Her turning point is when she was invited to attend the launch of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit expo at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre.
In fact, she caught the attention of President Uhuru Kenyatta when she confessed that she was an illegal brewer.
“Two weeks after I had stopped selling alcohol I had a chance to speak to the President and I confessed… I said what I used to do,” she recalled.
Later after the expo, Joyce was asked to see ‘Big Ted’ who pledged to support Joyce and her group, the Dynamic.
It gave her and other former brewers a fresh start.
It was an opportunity to walk out of the chains of drunkenness, police torture and illegal businesses.
Jane, Joyce, Salome and others are now members of a group called Dynamic which is located at Dagoretti Corner.
“Dynamic was started after all the challenges of stigmatisation, they can’t attend funerals, they can’t go to church, their children were discriminated in school. Someone advised them to start a group instead of being arrested all the time,” Waithera Gaitho, Alternatives Executive Director explained.
Through the support of Alternatives that introduced Joyce to the GES, the group has identified assistance from the Youth Fund, Uwezo Fund and others have enrolled in National Youth Service project to work and earn a living.
They also have their own project of rearing pigs for sale.
According to Waithera, other projects to integrate them back to their communities are ongoing.
Their wish is to get more support that will sustain all the former local brewers who they say are many.
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