Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Rooted

In this powerful episode of Rooted Podcast, we sit down with Jackie Odhiambo, the Founder and Executive Director of Nyanam Widows Rising—a Kenya-based, women-led organization transforming communities by equipping widows to overcome stigma, reclaim identity, and lead with dignity.

Jackie’s story begins with three widowed women who raised her—each shaping her worldview through faith, resilience, courage, and an unshakable sense of justice. Yet as a young adult, Jackie confronted the painful contradiction between the strong widows she knew and the marginalized widows she encountered in community work.

This tension became her well moment—her spiritual turning point—leading her to see widowhood not as a social sentence but as a calling into leadership.

Since 2019, Nyanam has grown 41-fold, from serving 80 widows to more than 3,300, through a holistic model—Voices of Change—that strengthens spiritual, social, mental, and economic outcomes for widows and their children.

Jackie speaks candidly about faith, identity, trauma in leadership, public health insights, generational healing, and the long obedience of saying “yes” again and again to a mission God continues to unfold.

This conversation is tender, profound, deeply spiritual, and full of courage.

👥 About Our Guest: Jackie Odhiambo

Jackie Odhiambo is the Founder and Executive Director of Nyanam Widows Rising, a Kenyan grassroots organization equipping widows to overcome stigma and lead transformational change within their families and communities.

Under Jackie’s leadership, Nyanam has grown from 80 participants to over 3,300 widows—a 41-fold expansion in just five years. Their signature program, Voices of Change, strengthens: • Spiritual grounding • Mental and emotional wellness • Social belonging • Economic empowerment

Jackie holds a Master’s in Public Health from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and is pursuing her PhD in Public Health through a joint program with Maseno University (Kenya) and UCSF (USA). Her research explores widowhood, stigma, and health outcomes.

A woman of profound faith, justice, and integrity, Jackie believes widowhood is not an identity of loss, but a platform for leadership—a conviction shaping thousands of families across Kenya.

📲 Connect with Jackie & Nyanam Widows RisingWebsite → https://nyanam.org

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We’ve been working on something meaningful… and it’s finally here! 🎙️ Rooted: A new Podcast from The Leader Collective at Blood:Water.

The word rooted itself means: Having developed from something. Very strong. Firmly fixed. On Rooted we sit with the leaders Blood:Water serves across East and Southern Africa to hear how defining moments planted them firmly in the purpose that drives them. This is a podcast about people. About the full, unedited totality of a life: origin stories, hopes, disappointments and unimaginable victories. Because every mission starts with a person. And every person has roots.Our hope is that you, our listeners, would find common ground here and that these conversations would stir something deep in you—that they would inspire you to flourish in your purpose and lead on mission.

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Every mission starts with a person, and every person has a story. On Rooted, we sit with leaders across East and Southern Africa to hear how defining moments planted them firmly in the purpose that drives them. This is Rooted, a podcast from the Leader Collective at Blood Water.

In this inspiring episode of Rooted Podcast, host Nadia Kist sits down with Jane Wathome, Founder and Executive Director of Beacon of Hope Africa—one of Kenya’s most impactful, faith-driven organizations addressing HIV/AIDS, women’s empowerment, and community transformation.

Jane’s leadership story began in 1996 when she left a thriving corporate career during her internship at Nairobi Chapel to respond to a stirring call into ministry. That first courageous yes would go on to ignite a movement. Since launching Beacon of Hope in 2002, Jane has built an organization that now spans healthcare, education, vocational training, and economic empowerment—reaching over one million women, children, and youth.

Her contagious passion for uplifting others and her relentless belief in what is possible has shaped the lives of countless emerging leaders—including our host. This episode is both a tribute to Jane’s extraordinary influence and an intimate look at the faith, vision, and steadfastness behind her work.

👥 About Our Guest: Jane Wathome

Jane Wathome is the Founder and Executive Director of Beacon of Hope Africa, a Kenyan faith-based NGO established in 2002 to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic among women and youth in underserved communities. Under Jane’s visionary leadership, Beacon of Hope has grown into a multi-sector organization offering:

• Comprehensive healthcare • Education & vocational training • Spiritual support • Livelihood and economic empowerment programs

For more than 20 years, Beacon of Hope has impacted over 1 million lives, transforming entire communities across Kenya.

