Providing Dignified Employment to the Largest Informal Sector of Working Women in India

I have had the privileged of getting to know Saket Mishra and it did not come as a surprise that he has a rich seven years of experience in healthcare marketing as a Creative Director, designing strategy, concept and ideas for pharmaceutical brands and campaigns. Saket is very keen on personal development and is constantly looking to engage in more fulfilling work for himself and for his community.

In 2009,he took a sabbatical to set up his own nonprofit that launched Maid in India. The project has been a success, raising over $15,000 in grant money, changed 250 lives and reached 1000 households. The project is making revenue of over $10 million and working towards training and employing 1000 maids by 2015.

Saket has recently been nominated for the Living Wage Innovation Challenge award. Do feel free to read more about the amazing work that Maid in India is doing and vote for Saket here http://www.innovatingjustice.com/innovations/dignified-employment-informal-sector-working-women-in-india

Below find more information about the work that this innovation attempts to address. (Adopted from the Innovative Justice Forum.)

For millions of domestic workers, we train, employ and raise their standard of living through fair labor practices

Several forms of manual labor for both men and women in India remains informal, underpaid, exploited and not recognized by the government. 85% of slum dwellers in India are informal workers, but their jobs are still not considered legitimate, leaving them without any rights, standardized wages or employment benefits.

Within the informal workers’ segment in Mumbai’s slums, there are two major specific groups:

• Women: About 48% of informal workers are women, and 85% of them are engaged in domestic work, as maids or housekeepers in apartments around their vicinity. They typically make 100 USD per month doing this work, and spend 8-10 hours per day working. We will target this population specifically within this group. Our work so far has demonstrated that we can increase their salaries by 190%.
• Men: About 20% men in the slum are engaged in construction work or informal jobs in the manufacturing sector. Out of the rest, 80% men are self-employed in low level, skill-based jobs like tailors, embroiderers, leather manipulators, bead workers etc. They earn about 120-150 USD per month, and the propensity of garment workers is higher in Muslim slums compared to Hindu slums.

Our innovation matches informal workers with employment opportunities. A surcharge levied on the employer pays for benefits for these workers. Employers in return get the guarantee and quality of a formal worker – they get replacement workers if their own domestic worker is absent from work, fair and fixed wages, as well as a new maid within 24 hours, if their domestic worker quits or is fired. Our intervention so far has been targeted at women, but our future iteration includes the men from their families and neighborhoods.

Samiksha is a maid who earned USD 68 as a teacher in a government-run primary school. With four children and no husband, she found it hard to make ends meet. The temporary nature of her job gave her no benefits, or opportunity for growth, which is typical in such job settings in India. Samiksha was recruited to be part of our training program. After completing our basic training, Samiksha was placed as a domestic worker for 4 hours. In 2 months, not only did she over-perform at this job, she was able to join 2 other households as a part-time domestic worker. She now makes over USD 200, which is higher than 95% of her neighbors and community members in her slum (average monthly income USD 110). In addition, she gets life insurance, accident insurance, health insurance and pension. She has also invested over USD 800 last year in savings schemes to support her children’s education. Many persons working in the ready-made garment sector also struggle to make ends meet and could be helped this way.

Some for-profit organizations that function, as blue-collar placement agencies do exist, but their goal is simply providing one-time placements. They do not provide any employment benefits, job security or standardization of wages or training programs.

Our approach is unique for 2 reasons - it eliminates any middlemen between employers and service providers, and it provides formal labor recognition and benefits to an otherwise informal labor force. Labor in the garment sector would also tremendously benefit from these two aspects.

In India, the garment sector is mostly comprised of embroiderers and dyers that are informally employed by designers on an ad hoc basis. By employing our model, we could formalize the relationship between the designers and these laborers, making it easy for them to charge a standardized (and fair) fee, as well as for designers to locate and engage with the most appropriate labor they need. In addition, our model would be able to provide these laborers employment benefits, so that their standard of living can incrementally improve over time, as well as relevant training in the areas of skill development, language and computer literacy, as well as basic financial management. Also, the connections with employers would make it easy to estimate market trends and needs, and create skill training programs based on that.

