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!
Art is one of the oldest pieces of happiness that human being identify with and that has evolved overtime,but when one decide to use art to solve some of the pressing issues it becomes phenomenal. Mr kelvin Omondi famously known as ohms law Montana is an award winning hip artist from kisauni in Mombasa who has chosen to use hip in preventing violent extremism ,crime and many other issues affecting young people in kisauni and the coast region at large . pictured ,ohms law montana ohms law montana is passionate about creating social change through spoken word and hip hop ,which he highly attributes to the bettering the youths of the neighborhood where he grew up ,especially changing the perception of how people look at kisauni. every time we hear KISAUNI it always bear a negative tag ,that why i felt the need to redefine kisauni ,because just like other neighborhoods there are good people in kisauni as well.we are trying to write a different narrative ,my team an...
Comments
Post a Comment