At 19 years, Christine Mwende is the epitome of resilience.
At her parent’s home in Embu, she is deep into guinea pig rearing to fund her college education which she has so long desired.
Mwende has a passion for fashion design, a course she was admitted to the Jeremiah Nyaga Technical Institute in Embu to pursue back in 2020.
At this time, the Covid-19 pandemic had struck and drained her family’s finances yet, her whole life in fashion design stared at her.
It is then that she researched about Guinea pips and how they are reared. She then got three to start with but it was the beginning of another learning curve.
One of the guinea pigs died a few days later after feeding her a poisonous diet. This was an eye-opener.
Today, she is happy that she can handle her agri-venture comfortably. Domesticated guinea pigs are smaller in size and would be mistaken for a rabbit but they have small ears and shorter tails. They are more of rodents.
Mwende has been able to establish a profitable business from the sale of guinea pigs.
The older the guinea pig, the higher the price. A two-week-old guinea pig costs Ksh250 while a month old will cost ksh500. Any guinea pig more than a month old costs Ksh1,000.
Mwende told the Star that she has sold at least 40 of these domesticated animals since she started the business.
This has enabled her to cater for her school fees and pocket money.
