Mary Syombua, 40, has lived in Kibera for 20 years. She sells traditional vegetables to support 4 birth children and one orphaned child. She joined Village of Love in 2011 and has struggled to pay back two loans amounting to $180. Previously she had taken out a loan with another micro-loan enterprise, but paying back the loan ate too far into her business profits and she was still in debt when she joined Village of Love. She has been helped by the volunteers to balance her payments so that she is able to feed her children, pay back the former micro- loan and the Village of Love loan. The loans enabled her to increase her stock and add another item, sweet potatoes.

Mary acts as a peer educator for Village of Love. She helps provide advice and education to the other women in the clusters at their Thursday meetings. She is a good role model to the others and she encourages other people to take in orphans. She sometimes acts a speer educator for other organisations such as the Salvation Army. (Information recorded in 2013).

Through careful saving and management of her resources, Mary has been able to purchase the two small rooms she lives in, so that she is now living rent free! (recorded 2014)