The biggest thrust of our program is to obtain standardized and fair wages for our maids in the first place, expanding our impact to other workers in the medium term. We not only train the maids to ensure standardized quality, but we also train them in negotiation skills, and our maids earn 190% higher wages after joining us as a result. This is possible because we also provide employers value added services, which allows our maids to command higher salaries. We have twice the demand from employers today, than maids available, so our maids always have plenty of options to choose from. In addition to salary, maids get a number of employment benefits from us, as well as job security. These allow them to meaningfully save and invest their money for their future, leading to higher wealth retention, and an overall increase in their standard of living over time.

Sisterhood in Mathare.

Saturday 23^rd November 2013 was a bright warm morning in Nairobi. Akili Dada, a local NGO in Kenya that aims to address the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in Africa had organized through one of their fellows a career day at Mathare’s informal settlement in Nairobi. As part of Sisterhood, I was humbled to be part of this great initiative and to learn from not only the members of Akili dada but also from the community who we were visiting early that morning.

Career Day Sessions

As with most informal settlements, the area is densely populated and amenities are scarce. Life can be very brutal and each day bears its own challenges and battles that must be fought. For young people growing up there, especially for young girls, wrong choices and the wrong crowd can have far outreaching consequences. An Akili dada fellow-Ann Nyambura http://www.akilidada.org/what-we-do/innovation-in-leadership-program/akili-dada-fellows/ is the brain behind the career day. This vibrant young lass who grew up in the area is living testimony that where we are born, live or even where we grow up need not define us, our ambitions, hopes and dreams. Speaking on the opening of the career day, she recalls growing up in Mathare and being force to seek mentors from far and wide who mostly resided outside of Mathare’s slum. She knew that life had more to it than dropping out of school or been forced out due to teenage pregnancies and other wrong choices and even harsher realities. She acknowledges that having exposure to other people’s world views makes her a better person and hence her solid commitment to taking the same knowledge back to her own home through mentorship and economic initiatives.

The career day was for teenagers of both genders aged between 13-19 who reside within Mathare. The aim of the career day was to firstly, encourage the young impressionable teens that they can be anything they set their minds up to be and that secondly that each student is aware of what subjects to select especially for the high school students for a given profession and that thirdly and finally a firsthand experience and Q & A session with various career women from diverse professions including medics, lawyers, teachers, IT consultants, media personalities and renowned bankers.

Some of Akili dada beneficiaries

Despite the circumstances most of these young teens live in, I honestly felt as though they laugh harder, louder and longer than most other people. Is it because they know there is more to life that material things? It doesn’t cost much to sacrifice a few hours and to make an impact however small in others lives. There is nothing more heartwarming that making a small child smile and it is even more amazing that a young lady like Ann is demonstrating to her community and herself what real leadership really is!!! Ann was recently awarded with a grant from the Pollination Project to enable her to conduct essential training and to purchase materials and an electrical briquette to begin her economic empowerment project in Mathare. http://thepollinationproject.org/2013/11/29/ann-nyambura-women-empowerment-through-briquette-making/?utm_content=buffer70417&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

 

Miss Nyambura

 

 

 

Valedictorian speech by Kate Kiama- 25th October 2013

Riara Law School

Good Afternoon ladies and gentlemen,

It is indeed a great privileged and honour to be appointed valedictorian of the first Pre-KSL class of 2013.

There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, “If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, “Ten years . .” ?The student then said, “But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast — How long then?” “Well, twenty years.” Replied the Master. “But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?” asked the student. “Thirty years,” was the Master’s reply. “But, I do not understand,” said the disappointed student. “At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?”?The Master’s reply is what am driving at-his response to his earnest Zen student was that  “When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path.”

This is the dilemma we all faced when we enrolled as students at Riara Law School. We were all so focused on one goal-to get admitted to the Kenya School of Law. In this way we quite frankly we were only interested in doing whatever it takes in the shortest time possible to achieve our original objective. And here we are today…

As a class, we have definitely gone through more than we could have imagined possible in the last few months. Some more difficult to face than others. Yet we are seated here for a reason. We are here because we have all accomplished that original objective. But unlike the earnest Zen student, we soon discovered somewhere along the way that there is more to life than that one goal and more often not we have to have the  focus of  both of our eyes to achieve our goals.

So other than getting a step closer to finally undertake the Advocates training Program, our stay at Riara Law School has taught us valuable lessons which we are already using and will be for a long time. All of us can easily put Constitutional Experts to shame with our comprehensive, analytical and in-depth knowledge of Constitutional Law thanks to Mr.Kibet. Dr.Jackline Nyaga not only managed to teach us and remind us of Latin Maxims in Land Law, Company Law and Jurisprudence but was also able to really indoctrinate in us the importance of critical thinking not only for academic purposes but also for our general application in life as well. Ms Njogu’s meticulous eye for detail is a lesson we all learnt that makes the world of difference between being great and being exceptional; Mr. Wekesa reaffirmed that sometimes you will be required to step up your game for the greater good of others and you should do so with grace and equal zeal.

