Eunice Kilonzo is not your average 23 year old! I had the distinct honor and privileged of spending close to a week with her and couldn't help but share this young ladies world view...here is a sneak peek into her world in her own words.find more of her in from her award winning blog I am not my Tribe...
My
Heritage:
I am born and raised in
Mombasa in a family of three; my mother and my younger sister. I went to
school in Mombasa; I am currently at the University of Nairobi where I am
pursuing Bachelor of Arts (Political Science, Communication and Literature)
My
Passion:
I am passionate about Kenya
and more so the issue of Tribalism. I talk, write, tweet, Facebook etc on and about
Tribalism and more so its salient effects if let to breed in our society. I
discovered right from primary school but did not think much about it then how people
would talk and label others by tribes. Up
until in 2008 when I saw the devastating effects tribe/ethnicity had in Kenya
following the 2007 disputed elections. People suggested that there were other
contributing factors, I agree but tribe was one of the prominent ones.
How
it all began:
I had finished High School
in 2007 and my aunt got me a phone (Nokia 2630) that was internet enabled. I
had joined Facebook and I would put up notes on issues of tribalism, ethnicity
and peace. I read about the Rwanda Genocide, more so because of its proximity
to Kenya. I was terrified at the extent tribe would lead nations to wipe out
its people. This sparked my passion tenfold.
I would research from the
phone, buy newspapers and try to see what people other were saying about
tribalism as well as engaged people in discussions. I particularly liked Mutahi
Ngunyi’s works in the Daily Nation, to date, though I have not met him, I feel
we think alike, I consider him my ‘virtual’ mentor.
I was at the time managing
my mother's retail shop and I would talk to customers to hear what they thought
about the 2007-2008 violence, its causes and views on tribalism. I was shocked
at the level of disapproval some of the people had about the chaos, the grudges
some had about certain communities as well as what they were planning to do in
the next elections. For some reason, I found myself talking and telling them
about tribalism and tried being a 'Kofi Annan' of sorts, ambitious? Could be
but it felt it was the only thing I could do then. This is when I eventually
begun my blog: I AM NOT MY TRIBE. This was in mid 2008,a year before joining
campus.
Our
Humble Beginnings:
I did not know much about the internet or how to manage
a blog. I made mistakes, especially on posting and but with time, I would go to
the cyber and learnt my way around blogging. In campus, I discovered that
tribalism thrived and existed. In the students elections, tribalism would glare
its ugly face and I personally heard and saw students who were threatened not
to run against their fellow kinsmen, but give up their dream for a ‘preferred
candidate’. I couldn’t understand this; I remember talking to one of my
classmates who had to step down after being coerced. I tried to ask him to go
back and reclaim his position but he just put it bluntly, “the last thing I
want Eunice is to be isolated, it could get me finished here”. I then took
it upon myself to talk to the kingpins of campus. Luckily most of them were my
classmates while others we had mutual friends. I used this to my advantage. I
would casually talk to them and ask about their ‘followers’ and what that meant
to them…I would them tactfully talk to them about embracing other communities
as they also had something to offer. Most of them were shocked by this
suggestion, using the national politics to justify their course of actions. A
few who saw sense in my thoughts and in as much they would not accept it
publicly, they accommodated other tribes.
We’ve
come a long way:
Whenever I would leave
class, I would see posters of student’s communities asking for a meeting with
their people. Out of curiosity I attended one such event and the agenda
revolved around ‘protecting our
community, not having boyfriends/girlfriends from those people and how they
would reach out to their community leaders for some cash for non-existent
projects in campus’. I couldn’t let this continue, so I begun bringing this
posters down; in tunnels, hostels anywhere I found them. Now those who know
campus, understand the role of goons, these posters would be put up by goons
who would watch over them, I have seen what they did to those who either stuck
their posters on top of those by the goons or worse still remove them. I was
confronted by the goons who threatened to beat me and raid my room if I kept
undoing their work.
Its true what they say,
better safe than sorry, I took another approach. My roommates had known about
my initiative and together we decided to print T-Shirts with the ideology: I AM
NOT MY TRIBE. We first printed 10 T-shirts and wore them on a Friday, best part
we were from different campuses so we got to spread our message. We generated
interest not only in campus but in town.
Our
biggest success:
Having people discuss
issues of tribalism in campus. I would put up articles on notice boards in Main
Campus, in the hostels and sign out with iamnotmytribe.blogspot.com/
This prompted and teased
people who asked about the initiative. Another success was when the blog was
nominated among the 4 top Political Blogs in the Bloggers Association of Kenya.
In as much as I did not win the award, the nomination was a launch pad for the
blog.
A third success is coming
up with an Action Plan that runs up until April 2013. There are a few peace
projects planned that you will all know in due time. In addition, I am glad to
say that we have a board of six members, who will act as an advisory council as
well as the initiatives interim secretariat.
Challenges:
I look at these as our
learning experiences rather than impediments such as lack of proper training
and skills on tackling issues of tribalism, Peace and conflict management.
Another is it is still not easy to persuade people to have an overhaul in how
they look at their tribes, which makes me wonder whether we are doing enough
considering the many organizations which do the same things we do. The
initiative as it is has a more virtual presence which is a challenge as we try
to make it a physical entity, shaky but we hope to get there by mid next year.
But
I won’t give up:
I won’t give up anytime soon.
I will not stop if people are still marginalized because of their tribe, which
is not something anyone chooses. I won’t give up if as Kenyans, we won’t
emulate states such as Tanzania, Botswana who tribalism is a foreign term. I wont give up if I can speak and write about
it, in my small way. Yes, I won’t give up!
The
Vision:
I envision us being a pace
trend setter on issues of tribalism, peace and acceptance of all the 42+ tribes
into one melting pot where there is no individual identity but a common
powerful and colorful Kenya. It can be done, what can you do you think? Let me
know!
