Construction jobs in Kenya: Mary Wangeci was busy painting and installing interior fittings at a newly developed residential plot in Lanet, when we met her. Lanet is a residential zone located in the outskirts of Nakuru town. She was in an orange apron.

Her hair was covered in a dark blue bandana, and in her hands was a painting roller. She stood out, not only because of how immaculate her job was, but because among all the workers at the site, she was the only woman. Construction jobs in Kenya are perceived as manually demanding and a preserve of men. So we asked Mary how she became a ‘fundi’ – as workers at construction sites are popularly known. And she narrated:

I am a 30-year-old mother of two, a girl and a boy.

I have been working in the construction sector over the past two and a half years as a painter and an interior fittings expert. My journey, though, did not start 30 months ago. Perhaps I would not have been where I am today had my childhood turned out different.

Multi-billion empire left behind by the late Simeon Nyachae

But it didn’t. And it was not easy growing up at Eldama Ravine. I am the first born in a family of eleven. Three of my siblings have since passed away. My siblings and I were all raised by a single mother. For a long time, I wondered where my father was, and why he had deserted us. But I have since come to learn that our father divorced my mother because she couldn’t bear him a son. This broke my mom.

I am glad that despite the weight of self-blame, heartbreak, and abandonment that yoked her shoulders, she pulled all strings to ensure that we had as comfortable a life as she could possibly offer. Nonetheless, this did not stop me from dreaming about a better life.

And whichever way I looked at it, education was the proverbial key I needed to unlock it. My mom would emphasize this to me before I left for school at Maji Mazuri Forest Primary every morning. Backed up by my good grades, I believed that life would not always be this hard. There was sunshine on the other side of the hill.

This candle of hope was blown out in December 2007 after the announcement of the General Election results. Tribal war erupted in the North Rift and quickly spread downwards towards South Rift. In its wake were a trail or murder, rape and destruction. It soon blew up in Eldama Ravine.

We ran for our lives, and left behind the little property we had. We were evacuated to Nakuru town, where well-wishers helped us settle in Lanet. The following year in February, my mother enrolled me at Ndimu Primary School, Lanet, where I sat for my KCPE.

Unfortunately, I was not able to proceed to secondary school. On one hand, my mom could not afford to cater for my fees and still fend for my siblings. As the first born, I had to start chipping in. On the other hand, the problems we had endured had taken a psychological toll on me, and affected my academic performance negatively.

To help my mom make ends meet, I started washing clothes at a fee in the neighbouring plots. Every end month, I would make Sh. 1,500 from washing clothes. I consoled myself that although the amount was too little, it was better than nothing. Over the next seven years to 2014, there were many times when I felt like giving up. ‘Will this poverty ever end?’ I would ask myself. In mid-2014, I raised my charges to Sh. 300 per day to match the rise cost of living.

All along, though, I would save half of the money I earned for rainy days. But with more women offering the same cleaning services, jobs became too scarce. I began to contemplate getting into a different field. There was too much on my plate than a cleaning job could handle. For a start, within this period, I had been blessed with two kids. I couldn’t sit back and raise them in the same circle of problems that I had grown in.

My eureka moment came in January 2015 when I quit washing clothes and started looking for jobs at various workshops in Lanet. I could handle it, I convinced myself. After all, I had once helped dig our pit latrine back in Eldama Ravine! Luckily, I got an opening where I would work for free as a budding handyman while I learned how to construct numerous varieties of furniture.

Three months later, I began to feel stuck. I had not learned anything apart from handling paint brushes and sandpapers because the owners feared that there was no market for female ‘fundis’. I quit and decided to join a professional carpentry and joinery institute. I dug out Sh. 5,000 from my savings and enrolled at the Nakuru Training Institute.

I studied here for five months before my cash run out, forcing me to drop out. But this was my time, God was on my side. Through my trainers’ referrals, a gentleman called Njenga who was looking to take interns at his workshop chose me on the strength of the items I had constructed at the school. Over the next one year, I trained at his workshop and acquired all the requisite skills needed for residential and commercial painting and fittings.

Today, I have bought all the equipment need in my field of work. My earnings have greatly improved, and I’m now able to take care of my kids, siblings, and still save and invest. I thank God that I can now say I have a decent life.

It could have been easy to demean this field of work, but today, my earnings are superior to those of many in white collar jobs. And I am confident that this is just the beginning of soaring success. Life is really what you take and make out of it! Construction jobs in Kenya.