Le projet de valeur mixte des sœurs et la conservation de l'environnement

The Sisters’ Blended Value Project, a “child brain” of Strathmore University Business School in partnership with the Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA), has developed wings to fly to many congregations in East and Central Africa. The sisters have not only concentrated their energy on social enterprise management but also on the Pope’s call for environmental conservation, the “Laudato si” – a Pope’s document which emphasizes “environmentalism, ethics, and Christian faith”. From this document, all humanity is urged to care for their homes and look forward to a better future of economic and environmental decisions and businesses that suit their identity as responsible God’s children. The UN estimates the increase of global warming due to carbon dioxide emissions to be about 50% since 1990, causing a significant threat to humans, plants, and animals. The sister’s efforts are also within the constitution of Kenya article 43 on economic concerns, which provides for the right of every person to freedom from hunger, among others, and the Sustainable Waste Management Act, no. 31 of 2022, which aims at supporting Socio-Economic transformation. 

The sisters of St. Joseph of Mombasa Kenya were among the First and Second Cohort, trained by Strathmore University Business School in the Sisters Blended Value Project between the years 2022-2023. The sisters graduated and later received financial support, baptized as “the SEED.” This was a kind booster to help utilize the skills acquired during the training on running social enterprises for sustainability and to earnestly integrate care for people and the planet through the social enterprises. The capacity-building program has rejuvenated the sisters’ initiatives in practicing sustainable development. 

After graduation in 2023, the sisters of St. Joseph of Mombasa embarked on a poultry rearing project, which has grown into a butchery at Voi in Taita-Taveta county, Kenya. A venture that started with about 200 birds has now hatched over 102,700 chickens within four batches. As social entrepreneurs, they have scaled up as their project which only used to be  for subsistence consumption is now an income-generating project for the congregation. Additonally, the projectis highly supporting the congregation’s senior members at their retirement home in Voi..Further, thee project also supports the formation house at the mother house in Bura Taita-Taveta county. 

The sisters have also started a hatchery in support of thisthe project and for sale to the community at an affordable price. To supplement their income, the sisters have established a goat rearing project, with 18 high-yielding cross-bred goats as a starting batch. The idea is aimed at expanding the business to processing and selling milk products. More scaling-up plans include stocking the butchery with red meat, which they plan to buy from the ranches, pork meat from the sisters’ retirement home and farmers, and goat’s meat from their own flock. 

In their commitment to the principles of Laudato si, the sisters have made significant strides in protecting God’s creation. They have demonstrated their resourcefulness by recycling poultry litter. From sawdust, they produce cattle feeds, a cost-effective source of protein, energy, and minerals for livestock. This process not only reduces waste but also contributes to natural resource management, thereby enhancing the quality of human life. The poultry litters are further processed locally to produce manure, which is used in the garden for vegetable and cow feeds such as hay. The vegetables are used in the formation of houses and retirement homes and are also sold to the community. The poultry project enables the sisters to produce a low-cost fertilizer, which returns nutrients and organic matter to the soil, builds its fertility, and retains water in sandy soil. This innovative approach to waste management is not only environmentally friendly but also economically beneficial, adding more revenue to the sisters. 

On the other hand, goat rearing is an ecosystem service since it controls weed growth and maintains biodiversity. Goats also contribute to sustainable farming because they are resilient to climate change and provide nutritious milk for human consumption, hence a source of food and income generation.   

The menace of greenhouse gasses has seriously contributed to global warming and unfriendly climatic conditions experienced worldwide. However, the sisters have come up with an alternative.  They use sunlight to dry poultry litter, lowering the moisture content and destroying heat-sensitive pathogens such as salmonella, which is harmful to livestock. Sun drying helps in safe storage and also helps in keeping the feeds for a longer time, thus avoiding unnecessary use of expensive fossil fuels and further preventing air pollution. The whole process (sun drying) is natural and environmentally friendly, hence a lesson taught to the indigenous and local communities. The sister’s concern for the environment will be a “school” to the people in the society who do not understand the gravity of the situation or the impact of their negative actions on environmental destruction. 

By Sr. Dr. Blandina Kori

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