Every single student here has taught me something which I am taking away and I believe so are you. It is absolutely heartwarming to have gotten to know each one of you and it is quite a relief that even when we do get to KSL we have others to look up to, for support and encouragement and of course a good laugh to go the distance.

On behalf of all the Pre-KSL class of 2013, I’d like to sincerely thank all the lectures, staff and the entire Riara University fraternity for making our stay here as short as it was fruitful, eventful and purposeful. We’d sincerely like to acknowledge all the efforts by Ms Damaris and Professor Kangar’a who constantly sort better ways to make our stay here as comfortable and effective as achievable. I’d also like to thank all our parents, guardians, spouses and employers for bearing with us and accommodating us during the period we were here.

To all the Pre-KSL students, I wish each one of you happiness. It doesn't matter what your plans are, or what you consider to be "great things." Just remember that you can. You can try, you can fail, and you can try again. I have three last pieces of advice which I learnt from my father, a retired military man who is unfortunately is not with us today. - I have modified them to suite our purposes and they are self-explanatory. First to achieve your hearts desires, you must be disciplined. Secondly leave no lawyer behind and finally when the going gets tough, which it might sometimes, armor up.

Thank you for indulging me.

Dear God

Dear God:
I want to thank You for what you have already done.
I am not going to wait until I see results or receive rewards,
I am thanking you right now.
I am not going to wait until I feel better or things look better,
I am thanking you right now.
I am not going to wait until people say they are sorry or until they stop talking about me,
I am thanking you right now.
I am not going to wait until the pain in my body disappears,
I am thanking you right now.
I am not going to wait until my financial situation improves,
I am going to thank you right now.
I am not going to wait until the children are asleep and the house is quiet,
I am going to thank you right now.
I am not going to wait until I get promoted at work or until I get the job,
I am going to thank you right now.
I am not going to wait until I understand every experience in my life that has caused me pain or grief,
I am going to thank you right now.
I am not going to wait until the journey gets easier or the challenges are removed.
I am thanking you right now.
I am thanking you because I am alive.
I am thanking you because I made it through the day's difficulties.
I am thanking you because I have walked around the obstacles.

I am thanking you because I have the ability and the opportunity to do more and do better.
I'm thanking you because Father, you haven't given up on me.
"In every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Author Unknown

IT COMES WITH THE BOOBS!

By Mildred Ngesa poems 2012-Addis Ababa

 

When you absorb so much

Then give even more

When you hold everything

With no arms of steel

Don’t worry, it’s a courage thing

It comes with the boobs!

 

When you fight so hard

To love even harder

When you lose so much

To save so little

Don’t worry, it’s a love thing

It comes with the boobs!

 

When you work so hard

To hold the kin firm

When you give it all

To keep folks close

Don’t worry, it’s a family thing

It comes with the boobs!

 

When you laugh so hard

To cry even longer

When you dance so much

Then tumble even further

Don’t worry, it’s a heart thing

It comes with the boobs!

 

When you try so much

To look good and right

When you act so much

To be whom you are not

Don’t worry it’s a fad thing

It comes with the boobs!

 

When you bleed so much

To live each month

When you gain so much

From gallons that you lose

Don’t worry, it’s a girl thing

It comes with the boobs!

 

Addis Ababa 2012

Mildred Ngesa Poems 2012

Exuberant Eunice

 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!

**Story of Appreciation**

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial
position in a big company.

He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, made
the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic
achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school
until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not
score.

The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the
youth answered "none".

The director asked, " Was it your father who paid for your school
fees?" The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year
old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked, " Where did your mother work?" The youth answered,
"My mother worked as clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth
to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth
and perfect.

The director asked, " Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes
before?" The youth answered, "Never, my mother always wanted me to
study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes
faster than me.

The director said, "I have a request. When you go back today, go and
clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.*

the youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he
went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands.
His
mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her
hands to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did
that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so
wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises
were so painful that his mother
shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of
hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school
fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother
had to pay for his
graduation, academic excellence and his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly
washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked: " Can you tell me
what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered, " I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished
cleaning all the remaining clothes'

The Director asked, " Please tell me your feelings."

