On Saturday, July 5, 2025, a standing ovation broke out at Baraza Park in Kwale Town as a group of humble women from Msambweni walked to the podium. 

They weren’t politicians. They weren’t Chief Executive Officers (CEOs).

They were widows—ordinary women carrying extraordinary stories. They had just been named the Best Women Sacco in Kwale County during the International Day of Cooperatives celebrations, and the applause was long, heartfelt, and deeply deserved.

At the centre of it all stood Ms Mwanasha Gaserego, a youth activist turned community builder, holding the plaque with quiet pride. 

“This is more than just an award,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion.

“It’s a celebration of every widow who refused to be defined by grief. It’s for the mothers who stayed when everyone else walked away.”

The honour is the latest milestone in a journey that began with pain. Ms Gaserego, who was raised by a widower, had long understood the silence and struggles of homes led by a single parent. 

But it was during the Covid-19 pandemic that her childhood memories turned into urgent action.

Widows across Kwale were facing a crisis. Many were chased from their marital homes, denied land, and silenced by stigma. 

“I saw women who had lost everything—husbands, homes, respect. And I couldn’t just watch,” Ms Gaserego told AVDelta News. 

“I gathered a few of them. We sat under a tree. That was the beginning.”
In June 2020, Tuwajali Wajane--Swahili for “Let’s care for widows”--was born in Ramisi. It started as a self-help group of 11 widows, all nursing wounds that no one else seemed to see. What they found in one another was not just comfort, but courage.

That courage has grown into a movement. Today, over 800 women are part of 30 active self-help groups under the Tuwajali Wajane banner. And the creation of the Tuwajali Wajane Kwale Sacco marked a turning point--giving these women not just a voice, but economic power.

With savings pooled from table banking and group contributions, the Sacco has helped women open kiosks, launch farming ventures, and pay school fees. For many, it was the first time they’d ever handled money they could truly call their own.

One such woman is Ms Faida Shee, who was left homeless after her husband died. With support from the Sacco, she started a small general shop. 

“They gave me more than money,” she said. 

“They reminded me I’m still a person.”

Another is Ms Mariam Juma, a widow and mother of four(4). She now tends poultry and earns enough to feed her family. 

“I used to cry myself to sleep,” she recalls. 

“Now I wake up knowing I can provide.”

The Sacco has also supported larger projects, including a 13-acre organic farm in Milalani, supported by Global One Foundation. It feeds more than 150 families and supplies fresh produce to local markets.

“We farm with our hands and save with our hearts,” one member said.

“This is our land now.”

While widows are at the heart of the initiative, the ripple effect touches children too--especially orphans in widow-headed homes. Many now have access to school, mentoring, and meals. Tuwajali doesn’t run an orphanage; it builds capacity within the home, where love and care are already rooted.

As word of their work spread, so did their impact. Ms Gaserego founded the Kwale Women Human Rights Defenders Network, giving a platform to local women activists. Tuwajali Wajane was also the first group in the county to formally mark International Widows Day, an event that has become an annual moment of awareness and advocacy.

Saturday’s recognition came with more than a certificate. It came with validation--official acknowledgement that these women, long left out of public budgets and programmes, were building something that worked.

A letter from the Department of Cooperatives, seen by AVDelta News, stated,

“Tuwajali Wajane Kwale Sacco has demonstrated exceptional commitment to the economic transformation of marginalised women. Its operations reflect not only professionalism, but compassion and resilience rooted in lived experience.”

Kwale County Cooperative Officer Janet Mwende, who presented the award, was full of praise.

“This Sacco is a story of pain turned into policy. Of tears turned into capital. Of women who are no longer waiting to be helped--they are helping themselves,” Ms Mwende said.

Ms Gaserego isn’t done. She dreams of opening a permanent widow and girls’ resource centre, expanding services into Kinango and Lunga Lunga, and lobbying the county government to allocate a dedicated widows’ empowerment fund.

Her voice remains steady, but her mission is urgent.

“We are not asking for sympathy,” she said.

“We’re asking for justice. For land, for credit, for dignity. If you empower a widow, you empower a home. If you empower many widows, you change a county.”

From whispered prayers to national recognition, Tuwajali Wajane is not just a Sacco. It is a movement. A family. A promise that no woman will ever have to grieve in silence again.

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