21 March 2017•Update: 22 March 2017
By Andrew Wasike and Magdalene Mukami
NAIROBI, Kenya
The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) on Tuesday donated more than 150 sewing machines to give work to women in Kenya’s Siaya county.
The area, on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, has a female unemployment rate of 48 percent, meaning many women are forced into prostitution.
The county has an HIV rate of nearly 24 percent -- the second highest in Kenya.
The machines, thread and material were donated to “the less fortunate women of Siaya county, with tools to enable them to start their tailoring businesses and sustainably forge their way out of poverty,” TIKA said in a statement.
Turkish Ambassador Deniz Eke personally delivered the machines to hundreds of women aged 20 to 40 who gathered at a market.
According to a report released by the Population Action International, Siaya County is dominated by young people who need to be supported. At least 45 percent of the population is aged 15 and under.
