Student teaches women with disabilities how to knit mats

Tabitha Njeri (right) teaches Caroline Nekesa how to knit a table mat in Kitale town. [Martin Ndiema, Standard]

It is Sunday afternoon in Meru farm, Kitale, and Tabitha Njeri, 16, is holding a crotchet needle, mat board, a tape measure and knitting thread. Villagers have nicked-named her “Njeri wa mats” owing to her business of selling handmade mats, which she started in March following closure of schools to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The Form Three student at Bikeke Girls also teaches women living with disabilities in slums how to knit mats to eke a living. Her love for art prompted her 71-year-old grandmother to teach her how to knit sweaters and mats. “Every evening, my grandmother would teach me how to hold a crotchet needle. I started by making simple products like table mats but with time, I graduated to floor mats,” says Njeri.