Ever imagined a woman boda boda driver?
Well meet this two lovely women from malindi who are passionate about boda bodas.
With her Asian hair tied in a pony tail,her tall torso and cute smile which exposes her soft features,wrapped up in abui bui one can hardly believe that she is a boda boda driver.
She seemed eager to share her story and couldn't help giggling,(I noticed that she was almost blushing from all the attention.
"I started with my father's tuk tuk in 2005,then in 2010 icame to malindi and immediately picked up a boda boda and decided to take the challenge head on!"
She continues to say that it was almost a taboo in her family for girls to cycle ,having come from a tough asian/Kikuyu family,her Indian dad didn't buy that idea.
Mrs,caroline wanjiku looks at me straight and says "I have two big boys ,am not young!
This time am left tongue tied,just gazing.
Mrs Anne Natheka narrates almost the same story as caroline,"Am a mother of one girl and three boys and for me boda boda is my daily bread,i started cycling in 2010 here in malindi,and I have never regreted despite the fact that I came all the way from kitui.
So I was eager to hear what challenges they face being the only women boda boda drivers in malindi.
Mrs Caroline first chuckles,then smiles ,m"madam trust me it's not easy,mwanaume anakuuliza nitashikilia wapi,nami nakwambia shikilia tairi hehehehe
"
It was evident that most men are not comfortable in being ridden by them due to stereotypes and social constructs although ironically women are the best drivers in the world!
Mrs Anne smiles when I asked about profits and get eyes in a second were lit iup,"in a day I make ksh.1000 compared to a normal driver who earns five hundred and have to take ksh.300 to the owner of the motorbike,the business is profitable when one is the manager.
"I urge young girls to take this courses and jobs that are believed to be for men,there is nothing that limits a woman in persuing and achieving excellence"
The girl child has definately been empowered to take any challenge that comes there way head on!
Mrs Caro's parting shot,"whatever you do ,do it with all your heart and put God first and everything will work out"
It's such inspiring stories that makes me see the hope of attaining goal five on women inclusion and economic justice,there is nothing that women can not achieve,we are definately women without limits!
Desmond tutu says that as a young person it's dangerous not to know your history,but what if your history is distorted? Or one sided or even subjective ? People living in informal settlements or in areas considered to be less privileged have always fallen victims of a single story .for instance every time you hear of kisauni in mombasa you think of wakali kwanza but one might wonder whether there are no good stories that people can write about kisauni. How would people get to know of the beautiful things happening in this areas if all that is written is about robbery ,mugging and all other bad vices . In Shauri Yako,mombasa there kids with amazing talents but nobody talks about them.Recently ,a group of youths came together to put up a talent show in a bid to explore and nurture the talents of this young people. The talent show was dubbed "talent mtaani/Boresha base and the main intention was to change the narrative of how people view Shauri Yako . It was evident that they...


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