Its been ages since the last post but a lot has been happening and some big things are coming soon.
So in case you missed out on our activities here is updates on two events that we have had so far
CELEBRATING WOMEN EVENT
- REPORT BY ANNE WANJUHI
My name is Wanjuhi Njoroge, CEO & Founder The Web Tekies Limited and a Media mogul in the making. I am passionate about education especially for girls between 10 & 19 hence my wholesome mentorship program targeting in primary schools. I have a dream that someday every girl in Kenya shall not only start school but also successfully stay in school achieving the highest level of education they dream of.
Guests arrived promptly and we had a networking session for 30 minutes before the event officially started at 2.00PM.
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| Pauline Muthoni a YALI 2014 fellow (in a past picture) kicked off the celebrating Women event |
Pauline Muthoni, Mandela Washington Fellow 2014 kicked off the event by recognizing and introducing the groups present, these were 2014 Mandela Washington Fellows, The US Embassy representatives Paul, Liz & Kamau, The Moi University Team, YALI Network Members and other guests who are not members of the above groups.
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| Elizabeth introduces herself to the participants |
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| Paul giving a brief about his work with YALI |
Paul from the US Embassy officially opened the event which ushered us to the climax of the day where we listened to inspiring stories from members in the network. Everybody who attended the event is involved in an amazing project however there were those that inspired and spoke directly to my heart;
Njeri Chelimo a 21 year old girl who started a coding school The Nairobi Dev School at age 19 years. She is self taught has a school in Nairobi, worked with Safaricom Foundation, in talks with Ihub and has spread her wings to Juba University. At 19, I was still struggling with finding myself and feeling somewhat lost. Holding on to, it’s never too late to start.
Malele of Toto Health which seeks to save lives of children under 5 years using mobile technology. It enables parents to receive targeted and action oriented messages based on when and where the child was born or conceived. These messages are able to highlight any warning signs in a child's health, connect mothers with local hospitals, among others. That a simple mobile app can help reduce maternal deaths and infant mortality and achieve soo much in its first 6 months was enough inspiration for the day.
But that was not all, there was Elizabeth Kagwanja of Smile for Miles an organization that seeks to reduce maternal deaths and infant mortality by training and equipping boda boda operators with the necessary skills of handling a pregnant woman and by so doing improve the livelihoods of youths. Her pilot project is in Murang’a. Like I said everybody is engaged in amazing projects and cannot list all.
Former fellow Charlene Migwe and Josephine Kulea were at hand to inspire the participants with their stories.
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| Josephine Kulea in a past event she inspired at the celebrating women event |
The key lessons for me were; that we are not in competition so let’s collaborate and work together, people will always come on board once you start so start now and the rest shall follow, a social venture can sustain itself and make profit and finally, it doesn’t have to be complex, simple is supreme think of toto health.
Events such as the Celebrating women event are vital for every YALI network member. Hard questions were asked to those presenting. Questions such as “how do you intend to sustain your project?” are eye opening and make one rethink their project – they bring out the practicability of the project. It is always wise to see your project through someone else’s eyes.
Any networking event opens doors for new contacts, contacts you can partner and collaborate with. There is always a free flow of information where people share their stories both of success and failures and who knows, potential mentorship opportunity.
YALI network Kenya is a powerful tool that has potential of changing lives in Kenya if used wisely. So far through the network, people who never knew each other from different parts of this country have connected, others are collaborating and partnering in different projects, others have found mentors and others have found people who gave great input to their projects. Let us put our differences together, hold each other’s hands and move our country forward. There is power in numbers, let us leave footprints behind so that those who will come can know that we were here.
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| Elizabeth Kagwanja and Njeri Chelimo listen to Eunice Likoko a fellow |
Finally, my sincere gratitude to the Mandela Washington Fellows 2014, who thought it wise to organize this event, to the US Embassy Kenya for support this initiative, YALI Network Core team organizing us, to every young woman or man investing in a woman or girl in whatever manner and to all us who attended there couldn’t have been an event with us.
God us all, God Bless Kenya and Long Live YALI NETWORK KENYA!!!
TUMAINI HOUSE MEET UP 14th MARCH 2015
The meet up was led by Tolu Amondi who is part of the core leadership of the network.
This meet up had two key agenda
A mentoring and training session in which members had a chance to watch videos and resources from
YALI online courses.
There was an animated discussion on women empowerment and electoral processes in Africa.
Thank you so much to everyone who turned out especially Leila who came all the way from Mombasa to Paul Simon for taking photos and for Anne Wanjuhi for leading group discussion.
ALL IN PICTURES
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| Tolu setting up the online training |
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| Dedicated members stayed till dusk |
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| Tolu leads the discussion on ethics and leadership |
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| members engaged in group discussion on women empowerment and electoral processes |
