoise and chartreuse. These colors are sure to bring the designs of purses and bags new life and energy. With crates piled high behind Sarah, each containing different kinds of material and each labeled accordingly, Sarah gives each woman the material needed to begin a sewing project. She makes sure everyone is supplied with zippers, hand-carved bone buttons, dyed batik fabric and Amani labels that makes each product distinct and reminds all who will own an Amani product of God’s peace.

Though Sarah is soft spoken, her gentle smile makes every woman feel welcome. It becomes obvious, the longer you are with her, that her love is genuine and that it is out of this love that she serves others.

Sarah

Sarah’s mother died when she was very young. She was raised by her relatives in Uganda. During the Ugandan civil war many years ago, her husband had to flee. She has not seen him since. Without the presence of family in her life it has been difficult for Sarah to experience love. How can one give or receive love when loss, disappointment and rejection had become a way of life? Sarah’s life has changed since coming to Amani. She has found true love from her sisters at Amani. She refers to Amani as a “great” family and has embraced the love of Amani as a gift from God.

Relationships & Charity

Healing through Relationships

As an organization, Amani ya Juu recognizes that every woman who comes to Amani carries a burden of pain, loss, trauma, or abuse. Unfortunately, women of Africa often bear the brunt of the suffering in their families and communities. In light of this reality Amani ya Juu seeks to meet not merely the physical needs of the women it serves but also the emotional, social and spiritual needs. Amani welcomes women of all backgrounds regardless of culture, religion, or history, seeking to bring the variety of their experiences together to heal in community. Through their relationships, prayer, and times of group sharing, the women receive informal counseling that is deeply rooted in trusting relationships. They are encouraged to make the needs of their “sisters” a priority. As they experience healing through the community, they are also impelled to pass that peace on to others at Amani, to their family members, their neighborhoods, and eventually even to their home countries.

Charity’s Story

Charity smiles at Amani today but years ago, when she first arrived at the Nairobi center, she couldn’t imagine that life could be better.

Over the years, disease, death, and separation in her family left her discouraged and alone. Her struggles consumed her and left her hardly able to care for herself, much less her children and grief-stricken mother. Under the weight of hopelessness, she began to suffer physically as well.

She came to Amani through a friend but had little interest in joining the Amani community or even in working on her stitching, which was her only means of income. Yet slowly, over time, Charity is beginning to see and understand that she was not alone. Although her problems drew her into isolation, the peace and love of her “sisters” at Amani pulled her into the community. Through their encouragement and collective prayers, she is now discovering that she is not alone – others are there to help her carry her burdens.

No longer skeptical of her worth as a person or doubtful of God’s love for her, Charity is beginning to realize that there is a reason to hope again.

Stitching & Jerita

Eager and full of optimism, Jerita always brings her contagious smile with her to work at Amani. Since coming to the Nairobi center two years ago Jerita has learned many products, but most recently, she has learned to make the “Going on Safari” baby book. The production process is an incredible example of the importance of community involvement at Amani.

Part of the philosophy of Amani is women helping other women. Training a woman how to sew, for example, is not just for the purpose of training her to make products but also so that she can train someone else.

The Process: From Start to Finish

It begins with training. Simprosa, one of the experienced seamstresses at Amani, trains Jerita on how to sew the “Going on Safari” baby book. After training, Jerita is given her production assignment from Sarah who carefully records it in her work log book. Sarah then distributes the fabric for the work order. Jerita is now ready to receive the pattern for the baby book from Zewditu. Zewditu is in her second year of training at Amani. Though Zewditu is a trainee she also fills an officer position. At Amani it’s important that women grow not only in technical skills but also in leadership ability as part of the holistic training program.

Jerita now traces and cuts out all of the animals and other shapes for the entire order, saving and returning the extra pieces back to Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s responsibility is to keep scraps organized and stored. At Amani nothing is wasted; with a little creativity everything can be put to use. A Scrap Line of products was even created at Amani in order to prevent the extra pieces of cloth from filling up the limited precious space we had to work in.

Once Jerita has completed her cutting she is now ready to start stitching. She prefers using the treadle machine. Most women prefer the treadle machine because they never know when the electricity will go off. But for this product Jeritu chooses the electric machine because the animal baby book requires more specialized stitching. She outlines each animal in the book with the zigzag stitch and then sews the beautiful local kitenge fabric borders onto each padded page. Once all of the pages are finished and the embellishments are added Jerita binds them with one final piece of kitenge. This step in the process is difficult since it means stitching a binding onto four thickly padded cloth pages. She looks to other more-experienced stitchers to ensure a perfect job.

Veronica, the quality controller who also went through Amani as a trainee herself, carefully inspects the baby books to ensure that they will be a true reflection of the love and care that went into making the product. Theresa, who is responsible for recording the work of all 50 women and has a keen understanding of the work division of the 300 different products at Amani, records the work in the payment log. Sarah then signs off on the completed assignment in her work order log and assign new work to Jerita so that she is ensured of a continuous income.

Jerita has a sense of accomplishment when her work is finally completed. She knows she couldn’t have completed her product alone. It took a caring community like Amani to make it all possible. Her dream is to improve her skills to the point that she can also become a trainer and make others feel as good as she does.

Pamoja House & Magdalene

Magdalene climbs the stairs, with excitement in each step, to the third floor where she cuts and sews in the new Pamoja House.

“This is where I work,” she says with expansive gestures and with a sense of pride in her voice.

The spacious production room, on the top floor of the Pamoja House, could comfortably accommodate 70 women. The early morning African sun is also a visitor in the room as she makes her grand entrance through the sky lights above.

The Pamoja House means “together” in the East African language of Swahili. It’s a new structure that has been going up over the past two years to keep up with the growth at Amani. The building is enabling more women to be trained at Amani which will translate into planting peace in more places in Africa and around the world. As women come to the Pamoja House to stitch the products they are not just meeting the demand of customers around the world who want to buy the Amani products but they are also passing on the message of God’s peace through the products that they make.

The artwork built into the Pamoja House reflects the creativity, colors and culture of the Amani family. Mosaics, colored glass windows, African symbols are all part of the unique design of the building just as each of the Amani women bring with them their own unique stories and experiences.

Magdalene’s reflections

On the cutting table is an array of African fabrics, colors bursting with life, waiting to be cut and stitched. To the untrained eye the fabrics are just pieces of cloth but to Magdalene they have the potential of becoming place mats, kikoy make-up bags, tote bags, table cloths…. She views the other women at Amani the same way. Many come to Amani broken, traumatized and exploited but Magdalene sees what they can become through the transforming work of God just as it had happened to her.

Many years ago Magdalene escaped the war in Mozambique and came, with her family, to Kenya. She used to wonder if the dangerous life in Mozambique would have been better than refugee life in the slums of Nairobi. Before Magdalene came to Amani she was struggling to survive, with 3 small children, living in one room with no electricity or water.

Anxious thoughts about her plight began to form in her mind until the day a friend invited Magdalene to become involved in a stitching project.

“Maybe this is a way to get an income and improve myself,” thought Magdalene.

Magdalene and two other ladies began stitching placemats with no guarantee that they would sell. But they were willing to try. Out of hope, Amani ya Juu was born that day.

Magdalene was also given a new life that day. Today she lives in a two bedroom house with electricity, water and an indoor bathroom. She has grown in her faith during her time at Amani and has become a mother figure to all those who have come after her in search of hope.

Back to the Pamoja House

Magdalene reflects as she gazes out the window of the third floor of the Pamoja House with a view of the banana and avocado trees on the Amani compound far below.

“Amani started as a baby, but now she has grown up.”