THE TSAVORITE CAMP

The Tsavorite Camp

The Tsavorite Camp is a home away from home for women miners in Voi, Kenya. A shipping container is being converted into camp for women, who leave their homes and families to stay at the mines for days or weeks at a time.

A SPACE FOR WOMEN CREATES

Opportunity for Equality, Increased Earning potential, Safety and a reason to Sing

Container photo.jpg

Let's create a safe place for the women behind the gems in your jewelry!

The UN Women Safe Place concept is being used to create the Tsavorite Camp to benefit the women miners in Voi, Kenya. The women who mine here often leave their families for days on end and live without sanitation or easily accessed water. We see the value in giving safe place for women, water, sanitation and safety equipment. When we asked the women miners, what they wanted for the camp, they answered a "first aid kit." I think the jewelry industry can do that and much more!

Mining camps can be tough places to live. With a woman only camp with clean water, sanitation, the quality of life and work for the women miners will improve dramatically. The Rotary Club of El Cajon Sunset processed an original grant, that started this project. The RJT is continuing the work to see it to completion. Together, we can create a camp and training program for the artisanal miners of Taita, Kenya!

Overview

When at the mine site, the living conditions are not suitable or safe for the women. Their journey starts by leaving their families and children in their faraway residences to live at the mines for two weeks to a month at a time. The mines are located inside the national park and lack water or sanitary necessities. We wouldn't want to stay in these conditions let's ensure that our colleagues don't have to either. We can help improve their lives and their capacity to increase their livelihood through the Tsavorite Camp.

Progress

The implementation of the Tsavorite house began in Summer of 2023. The beneficiaries of the project and RJT had a meeting to elect leaders and organize frameworks of the Tsavorite House. The formation of leadership and collaborative frameworks for the Tsavorite House has leads to strengthening the role of women in regional artisanal mining and facilitates women joining together and address their own needs in the mining work. After the physical house is finished, safety equipment, labor rights and equal pay will be discussed and data will be gathered, to guide future interventions.

Sponsorship

We appreciate all who have donated to the Tsavorite Camp thus far. The women miners have had the most recent meeting in Late October 2024. At the recent meeting the consensus was to divid the container into two sleeping sections for each