News stories by Miriam Gathigah, page 12

Without a college education and against the backdrop of limited job opportunities, it was not easy for Salome Wairimu to find employment.

As an estimated 3.7 million dollars continues to sit idle in the Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) kitty, the very women the fund was meant to benefit have complained about the difficult requirements that need to be met in order to access the money.

It is late afternoon and the lone figure of nine-year-old Nancy Chepkemboi trudges home. To keep her head dry from the heavy rains, Chepkemboi has placed her books inside her shirt and used the polythene bag that is her school bag to cover her head.

Sub-Saharan African countries have claimed nine of the ten bottom places in a ranking of maternal health around the world. 'The Mothers' Index', a new survey of motherhood by Save the Children, analyses health, education and economic conditions for women and children in 164 countries.

Talk about foul foundations: the Katwekera Tosha Bio Centre is built on the stuff that goes into toilets. This community centre in the Nairobi slum of Kibera goes well beyond solving sanitation problems - it is a model for green energy, a meeting place for locals, and turning a profit for its operators.

A community-based organisation in the Kenyan slum area of Kibera set out to clean up garbage and deal with waste water; Ushiriki Wa Safi ended up creating a community cooker that turns waste into an energy source.

The Kenyatta International Conference Centre resembled one big nursery with parents and their crying babies. One wondered whether it was tears of pain or joy. Hundreds of parents with their infants thronged the Centre where they received their first shot against pneumonia, and not even their tears as the shot broke through their skin could dampen the smiling faces of their mothers.

Professor Anyang Nyong'o might have guessed that a trip to the United States for treatment for prostate cancer would provoke a furore: he is the Minister for Medical Services.

'It is yet another significant day in the life of women across the world in the struggle for gender equality and equity. It is for this reason that women look forward to marking yet another International Women Day,' says Janet Kanene, a gender studies university student.

'It is yet another significant day in the life of women across the world in the struggle for gender equality and equity. It is for this reason that women look forward to marking yet another International Women Day,' says Janet Kanene, a gender studies university student.