VOF Week 2 : ( Mwana Wa Mke- Closer to my dream )

I have had many memorable experiences in my life, from climbing mountains in Tanzania to experiencing war in Kenya, assisting rape victims in slum areas to teaching children about HIV/AIDS in Cameroon, photographing the Pyramids in Egypt to organizing an international women’s conference on Times Square, New York, fetching water for my grandmother in the foot of Mount Kenya to feeding children dying of cancer in government hospitals. Out of all these experiences, only one stands out more than the rest because it is a path less traveled.

Having been the only girl to very successfully vie as Chairperson of the Students Union in the University of Nairobi (The biggest and most challenging position in University in all of the Eastern Sahara), I learnt a few things. Firstly, Self-driven leadership is paramount to bringing the necessary change in a community be it a teacher at a learning institution, a nurse at a local hospital, a student, an idler, a shoe-shiner down the road, an accountant in an office. If each takes responsibility for their community, the world will change for the better.

Secondly, I learnt that values are not in-built. An individual must consciously decide to be self- disciplined, upright and moral. And such individuals are lacking in my community.

Thirdly, Women are more compassionate than men. The combination of these three elements drove me to look for avenues in which I could develop my skills ranging from project management, alternative solutions for sustainable development to representing the issues facing my community both efficiently and effectively.

This is the driving force behind my signing up for VOF. This is why I am wholly committed to my community of forward thinking women.

My vision is to live in a 'man don't eat man world', where war, domestic violence, extra judicial killings and corruption are a things of the past. I have lost two comrades within the past month to assassins’ bullets this month. They were murdered by the government solely because they dared speak out for the oppressed. They dared to take a stand and face the music because no one else was willing to, no one wanted to take responsibility in fear of the repercussions that would follow. But they did. I aspire to live in the world that these two heroes envisioned.

I believe the world needs people like those in VOF to continue speaking out on our various causes. I am currently working part time in the biggest slum in Africa, Kibera. We are identifying young girls who are locked out of school because of lack of tuition fees. This is my passion. Ignited by the confidence I have developed by contributing on VOF and I now understand that I have a voice, a voice that can make a change in me, my family, my peers, my community, my world. I will continue developing the voices of children so they too may speak about a world they dream of and can one day achieve.

We are all special.