I Challenged myself to reach 100 orders in August. I got just four. At the time, I thought I had failed, but those four orders helped provide sanitary pads for schoolgirls in Kenya and led me to discover a much bigger need. This is the story of what happened next, and why KCM’s September orders now mean more than ever.
How four candle orders helped provide sanitary pads for schoolgirls in Kenya, and why Kilimanjaro Candles & More is now helping an unfinished primary school in Kitui County.
I questioned my return to Kilimanjaro Candles & More many times.
After being away from my business for almost two years because of illness and surgery, coming back wasn’t as simple as reopening a website and starting to make candles again.
There were moments when I genuinely wondered whether I should have returned at all.
The orders were slower than I remembered. I was rebuilding from almost zero. And after previously having a business where much of my income came through markets and craft fairs, trying to rebuild KCM primarily through my website and social media felt like starting all over again.
But something just wouldn’t let me walk away.
And now I think I’m beginning to understand why.
It Started With Sanitary Pads
When I opened Kilimanjaro Candles & More (KCM), I knew I wanted the business to mean more than simply selling beautiful candles.
Growing up in Kenya, I knew what something as basic as access to sanitary pads could mean for a young girl.
For many of us, buying sanitary products is an ordinary part of life. We put them into our shopping baskets without giving it much thought.
But for some girls, particularly those growing up in very humble circumstances, it isn’t that simple.
A lack of sanitary products can affect their comfort, confidence, dignity and even their ability to attend school.
So when I opened KCM, I made a decision.
£1 from every candle sold would be put towards providing sanitary pads for schoolgirls in Kenya.
It was a small beginning.
I didn’t know exactly where it would lead.
Then August happened.
I was starting again.
And starting again after you’ve already known what it feels like to have a successful business is strange.
You’re constantly comparing where you are now with where you used to be.
There were moments when I genuinely wondered whether reopening KCM had been the right decision.
The orders were slow.
Social media had changed.
I had changed.
And more than once, I wondered whether perhaps I should just let the business go.
But something in me just wouldn’t let me.
So I kept making.
I kept posting.
I kept telling the story.
I kept showing up.
And looking at what is happening now, I can’t help wondering whether KCM needed to come back for reasons much bigger than the ones I originally imagined.
Then I Set Myself a Ridiculous Challenge: 100 Orders
When I reopened, I decided to do things differently.
Previously, so much of KCM’s success had come from markets and craft fairs.
This time, I wanted to find out whether I could rebuild the business through my website and social media.
So in August, I gave myself a challenge:
100 website orders in one month.
I shared the challenge publicly.
I documented the quiet days.
I celebrated every order.
And at the end of August?
I hadn’t made 100 orders.
I had made four.
Four customers.
When your target is 100, four can feel incredibly small.
But those four customers were about to teach me one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned since reopening this business:
Small numbers can still make a very big difference.
This Is What Four Customers Did
One of the reasons behind KCM has always been bigger than candles.
As someone originally from Kenya, I know that something as ordinary to many of us as having access to sanitary products isn’t something every girl can take for granted.
So when I relaunched KCM, I continued with the biggest reason why we started KCM, provide sanitary pads for schoolgirls in Kenya.
And money generated through those August sales helped us provide 56 packs of sanitary pads.
When I received the photographs, I stared at them.
Boxes of sanitary pads sitting there ready for the girls.
And all I could think about were those four customers.
Four people had gone onto my little website and bought candles.
Perhaps to them it was simply an order.
Perhaps they chose a fragrance they liked, paid and waited for their parcel to arrive.
But thousands of miles away, that purchase became part of something else.
Four customers. Four orders. Real impact.
That was emotional enough.
But then I was shown the school.
Then I Saw Maviani Primary School
The school we’re supporting is Maviani Primary School in Kitui County, Kenya, near Nzambani Rock.
And there is a very personal connection to it.
My sister is currently the acting headteacher at the school.
