John Maina was born at Kahurura in Londiani and he is one of a family of five boys and one girl. He is the second eldest in his family. John works with eight other people in Nairobi making Kenyan craft items for selling in crafts shops in Nairobi. He learned how to be a craft producer by starting with making a jewellery box from the banana fibres. He was taught how to do this at a workshop. He continued to make more of these boxes and soon branched out to make other different items of his own design.

This year Brighter Communities Worldwide will be selling his exclusive design of nativity set made with wire, fabric and banana fibres and nativity set figures made with wire and bead along with several other items.

John’s younger brother Wilson works with him in Nairobi. The brothers had a challenging upbringing as their father was taking chang-aa (illegal brew in Kenya) and tobacco and he wasn’t able to provide for this family. John went to school at Londiani Township and Chepkongony schools but when he was in class five of primary school and Wilson was in class three, they dropped out of school because of lack of school fees. Although they were too young to be working, a local public health officer took them on at his farm and gave them kibarua (small job) and in return paid them with money and also provided maize and vegetables for the rest of their family. 

The boys continued working in this way for the years that followed and they provided for their parents and siblings.

At the end of 2007, Kenya held a general election, which was followed by tribal clashes that had a huge impact on Kahurura. The boys and their family were evicted from their home and forced to move to Nairobi to try to make a new start there. Their father started a small business but unfortunately he died in 2009 a year after they arrived. He was 50 years old and severely traumatised by the violence and damage he witnessed in Kahurura as his home was destroyed and he watched his whole world taken from him in just one day.

The boys remained in Nairobi with their mother. Eventually, with their support she and their two youngest siblings, returned to Kahurura and rebuilt their house in 2012. John and Wilson remained in Nairobi and built up their craft business forming partnerships with six others. They have also formed a partnership with a company called ‘CIA Meina safaris’. This is a Kenyan based organization that organise trips carefully designed to combine cultural and natural riches with luxury and adventure to create trips that are talked about for a long time.

John was number one in his class when he was forced to drop out of school in class five. Despite his lack of formal education, he has learned a lot from life and put that back into his business. He and his brother are supporting their two youngest siblings to complete school and one has already completed secondary school.

John says that God has played a huge role in bringing his life to where it is today. His faith has led him to complete a diploma in bible studies in 2013 and he is planning to work towards completing a degree.