Laetitia was born in Bukura, a rural village in western Kenya. For much of her childhood, Laetitia lived and worked on her grandparents’ farm before moving to Nairobi to attend school. At age 14, she moved back to her village for a few months and was inspired to start a project to benefit the children of the school. Laetitia identified the 15 neediest students and then went door-to-door convincing their mothers to join her for training in sustainable rabbit farming. She says “I chose to specifically work with their mothers because…if I empowered one woman I would have empowered the whole family and the entire community.” Her project grew into what is now the African Rabbit Centre (ARC), which supports 18 local schoolchildren in Bukura and over 400 underprivileged children in Sofia, an extremely marginalized nearby community.
Laetitia was later accepted to the African Leadership Academy (ALA) in South Africa where she was the CEO of a student business called Agroinnovation for Africa, dedicated to collecting and recycling the school’s food waste and turning it into organic fertilizer. After hearing about University’s curriculum and emphasis on business, leadership and rural development, Letitia was convinced that EARTH was the best place for her. “My causes in life have always been promoting women empowerment and providing education to underprivileged children. I believe agriculture is the best tool we have to solve these problems and I know that I will get knowledge and information I need at EARTH.”