Through her, I was able to see photographs and videos of the reality the children and teachers are facing.
Many of the pupils come from very humble backgrounds.
There are approximately 70 children, from PP1 through to Grade 6, with children roughly between the ages of four and fourteen.
The school currently has two completed classrooms (no Windows).
Another two classrooms remain unfinished and in the future another two will be needed.
There is also an unfinished office for the teachers, this is why they have moved their office to outdoors, with rain season starting next month! More on this later.
When I saw the videos, I cried, I don't remember the last time I have cried that much!
Because suddenly these weren’t figures on a page.
They were children.
Children sitting at desks trying to learn.
Teachers trying to teach with very limited facilities.
A school trying to educate its children with what it has.
And I couldn’t stop thinking:
How do I simply look away from this now that I’ve seen it?
The Needs Go Far Beyond a Roof
Initially, my immediate thought was the unfinished classrooms.
Could we help get roofs over them?
Could KCM contribute towards completing them?
But as I learned more, I realised the needs were much greater.
The school needs more classrooms.
It needs the unfinished classrooms completed.
It needs the teachers’ office finished.
It needs proper windows.
It needs additional latrines.
It needs access to enough clean water.
It needs a fence around the school.
There are also everyday challenges that many of us rarely associate with sending a child to school.
Some families struggle to provide enough food.
Some children don’t have proper school uniforms.
The school doesn’t have enough latrines.
And yet, every day, these children still come to learn.
That’s the part that has stayed with me.
They aren’t asking for luxury.
They need the basic things that give children a safe, dignified environment in which to learn.
I Can’t Finish an Entire School
I’m very aware of the reality here.
KCM is a tiny business.
I’m rebuilding after being away for almost two years.
Four orders in August certainly didn’t turn me back into the business I once was.
And I cannot personally solve every problem at Maviani Primary School.
I can’t finish an entire school.
I can’t provide everything every child needs.
But I’ve realised something.
I can do something.
And if the four August customers taught me anything, it’s that we should never dismiss something simply because it seems small.
Four orders helped us provide sanitary pads.
What could ten orders do?
What could fifty do?
What could one hundred do?
And what could happen if other people and other small businesses eventually decided to join us too?
So I’ve Made a Decision for September
This September, I’m doing something different.
£5 from every KCM order placed during September will go towards helping raise funds for the unfinished classrooms, beginning with the roofs.
That means:
10 orders = £50
50 orders = £250
100 orders = £500
Suddenly my 100-order goal feels completely different.
In August, I wanted 100 orders because I wanted proof that I could rebuild my business.
Now?
I want to know what 100 orders could help us do.
September Isn’t About Profit for Me
I also want to be transparent about something.
September isn’t going to be a profit-making month for me.
KCM is only just rebuilding.
Financially, this probably isn’t the sensible time for a tiny business to decide to give my profit away.
There are wax costs.
Fragrance oils.
Jars.
Wicks.
Labels.
Packaging.
Website costs.
Postage and all the other expenses involved in running a small handmade business.
But after seeing that school, I couldn’t comfortably tell myself:
“I’ll help when the business gets bigger.”
Because what if bigger takes a year?
What if it takes five?
Those children are sitting in those classrooms now.
So I’ve decided to do what I can with what I have, where I am.
I’m not promising that KCM can transform an entire school.
I’m promising that we’re going to start.
You’re Not Simply Being Asked to Donate
This part is important to me.
I’m not asking you to give KCM money and receive nothing in return.
I’m asking you to support a small handmade British business, choose a candle you genuinely want to burn and enjoy in your home, and allow me to take part of that order and turn it into something meaningful somewhere else.
You get your candle.
A small business gets another chance to grow.
And a school in Kenya gets one small step closer to having the facilities its children deserve.
There’s something incredibly beautiful about that to me.
