VoyageSTL interviews Zellipah Githui
In July 2022, Zellipah Githui was interviewed as part of the Inspiring Conversations series by VoyageSTL magazine. Here's what she had to say:
To kick things off, can you tell us how you got started?
I was born in Kenya as the eighth child out of nine of my mother and sixteenth out of seventeen of my father. As a young child, I knew firsthand what hunger was and experienced what being without looking like. My father was a civil servant, and my mother was a subsistence farmer. When not farming, she was sewing, knitting, and weaving sisal baskets. At that time, the fence to our homestead was sisal-cactus lined for three reasons:
1. to keep "bad guys" away with its thorns
2. to give privacy, and
3. to provide the raw material for mum’s baskets.
Sewing I did not like, even today. Needleless to say, I started knitting and weaving baskets before I knew how to read and write. I learned to weave and enjoyed weaving sisal baskets. I also learned to sell at the markets primarily near our health center, where I sold bananas, sweet potatoes, baskets, etc. to supplement my mum’s income from her farm produce to help with food and school fees.
Fast forward to 1998, when I moved to the United States with a suitcase full of souvenirs from my family. With my love of community engagement, I started showcasing my souvenirs to the students and staff and sold them in a cultural exchange activity in college, and an idea was sparked.
My dream became finding a way to share the beautiful work of the artisans with others in a way that was guaranteed to benefit everyone involved in a fair and prosperous way. I started Gitzell FairTrade and at first focused on craft fairs and festivals. I later began to wholesale and joined the Fair Trade Federation.
What else should our readers know about Gitzell FairTrade?
Gitzell FairTrade has a selection of handwoven baskets, home décor, and handmade jewelry. Gitzell FairTrade partners with weavers in different African counties and helps improve their livelihood one basket at a time by selling various African baskets in the global market and currently supporting over 220 families. We work under the principles of the Fair Trade Federation. Artisans use environmentally friendly and sustainable materials. We work with artisans to develop different ways of adapting to the changing market. Working with artisans in Africa is rewarding on many levels.
Our specialty is the African basket. All shapes, sizes, and colors of the basket. We are largely wholesalers but do a small amount of retail online. Gitzell FairTrade is well respected for its authenticity - partnering directly with producers - and good quality, and the expertise I bring to the larger fair trade industry. I, as the founder, have a lot of passion for this as I know how it impacted our family with the woven baskets. I have the same joy in impacting a family’s life in Africa.
What does success mean to you?
Success is when there will not be a single soul sleeping hungry. We each need to do our part. When I was young, I saw a lot of poverty and defined what success meant to me. I defined it as “having a distribution center in Kenya where lots of people would be employed so they can feed their family and improve their livelihood.”
Almighty God, though, determined the distribution center to be here in St. Charles, Missouri!