The youth said, Number 1, I know now what appreciation is. Without my
mother, there would not the successful me today. Number 2, by working
together and helping
my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get
something done. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and
value of family relationship.

The director said, " This is what I am looking for to be my manager.
I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a
person who knows the sufferings of
others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his
only goal in life. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect
of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team.
The company's performance improved tremendously.

A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he
wanted, would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put
himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts. When he
starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when
he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his
employees and would always blame others. For this kind of people, who
may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but
eventually would not feel sense of achievement. He will grumble and be
full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective
parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid
instead?*

You can let your kid live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn
piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please
let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and
bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you
do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love
them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich
their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the
mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid
learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and
learns the ability to work with others to get things done.

True lessons for a good life

Randy Pausch: he died of pancreatic cancer in 2008, but wrote a book ‘The last lecture” before then, one of the bestsellers in 2007. What a legacy to leave behind… In a letter to his wife Jai and his children, Dylan, Logan, and Chloe, he wrote this beautiful "guide to a better life" for his wife and children to follow. May you be blessed by his insight. POINTS ON HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE Personality: 1. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about. 2. Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment. 3. Don't overdo; keep your limits 4. Don't take yourself so seriously; no one else does 5. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip   6. Dream more while you are awake 7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need. 8. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner of his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness. 9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others. 10. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present   11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you   12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime. 13. Smile and laugh more 14. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree. Community: 15. Call your family often 16. Each day give something good to others 17. Forgive everyone for everything 18. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6 19. Try to make at least three people smile each day 20. What other people think of you is none of your business 21. Your job will not take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch. Life: 22. Put GOD first in anything and everything that you think, say and do. 23. GOD heals everything 24. Do the right things   25. However good or bad a situation is, it will change 26. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up 27. The best is yet to come 28. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful 29. When you’re awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it 30. If you know GOD you will always be happy. So, be happy.

Champions

After a very awkward week, I was thrilled to rally a cheering squad to the Kenya Swimming Federation National Championships which was held over the weekend! Our agenda was to go give a standing ovation to our very own cousin who makes the rest of us look bad in any pool!!

Am sure you can imagine the magnitude of this event! These are the crème of all swimmers in the country from various age-groups who have been training for different courses. Seating with my squadron in the bleachers I couldn’t help but wonder how much time, effort, energy, costs and much more have been invested in each of these swimmers.

It may have been a lot of work pampering our dear water baby and ensuring he is well hydrated with orange water (apparently all these serious swimmers drink this stuff!)and is well fed and warm. However the hard-work was left solely on his shoulders. I know for a fact that he swims nearly every day for at least two hours, eats a very healthy diet and works out! This calls for a great deal of discipline, commitment and focus! The results as you can rightfully visualize are almost quite obvious! Now, when you think of GIGO (a computer acronym for Garbage in Garbage out) you understand that you are what you do often and what you do is pretty much what you get! That said it is still very startling that with this knowledge we still expect to be champions in our own right in whatever we fancy without working at it! It is very strange that on our wish list they are a zillion goals we have set but we have not taken any initiative to realize any one of these goals!

Thinking of all the swimmers over the weekend, regardless of their age or what course they were pursuing; they have all made sacrifices to make it to the nationals. They have had to sacrifice some leisure and rest to get adequate training. They may have had to let go of some friends who do not share in their visions. They have coaches who train them and family and friends who cheer them even when they would rather give up! Come the hour of reckoning, they have to stand on the board and go the mile alone. The rest of the spectators can now only watch and applaud them on.

Thinking about it, this is how life really is, a race which you decide to take at your own pace. You may have a great team rallying behind you and giving you all the support and encouragement you need along the way. Many a times, you will get boo-ers who will try to dampen you spirit and make you believe you are not worthy, or that you can’t succeed! However, you must have a goal and must train to achieve it.You must have the discipline, focus and zeal it entails. Like the swimmers you have to keep pushing yourself, not making an excuse because it would be easier too and keep working on bettering yourself. Like the coaches who rush to the swimmers side at the end of each race informing them of the time they accomplished and giving them a pat on the back, we all need to have mentors, coaches and role models who believe in our potential, share our values and beliefs and can help us along the way!

