Women Human Rights Defenders

When my husband had a work accident in 2007 and passed away, my brothers-in-law told me I had to move from Mukuru to eastern Kenya, where I had to stand all day long with my little child on my back, grinding maize for customers to get flour. My little child developed a health problem but my father-in-law would not let me take her to the hospital. My cousin sent me a bus fare and I went back to Nairobi so I could access medication for my child.

There is a lot of hardship growing up in Mathare, like in any other informal settlement. Reaching 30 years for a young man and not being dead is an achievement. Reaching the age of 25 for a young woman and not being pregnant or forced into early marriage is an achievement. We end up losing most of our people in Mathare. We survive with one or less parents.

I was born in Mathare and it was not easy growing up here. At times we don’t have the necessities, the basic needs, like water and housing. My childhood was not so nice because sometimes in this village there is fighting between the landlord and tenants, so the landlord shuts your house and you have to sleep outside.

I was born in Kibera and I grew up in Kibera. Being in the informal settlement, I can confess that it is not an easy journey. You are born into a very tough environment; an environment with unsuitable shelter, no access to clean water, it is a challenge.

When I was young I used to have many friends in Mathare, we really enjoyed the life of the slums because we were a part of it. We were born there and it was our home. Living in Mathare, one is always surrounded by people; we school together, we shop together, we work together, we go to church together, we do everything together. Growing up, we were like a family there.

I grew up in Kisii, in the western part of Kenya. Life there is good but there are too many people and not enough resources; you can get plenty of food but there is not much work so it is difficult to pay for school fees and other expenses. I moved to Kibera when I was in my mid-twenties.

I come from a family of four daughters. My father was never really in the picture, but I never felt the absence of a father-figure in the house; Mama has been such a role model in that sense. She would say “whatever you want to do, you can do it”. Whenever we would complain about not having a brother to help us fix household things, she would push us to learn how to do it ourselves.

On Tuesday 8th August, Kenya will hold elections for the positions of the President and deputy President, members of Parliament (Senate and National Assembly) and devolved government members (county governors and ward representatives). While the last elections in 2013 were relatively peaceful, the memory of the 2007/8 post-election violence, which left at least 1,133 people dead and 600,000 people displaced, looms large in this election period.

In advance of the Kenyan elections, two of the topics identified by the WHRD Toolkit Organisers (TOs) were Election Preparedness and Wellbeing and Self-care. PBI Kenya, with support from the Irish Embassy, held a two-day workshop on these topics. Regina Opondo, from the Constitution and Reform Education Consortium, gave the training and it focused on the needs of TOs in the settlements in the immediate election period.

I was born in Kibera and I grew up in Kibera; growing up here was both a privilege and a struggle. Life is difficult in Kibera and we live in poverty here, but this place makes a woman strong and I believe that I am strong today because I grew up in Kibera.