Truckee resident Jennifer Gurecki quit her job as the director of Adventure Risk Challenge this summer to focus on her nonprofit, Zawadisha, which gives microloans to poor women in Kenya. Meghan Kelly, a civil engineer for the Tahoe Conservation District, started her third year as the California regional coordinator for SheJumps, a nonprofit with a goal of increasing female participation in outdoor activities.
This shared passion for female empowerment brought the two women together this summer to start Coalition Snow, the first female-owned ski and snowboard company that designs skis and boards specifically for women. It also brought them to Kenya this month to climb and ski Mt. Kenya, the second highest peak in Africa, to launch their company, raise money for Zawadisha, and make a statement about climate change in an expedition they call Summit for Our Sisters.
Gurecki started Zawadisha, which means “to give a gift,” three years ago after a previous trip to Kenya to do research for her master’s (she is now getting her Ph.D. in sustainability education). She wanted to find out what Kenyan women living in poverty needed in order to have more control over their lives. The answer — more access to the economy. The next time Gurecki returned to the country, she cashed in her savings bonds from her grandmother and gave out microloans to eight women. That number has now grown to 55 women. The one-year loans range from $60 to $250, which the women have used to sell vegetables in the market, process and package fish from Lake Victoria, and start a hair salon, among others. Zawadisha has a 98 percent repayment rate, according to Gurecki.
“They are self-reliant for the first time, their own boss for the first time,” Gurecki, 36, said on the phone from Nairobi about the women she funds. “There is a lot of power in that.”
But these women are still susceptible to the economic damage that can be inflicted by climate change, which creates droughts several times a year, destroying crops, decreasing income, and causing food prices to soar.
“They [poor Kenyan women] are at the forefront of any climate change because they are closely connected to the land and … the government doesn’t step in to help them,” Guercki said. “For people who live in poverty, climate change is not a future thing, but it happens day in and day out.”
One symbol of climate change in Kenya is the 16,355-foot Mt. Kenya, whose glaciers are melting so fast scientists estimate they will disappear in the next two or three decades. Gurecki and Kelly, who also share a passion for the outdoors, decided they not only wanted to climb and ski Mt. Kenya, but that it was a great opportunity to raise money for Zawadisha. Kelly is an avid skier who has done expeditions to Europe, Alaska, and British Columbia, and is an athlete in the upcoming all-women’s ski film, “Pretty Faces.” Gurecki is a snowboarder who climbed Mt. Kenya two years ago. Their goal is to raise $16,355, the height of the highest point on Mt. Kenya, to help Zawadisha grow to 100 loan recipients, and also be able to provide larger loans.
“We could be one of the last people to ski this glacier,” Kelly, 34, said the day before she left for Africa. “There is a big shift in the ski industry — we have to protect the future of our sport.”
That is why Gurecki and Kelly focus on the triple bottom line (people, planet, and profits) in everything they do at Coalition Snow, whether it’s making environmentally-friendly skis and boards, or giving grants to organizations that focus on empowering women and girls. That’s also why Mt. Kenya seemed like the perfect backdrop to launch Coalition Snow — an opportunity for the company founders to show their dual commitment to environmental causes and female empowerment. Gurecki and Kelly, who will be using Coalition Snow skis and boards, started their one-week expedition on Nov. 3.
“There has never been a ski company that’s been owned by women and creates skis and boards for women,” Gurecki said. “That’s an odd omission in 2013. We wanted to create a company that recognizes that women deserve to be on an equal platform to men.”
Although the Summit for Our Sisters expedition is about many things — raising funds for Zawadisha, drawing attention to climate change, and launching a company — Kelly said it’s all interconnected.
“It’s hard to ignore the intertwining of everything we do,” she said. “We recreate in the mountains and it’s this thing where everything is connected.”
To donate to Summit for Our Sisters, go to stayclassy.org/events/summit-for-our-sisters/e26973. For more information about Zawadisha and Coalition Snow, visit zawadisha.org and coalitionsnow.com.
~ Comment on this story below.
