Like so many moms in rural East Africa, Peris’s life and family were in shambles. Her eight children were being neglected, lucky to eat one meal a day. They were harassed by the 100+ drunk customers that were regularly in their home to purchase their mother’s toxic brew. This was not what Peris had intended when she began brewing. She had wanted to provide for her family so they could thrive, but things were deteriorating rapidly. Not only was her own family worse off due to brewing, but she was causing poverty to widen and worsen in her village through the work of her own two hands. Her supply of cheap and potent moonshine brought unimaginable evil and pain into countless homes. She was feeding the addiction that crippled so many, continuing the cycle of poverty and pain that has become the norm in many places.

But, in 2013, Peris was invited to a 5-day ELI training. She learned how to start small businesses, but more than that she found dignity, self-worth, and a God-given identity. She immediately vowed to never brew again, destroyed her brewing equipment, and started to raise chickens and grow vegetables to eat and sell. Soon she was able to provide for her family: feeding them, paying their school fees, and even buying them new clothes. She began to attend church and teach her children about God. Peris began excitedly sharing this good news with everyone she knew. She told friends and neighbors how they too could quit brewing, embrace Christ, and learn life skills to truly help their families.

Soon after, Ruth’s son Robert was in a terrible accident. Peris knew that Ruth, as a loving mother, would be there with him. So Peris went to the hospital to console Ruth and to talk to her one more time about changing her ways. This time, Ruth listened and decided to attend an ELI training. At the training center she encountered a place unlike anything she’d imagined. She found people who did not condemn or judge her. She realized she was more than a brewer; she was beloved. Once home, she too destroyed her brewing pots, then built a kale garden and a small baking area. She also helped form a women’s co-op focused on growing and selling potatoes. She always had business acumen, but she now had the skills to extend it beyond moonshine. Instead, she brought a positive light to her family and community.

Under the leadership of dynamic ELI staff, Peris, Ruth, and other transformed women created Women of Change. Through training, coaching, and mentoring, more than 1,350 women have come to ELI for life-altering training and empowerment. Entire villages are now welcoming ELI to facilitate trainings, forums, workshops, and seminars. Key villagers are being selected for additional training and development as emerging leaders so that village-wide transformation comes from within. Lives and villages are truly changing from the inside out. 

Recently, Peris completed Bible college. She helped plant a church that now has 7 satellite campuses. She is also the chaplain for the entire Women of Change program. Ruth’s businesses are booming. She is now distributing her baked goods and vegetables across county lines. She was elected a village elder for 8,000 people (a great honor as women rarely hold this role), and she spends hours each day visiting women and brewers, encouraging them to break their chains and step into freedom.

Every Sunday a national television broadcasting company shows a video of Ruth at her home. She shares her personal testimony and gives a tour of her businesses. She points out which buildings used to be her breweries. She points out the window that she and her children used to flee out of when the police raided. She laughs with a twinge of pain when she recalls the chaos of her former life: the hiding, running, lying, sneaking around, etc. She cannot believe how she went from infamy due to her notorious activities to new-found fame as she encourages and motivates thousands and thousands of people. Together she and Peris are adamant about rooting out brewing from Kenya. Combined with ELI's amazing staff, Peris, Ruth, and the 62 other women of change leaders believe that every community can be rid of the devastating poverty caused by brewing.