Malasen Hamida - A youthful activist rearing to go
By Fatuma Mohammed
Activism and advocacy are not easy tasks. Most of Kenya’s top political leaders have cut their teeth on activism and advocacy exposing themselves to imminent dangers from governments of the day.
President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the two principals who steered the country from the brink of collapse after the last botched elections, are two towering figures of activism for democratic change during the former president Moi’s regime.
The new Chief Justice Dr Willy Mutunga’s past is grounded on activism and as he assumes office most Kenyans hope he will shake the judiciary into action. It is hoped his tenure will be a break from the past given his record of agitating for human rights.
But Kenyans are yet to break away from the fear that activism and trouble go together.
Malasen Hamida Twahir is an activist and community leader in Kibera’s Makina area. She says that although things are changing for the better, most people consider activists as trouble makers and usually avoid them unless they have their issues to be tackled.
While the youth are willing to get involved in issues, she says, the old guard distances themselves thus denying the youth the highly needed counsel on how to undertake an issue.
“The old guard fears the youth,” Malasen says interpreting what she encounters in the course of her everyday life in activism in Kibera. “They feel the youth are a threat.”
The 32-years old mother and wife works with the Nubian community in Kibera to address her community’s plight especially on land rights and education.
Malasen works with a Nubian rights forum called Zidugua that is pursuing economical, social and political rights of Nubians whose marginalization is denying them land ownership and a voice through which to express themselves. She is also a member of advocacy groups in Kibera.
The threat posed by youth to the old guard is cultural as well as political. While the old are not enthusiastic about having things changing too fast, the youth are yearning to get things done in the shortest time possible.
This is because majority of youth have no jobs and they see their lives waste away in the sprawling slum. To alleviate their situation, youth have formed groups with objectives of making an income as garbage collectors, water vendors and car washers.
The resources that their families hold are not enough to support the upcoming generation leaving them with no capital to expand their group activities let alone starting their own businesses.
SOURCE:
http://www.thenewdawn.info/