But most of all as a true champion, we must all accept that we are better at something’s and others are undeniably better at other things. We therefore need to display good sportsmanship and congratulate others for their accomplishments and be genuinely happy for them! Shake their hands and wish them well. This must be harder for some people more than others but we must always remember the words of ‘desiderata’: those who are green with envy over others success are vexatious to the spirit!

So our water baby did us very proud over the weekend, hopefully we might send him to the Olympics very soon. This weekend I re-learnt from him the importance of setting realistic goals and put my all into actually realizing them! So maybe I need to get up earlier, cut down on the sugar and get those books cracking!!!!!

I might want to ask what goals do you have on your to-do list? And what are you REALLY doing about them? It’s one thing to have it on paper and a whole different story when you put action to them!

To My Sisters with Love

Written by Donna Fargo

If I gathered up all my wishes for you and put them in a pretty basket,
your multi-colored bouquet would look like this.......

You'd have peace from every conflict you encounter in your life, all the love you need, and perfect health to enjoy this journey of life.

Your basket would be filled with dreams come true, goals met, and satisfaction with your achievements.

There would be many friendships to enhance your feeling of community and belonging.

A variety of meaningful relationships gives life spice and balance, so I'd fill your basket with the kind of friends you can call on, go places with and care for.

There would be prayers for your freedom from everything that binds you, and solutions to any problems you may have in life.

In this pretty basket of wishes, you would have everything you need and want.  Every situation and circumstance you encounter would enhance your potential for happiness.

May the time and concern you've invested in others translate into the kind of love and appreciation for yourself that you so deserve.

You are worthy.

You are beautiful.

You are loved.

As I stir through the memories of what we've shared through the years as sisters, I wish you happiness, and I hope your every dream is coming true!

Author: Donna Fargo

Instructions.

1. You shall not worry for worry is the most unproductive of all human activities.

2. You shall not be fearful, for most of the things we fear never come to pass.

3. You shall not carry grudges, for they are the heaviest of all life’s burdens.

4. You shall face each day as it comes. You can only handle one day at a time anyway.

5. You shall not take problems to bed with you, for they make very poor bedfellows.

6. You shall not borrow other people’s problems. They can better care for them than you.

7. You shall not try to relieve yesterday for good or ill: it is forever gone. Concentrate on what is happening in your life and be happy now!

8. You shall be a good listener, for only when you listen do you hear ideas different from your own.

9. You shall not become ‘bogged down’ by frustrations, for 90% of it is rooted in self-pity and will only interfere with positive action.

10. You shall count your blessings, never overlooking the small ones, for a lot of small blessings add up to one big one.

Adopted from J.John &Marks Stibbe-a bucket of surprises

She dares to be different.

I first met her on a sunny afternoon in Nairobi. I stood in awe soaking up her long blonde hair, beautiful hazel eyes and soft skin. At first glance, you could tell she was a fashion diva, dotting in a hot pink top and matching shoes, I walked up to shake her hand and usher her into a local hotel we had agreed to meet in.

Jane Waithera is no ordinary 24 year old. Born an albino, she is obviously different from my dark African skin, but she is none the same African. And she is a damn strong African Woman at that. Faced with several obstacles at a tender age, this young lady had to grow up and mature faster than most of us had the luxury of. Her tale is something you imagine reading in a fictitious book but it has been her reality.

You may have seen her in several TV shows already, or in a magazine or two. Miss Waithera has dared to be different. She is not one to burry her head in the sand when work needs to get done. Her trademark line is that “I am not any less human than you, the only difference between you and I is that I lack skin pigmentation-period!” She affirms that albinos can do anything and everything other people can possibly do, and therefore society should stop alienating them and discriminating against them.

Waithera has been an advocate of other albinos and has recently started her own organization dubbed “Positive Exposure” that aims to use photography as a medium to enlighten society, and advocating for their fundamental Human Rights. The organization also aims to offer solidarity to other members.

Asked whether she notices the annoying stares: she gingerly states that her life is too precious to keep records of such mundane things. Wouldn’t we all be much happier if we didn’t care what other people think of us-I wonder!

Jane believes that her albinism is not a disability. She is definitely a force you cannot afford to ignore. She knows only too well that when you reach your goal, you should not turn back. Success is a journey,never a destination she adds. Now one of my great friends, Jane’s humor can make any dull day seem bright. She is beautiful inside and out and is a truly inspirational person. Now that’s what I call an empowered diva! Wouldn’t you agree?