Go Granny Go! Meet Nairobi’s entrepreneurial grandmas

Visit some of the entrepreneurial grandmas who make a living from pig farming in the rural outskirts of Nairobi. In Kenya, grandmothers often carry the burden of looking after their grandchildren and extended families. With no social security and faced with extreme poverty, this is incredibly tough and many children will abandon the home in search of food. So, we set up Go Granny Go! to give grandmas a way to earn a sustainable income through farming – this is pivotal in keeping families together.

The day trip is led by a guide from the local community who’s also been through one of our programmes. You’ll get a warm welcome from our grandmas, who’ll show you around their homes and small-scale pig farms. Enjoy a cup of tea and help cook a traditional Kenyan lunch while the women share their inspiring stories with you. There’s often lots of singing and laughter, it’s all about the women’s journeys and getting an insight into Kenyan culture. The experience stands out from typical tours because it’s so raw and real, it’s everyday life and you get to visit the grassroots communities that most travellers never see.

Watch as TV traveller Simon Reeve talks about Go Granny Go with Christine, one of our contacts on the ground in Nairobi.

At One Horizon, Go Granny Go! is just one of our humanitarian schemes. We work with local communities in Kenya to develop sustainable programmes that lift people out of poverty. Our focus is on economic empowerment, providing vocational training and microfinancing that enables women to become financially independent and support their families. It’s all about female empowerment. Part of this work is providing medical assistance and infrastructure for housing and schools. In fact, we were able to help one child associated with our programme go to university and he’s now a vet and back working with us at Go Granny Go!

If you’re looking for an off-the-beaten-track experience, this is the trip for you. When you take the Go Granny Go! tour, you directly contribute to funding the programme, so you can give back to Kenyan communities while you travel. I love seeing the camaraderie between guests and their hosts, after all, our cultures may be different but we all want to be happy, to be able to put food on the table and share this world together. Unsurprisingly, the tour has a huge impact on our guests’ priorities and their own journeys too.