Lucy & Mercy

Our story begins with Lucy and Mercy, two sisters who grew up fifty years ago on a coffee plantation in the Meru region of Kenya.

From the age of five, Lucy had to go into the fields with her mother to pick coffee cherries. The work was hard and the days were long: up to twelve hours a day. The work was paid very poorly or not at all, so there was often hunger too.

When Lucy was eight years old, her mother became pregnant with Mercy. Even during her pregnancy, she had to keep working on the coffee plantation. A week after the birth, Mercy was already going with them into the fields. Her mother wrapped her in a blanket and laid her under a coffee bush while she and Lucy picked the coffee cherries. The work went on.

The coffee cherries had to be picked. Then the heavy baskets had to be carried to the factory or washing station, where the coffee beans were sorted by size and quality. These were long, hot days, with no time to be a child.

Later, Lucy’s younger sister Mercy also came to work and help on the plantation. She was only one year old when she had to collect the coffee cherries that had fallen on the ground in a small bowl. That was her job.

It was a very difficult time for the sisters. That is why they left the plantation: first Lucy, at the age of twenty, and then Mercy. Both left for Nairobi, not knowing what awaited them there. Two young farm girls on their way to the big city.

Lucy ended up in Kibera. Lucy and Mercy describe Kibera as the second-largest slum in Africa, home to more than a million people. Life there is hard and difficult, and not without danger. The poverty is extreme. Every day, people die of hunger, disease and violence.

Many young women move from the coffee region to Nairobi. That step carries great risks. Prostitution, abuse, violence and drugs are a huge problem. Yet for many of them, leaving for Nairobi was and is the only way out of life on the plantations. As a result, they see no option other than to take those risks.

Fortunately, the two sisters have done well. Both are married, have children and are still together with their husbands.

Lucy is married to the Dutchman Ad Velthuis. They married in 2006 and emigrated to Australia in 2007. Their son was born that same year. In Australia, Ad built up a successful business as an entrepreneur. But her longing for Kenya remained. Lucy missed her sisters and her family. That is why Lucy and Ad returned to Nairobi in early 2026.

On the ‘About us’ page you can read more about the concept behind Coffeesisters.