Women's Stories

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WE Center for STAR Women

WE provides technical support, business training, and access to microcredit loans to refugee women in San Diego.

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Veronica Kiju, a refugee since age three, believes in optimism and self-reliance.

Veronica Kiju: A Can-do Spirit at Work

Veronica Kiju is the unofficial team captain of the African Dream Team - five refugee entrepreneurs who are opening a one-stop shopping cooperative offering a wide array of African fashions, spices, lotions and handicrafts. The WE STAR Center has secured a $10,000 loan for the five businesswomen to open the Sokoni African Bazaar storefront at 5716 El Cajon Boulevard.

The five also will package a mindset of optimism and self-reliance, according to Veronica.

“We have a real vision of what our business can do. We don't want to rely on welfare. In Africa, the woman takes care of all matters in the home. We want African women here in San Diego to come back to that spirit of knowing they can do something for themselves and their families.”

Veronica has been a refugee since the age of three when her family fled from Kenya to Uganda for reasons she still doesn't know. “African parents didn't tell their children why they had to move,” she recalls, “and even now, many African parents have not told their children why they are here in America.”

Veronica met her business partners - Mary Page and Evelyn Njoroge of Kenya and Natalina Kantieko and Sarah Ade of Sudan - through community refugee networks. The five women, all solo entrepreneurs with different niche products, quickly developed a strong rapport. “We were not afraid,” Veronica says. “Everybody was willing to do everything. It didn't matter if we were Muslim or Christian, or what country we came from, we all trusted that God would help us achieve independence.”

Veronica's ultimate dream is to return to Kenya someday and deliver hope to women who are struggling there: “I want to encourage them, 'Live for tomorrow, and hold onto your vision for improving the lives of your children and your families.'”