Never tell a young person that its not possible ,because there is nothing that can be impossible for a young person with the will and zeal especially for that one person who has grown in an environment of negativity and impossibility but has fought so hard to redeem himself and claim his space.
Mr.peter otiende is a 29 year old youth who is passionate about changing the narrative that is normally propagated about the youth in this country and a true example of starting small and finishing big.
He is currently the head of ZINDUA YOUTH ASSOCIATION an organization that him and his friend established in 2009 in embakasi, kayole.They deal with governance,Leadership and SDG mainstreaming which is a new phenomenal that has pulled quite a number of challenges .
One of the biggest challenges in SDG mainstreaming is how the community can relate the domestication of the SDG to policies plus the youth dynamics.
Leadership is about finding a problem and offering a solution or an alternative ,this is one thing that mr.otiende has mastered completely,for instance ,he realized that the uptake of the youth fund in his constituency was very low attributing it to the bureaucratic nature of the process ,so he decided to take an initiative of helping young people in filling up of the forms as well as providing a space in his office for the youths ,since the youth fund office was located in the administration area where youths felt uncomfortable to go.this has seen the numbers increasing in the up take of the youth fund since then.(where he has been able to help seven youth groups and three women groups secure funds).
Mr.Otiende has quite a number of feathers in his cap ,having been involved in quite a number of critical debates and conversations on the issues affecting youths in this country especially on human rights and youth participation in decision making process.
Human right is a close subject to his heart,it is discourse that he persues with a lot of passion and currently he is running a campaighn called #igivehope in commerartion of world human traficking day ,but most importanty he has been advocating for respect to human dignity for a long time which has enabled him partner with an organisation such as hart kenya to push a world free of human trafficking agenda.when i asked him who motivates him he had this to saY:
my sister is that one person who motivates me since she had been a victim of human trafficking and that has since given me the need to help other people.and my role moddel is thomas sankara he truly the son of the african soil
if we have such young people who are as devoted as peter,then where are we going wrong? why isn't the math adding up?why is it that we have minimal tangible pieces of change? could it be that we are passive citizens ? or ignorant? could it be lack of information? i sought for answers and peter had this to say?
the citizenry is not active enough and its until we understand that this journey is ours and that everyone has a role to play then thats the only time we will get it right .we also need to empower young people and go back to the community to talk them and help them understand their rights.
mr.otiende makes it clear that the reason ehy young people are not winning this struggle is because they are competeting with each other instead of complimenting each other ,it is therefore prudent for the youth to know that no one can do it alone and that unity is key in any process.
Finally he had a message for the young people who are ready to take up the space and make an impact.
the youth should first of all understand that it is okay to ask especially consulting existing capacities ,people who have done it before but most importantly the passion for service.The youth should also claim their space and better this country and if not for themselves then for the future generations.
PARTING SHOT : "I envision a country where people respect human rights and young people have claimed their space in the development agenda".
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