Hush! My Voice Matters

Writing is not easy and it is not for the faint hearted. You have to think of what you want to write, your audience and their reactions .You also have to think of after my story what next. From my personal level, has been a journey , at the onset I never wanted to write .I only loved to read what other people had written. In primary school I was those students who were in love with books, reading was my escape from issues that  were distressing me .In high school I could devour the James Hadley Chases and Ken Follet and Sidney Sheldon books. Books transported me to  locations far and wide,  but sadly, I never wrote anything at the time.

My first encouragement was when my article got published in the MDGs Goal , then came other situations where I got to write more . My first articles focused on MDGs and got published in the MDGs Goals took a lull at writing , perhaps because after the publishing I did not receive any push to write more. When I wrote again, it was because I was being pushed to write an article. This was the custom at Fahamu Africa , the program management team were expected to  write and contribute to Pambazuka News(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pambazuka_News).I asked myself , Pambazuka is a highly renowned publication , how are readers going to receive my writing ? won’t it be trashed?. I had a lot of self-doubts. Something kept nudging me to give it a try and the then Editor of Pambazuka News was on my neck to publish. I could hear Makori’s  voice asking “ Have you finished writing the Pambazuka Article you were to write; we are publishing this week”. I was expected to  give a narration of the realities of the social movements I interacted with on day to day basis as part of Adilisha- the Education for Social Justice Programme, the engagements with the grassroots activists ,the farmers and communities affected by climate change including the experiences of the fisherfolk , the Indigenous Peoples – the forest dwelling communities of the Embobut Forest ( Sengwer) , the experiences of the struggles of people in Mathare in the quest for reproductive justice, experiences of women , evicted from their matrimonial homes because of widowhood, the struggle of plantation workers in their bid to fight for labour rights, the balancing of ecological justice in a society that was hell -bent on destruction. I felt cornered ,  I took up the challenge and said to myself , I will write , if it gets trashed ,at least I tried.

I decided to give it a try, I wrote the story of a village in Machakos, I wrote the story of farmers who depend on manual labour ,who bought seeds from an agrovet , of an  entire village that bought seeds from a local agrovet and the seeds never germinated. I wrote of the frustrations of these farmers , the amount of wasted manual labour and the frustration of not knowing what to do next or where to go next.

I narrated of the farmers being duped , told to call a number , which when called,  the response was ‘the mobile subscriber cannot be reached’ or as Joyce the small scale farmer aptly  put it in Kiswahili “Mteja wa nambari  uliopiga hapatikani kwa sasa”.I told the story of the feeling of abandonment experienced by  this village members being left to mumble  to themselves with no recourse forthcoming .I wrote this article as  a contribution to Pambazuka News , it got published the same week. The article was further reposted by Black Agenda Report –(which features news ,commentary and analysis from the Black left. This was my Eureka moment .In fact , I got two articles published by the Black Agenda Report(https://www.blackagendareport.com/climate_change_and_human_rights_) at almost the same time, one on Climate change and the other one on food. Third World Network also went ahead and republished the article (https://www.twn.my/twnf/2016/4463.htm ).The same article on food again got reposted by Internationalist 360 https://libya360.wordpress.com/2016/11/13/food-crisis-weaving-a-web-of-peoples-resistance-to-corporate-capture-of-agriculture/ as well as in academia related spaces (https://www.coursehero.com/file/66095815/article-2doc/). This to me was a roomful of encouragement, the publishing and reposting of what I had written by renowned media outlets  was overwhelming encouragement .It confirmed that I was on the right track and was narrating about things that mattered and continue to matter .This gave me the impetus to keep writing , something that I have continued to do  from time to time to date.

My other memorable moment is when I came across an email asking for people to volunteer to be interviewed on agroecology and women. I took the  opportunity and did the interview  , leading to a publication entitled   “In Africa , agroecology has a Female Face”. The article ended up being  reposted and translated to several languages as follows: Feminism and Agroecology : Transforming Society and the Economy (https://www.cidse.org/2020/10/07/feminism-and-agroecology-transforming-economy-and-society/). International Environment Development (IED) http://iedafrique.org/Entretien-En-Afrique-l-agroecologie-a-un-visage-feminin.html) , International Journal for Rural Development(https://www.rural21.com/english/current-issue/detail/article/africas-face-of-agriculture-is-female.html) , CISDE (https://www.cidse.org/2020/10/07/feminism-and-agroecology-transforming-economy-and-society/), Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network( http://aefjn.org/en/7287-2/)TROCAIRE (https://www.trocaire.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FINAL_FarmingMatters_0120_webpdf.pdf ),LEISA India (https://leisaindia.org/agroecology-in-africa-has-a-female-face/ ).

Writing not only brought me encouragement , but also visibility as someone  with practical knowledge  on particular subject matters. With each of my community interaction, I made it a point to write an article after the interaction. I ended up starting a blog where I put my stories in an organised way (https://leoconversations715036889.wordpress.com/ ).With the visibility through a Pen and Paper , came interests , people far and wide got to know about the work I do in communities : the dialogues on climate justice , the  reflections sessions on food systems .I started doing interviews , giving perspectives on different social justice issues. The interviews played the role of passing knowledge, of connecting and building solidarity as well as correcting the dominant narratives.Evertime I feel my heart flutters when I read my name quoted in an article. I don’t take it this for granted , I owe this to the gallant grassroots soldiers who allowed  have me into their lives and spaces , to learn from them and co-create knowledge to be shared with the world.

The  links to the interviews are  outlined below:

Namati

https://community.namati.org/t/community-paralegals-and-climate-justice-a-view-from-kenya/34778

Fighting for Food Sovereignty in Kenya and Uganda

https://watersavvysolutions.com/food-sovereignty/

Who decides what farmers grow?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeztA3ASxdc

Active Cultures

https://digest-active-cultures.org/Seeds-Women-Through-an-African-Lens-by-Leonida-Odongo

Shado Mag-Africa is Being Recolonised

https://shado-mag.com/do/africa-is-being-recolonised-seed-sovereignty-as-a-form-of-resistance/

Capire  capiremov https://capiremov.org/en/analysis/the-struggles-for-seed-sovereignty-and-womens-authonomy-in-kenya/.org

When we encourage others  in whatever they do be it a piece of art they have written, a song they have composed , a musical instrument they have played ,we shine a torch on them, we give them wings to fly ,we lift them and propel to the next level. When we encourage others through words and gestures, we make them feel appreciated, that their efforts have not gone to waste. Encouragement heals the traumas and gives the power to start again.

Writing became and still is my tool to amplify community issues, to describe the injustices experienced, to celebrate  resilience  , explore solutions and reverberate triumphs