The candle sitting on your coffee table in Devon, London, Manchester or somewhere else in the UK could be connected to a classroom thousands of miles away in rural Kenya.
That’s what I KCM has been.
Not simply a business that sells lovely-smelling candles.
But a business where something small can travel much further than we realise.
And Now the Autumn Collection Means Even More
On Thursday, 24 September 2026 at 6pm, the KCM Autumn Collection launches.
There will be:
2 brand-new scents.
4 returning autumn favourites.
Six scents created for slower mornings, darker evenings, warm drinks, cosy homes and everything I love about autumn.
I’ve been testing, pouring, correcting, curing and testing again behind the scenes.
Normally, a launch like this would simply be about hoping people love the fragrances I’ve created.
This one feels different.
Because every September order carries another story with it.
This autumn, your candle won’t only bring a little warmth into your home.
It can help us put a roof over a classroom too.
I Want You to See What Happens Next
I don’t want this to become one of those stories where I tell you money was raised and then you never hear about it again.
If you help KCM do this, I want you to see what happens next.
I’ll continue sharing parts of the journey publicly through KCM’s social media, but I’ll be sharing more detailed updates with my email subscribers.
I’ll share what we learn about the school’s needs.
I’ll share what we’re able to raise.
I’ll share progress on the classrooms.
I’ll share photographs and updates when work happens.
And next week, once I have more information, I’ll share a further blog and an update looking at what it will actually cost to complete the work and what we could realistically help achieve.
I want this journey to be transparent.
Because this isn’t only my story anymore.
But There Is Another Reason This Feels Urgent
There is something else that makes me feel we need to start now.
The rainy season is approaching.
Kitui County has what is known as the October–December “short rains” season. According to the Kenya Meteorological Department, this is an important rainfall season for the county.
Locally, my family tell me they normally begin preparing for the rains from around mid-October.
And when I heard that, I looked at those classrooms differently.
Two unfinished classrooms. Roofs still needed. No windows. And children who still need somewhere to sit and learn.
Our Autumn Collection launches on 24 September.
That leaves us only a matter of weeks before the period when the rains would normally be expected to begin.
I don’t know if we can raise enough to complete everything before the rains arrive, and I don’t want to make promises that I cannot keep.
But I do know this:
I don’t want another rainy season to arrive while we simply stand by saying, “Maybe one day.”
If we can help put a roof over even one of those classrooms, that would mean something.
So we’re starting now.
One candle.
One order.
One roof at a time. and
To My Four August Customers…
I don’t know whether you realised what you were doing when you clicked checkout.
You probably thought you were simply supporting my little candle business.
But you did more than that.
You helped me prove something.
Not that I could get 100 orders.
I didn’t.
You showed me that four mattered.
You helped provide sanitary pads for girls who needed them.
And through that, you led me to look more closely at the school those girls attend.
That led me to see the unfinished classrooms.
And those classrooms have now changed what I want to do with KCM this September.
So to my four August customers:
Thank you.
Your orders mattered far more than the number on my Shopify dashboard could ever have shown me.
And perhaps this is why I couldn’t let KCM go.
Perhaps rebuilding doesn’t have to mean getting back to where I was before.
Perhaps we can build something different this time.
Something slower.
Something meaningful.
Something that smells beautiful in one home while helping make life a little better somewhere else.
Four customers started this chapter.
Let’s see what we can do together next. 🤎
Join the KCM Autumn Waiting List
The Kilimanjaro Candles & More Autumn Collection launches Thursday, 24 September 2026 at 6pm.
Join the waiting list to hear about the collection first and receive the next update from Maviani Primary School.
2 brand-new scents. 4 returning autumn favourites. £5 from every September order towards helping fund the unfinished classrooms.
Candles for slower days & meaningful moments. 🤎
Next week: I’ll share what we’ve learned about the cost of the work needed at Maviani Primary School and what we’re hoping to achieve together.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL LAUNCH DAY. Our Current collection is now available to order.