From the Mines to a New Beginning in the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project
- Wildlife Works
- 23 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Jane Okoth
On a typical day you will find Naomi Mrunde, a single mother of two, tending to indigenous seedlings, grafting fruit trees, or working alongside farmers in the conservation agriculture program at the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project. Since joining the project in 2023, Naomi has been working at the Agribusiness and Forestry department.
But her journey here was anything but easy.
Born and raised in part of the Kasigau project area, Naomi grew up in a humble household. Naomi’s parents were able to support her education through part of secondary school, but financial difficulties meant her education had to end there. In the years that followed, she found herself struggling to make ends meet, to feed her child and support her family. “I tried to venture into farming to survive,” she recalls, “but it failed me most of the time.”
In 2019, Naomi came across an opportunity in the local mining sector. It was open-pit mining, where gemstones such as tourmaline were extracted from deep within the earth. “We dug with hoes, and when we hit the rock, we used explosives to break it apart,” Naomi explains. With no safety gear to protect her from the dangerous job, Naomi only focused on digging out gemstones and handing them to the brokers who waited outside the pit, ready to buy whatever they had dug.
The work was dangerous, but the income, though inconsistent, was tempting for someone who did not have any other options. Naomi worked in the mines for two years, until one tragic day changed everything.
The morning of the incident, she had stepped away to make tea at the makeshift camp when an explosion was set off in one of the pits. The blast had weakened the rocks, and they were all instructed to wait until the rocks cooled down. But some miners were too impatient to collect gemstones and went back inside too soon. Naomi was about to follow them when a massive rock fell without warning.
“It happened so fast,” she says quietly. “Three people died, including someone I had just spoken to minutes before. Others were badly injured. If I had gone in, I would have been one of them.”
The close call shook her, but desperation drove her to try another mine. However, this one soon closed when brokers claimed the minerals had been rejected in Hong Kong. That was when Naomi decided to leave mining behind for good.
A new path opened for her in 2023 when she learned about a job opportunity at the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project in the Agribusiness and Forestry department. She recalls hurriedly sending in her application and the relief when she found out it was successful.
Now, two years later, she has found both safer work conditions and a chance to develop new skills. “I have learnt budding, grafting, and how to manage a nursery. She has also joined her colleagues in partnering with local farmers to co-create tools important for increasing their knowledge about conservation agriculture. “I sometimes go out in the field to work with farmers to measure trenches and help them adopt conservation agriculture. Life is more peaceful now,” she says with a smile.
Naomi’s work supports not only her two children, but also her sister’s child and a sick sibling who requires constant medication. “I thank God for this job,” she says. “Before, I used to struggle with rent and sometimes slept outside. Now, I have a house and even a plot of land to take care of my family.”
From risking her life underground to nurturing seedlings, Naomi’s story is one of resilience, and the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project is proud to have her on the team.