Jane is widely known for her: • Deep faith and ministry-centered leadership • Relentless passion for empowering women • Commitment to raising emerging leaders • Unwavering belief in possibility and purpose

She continues to serve as a mentor, teacher, and catalyst for change across East Africa and beyond.

📲 Connect with Jane & Beacon of Hope

Website: https://beaconafrica.org

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In this deeply moving episode of Rooted Podcast, we sit down with Hermella Wondimu Woldehana, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Drop of Water—one of Ethiopia’s most respected community-rooted water organizations. For nearly 15 years, Hermela has led with unwavering faith, radical generosity, and a servant-hearted commitment to ending Ethiopia’s water crisis.

From her childhood in Harar—formed by a legacy of compassion, hospitality, and sacrificial giving—to her courageous decision to walk away from a successful engineering career and follow a calling that made no sense on paper, Hermela reveals the story behind her life’s mission. She shares how a chance encounter with actor Matt Damon, a divine moment of clarity, and early seasons of hardship and perseverance shaped the leader she is today.

If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like to say yes to a calling bigger than yourself, Hermela’s story is a masterclass in purpose, resilience, and faith in action.

Note: This episode was recorded in early 2025, since the recording, Hermella Wondimu and Elfaz Kassa now serve as Co-Executive Directors, leading Drop of Water.

💬 Stay Connected with Drop of Water: https://dropofwater.org/

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In this powerful episode of Rooted Podcast, we sit down with Ephy Imbali, the Founder and Executive Director of Community Asset Building for Development Action (CABDA)—a community-led organization strengthening resilience, and local systems across Western Kenya.Ephy’s story begins in Kakamega County, where she grew up as one of 12 siblings in a family marked by economic hardship, enduring faith, and collective responsibility. From an early age, she witnessed both hardship and the strength communities carry when people come together to survive, support one another, and rise together.Those experiences shaped a lifelong conviction: communities are not empty-handed. They already hold assets, leadership, wisdom, and solutions capable of creating lasting transformation.After years working with international NGOs, Ephy began questioning development models that positioned communities primarily as recipients rather than active agents of their own change. She saw projects completed without ownership, systems installed without sustainability, and communities left dependent on outside intervention long after organizations had moved on.That realization became the foundation for CABDA.Built on the belief that communities themselves are central to development, CABDA partners alongside local leaders to strengthen existing community assets, build local systems, and equip communities to sustain their own progress long after outside funding ends.Throughout the conversation, Ephy shares powerful stories of community agency in action—from a spring protection project built more than 20 years ago that communities still maintain today, to women’s groups pooling savings to support children’s education, to local organizations growing stronger through mentorship, partnership, and trust.Nadia and Ephy explore:• Why community-led development begins with recognizing existing assets• The difference between ownership and dependency in development work• How communities rise when they are trusted to lead their own transformation• Why servant leadership matters more than power• The role of faith, humility, and accountability in sustaining long-term impact• How CABDA has strengthened more than 46 local civil society organizations• What it means to stay the course in the deep work of transformationThis conversation is deeply grounded in hope, dignity, and the belief that lasting change is strongest when communities themselves are empowered to lead it.👥 About Our Guest: Ephy ImbaliEphy Imbali is the Founder and Executive Director of Community Asset Building for Development Action (CABDA), a Kenyan community-led organization serving communities across Western Kenya.For more than 20 years, CABDA has partnered with communities to strengthen local leadership, community systems, economic resilience, and access to health and WASH services through approaches rooted in community ownership and existing local assets.Ephy has more than 30 years of experience in community development and social impact. Her leadership is shaped by faith, humility, accountability, and a deep belief that sustainable transformation happens when communities are trusted, equipped, and empowered to lead their own development.In 2024, Blood:Water recognized Ephy as Leader of the Year for her visionary leadership and longstanding commitment to locally led change.📲 Connect with Ephy & CABDAWebsite → https://cabdakenya.org/💬 Stay Connected with Blood:Water🎧 Listen & Subscribe📍 YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@BloodWaterMission📷 Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bloodwatermission/📘 Facebook → https://web.facebook.com/bloodwatermission?_rdc=1&_rdr#🐦 Twitter/X → https://x.com/bloodwater📩 Email us → BLOODWATER@BLOODWATER.ORG