If I were to trace the watershed moments in my life that re-affirmed and grew my journey with feminism I would probably say there have been three main ones. The first has to be an early journey after high school in rural Kenya with an organisation my mother founded and run. You see my mother believed that children should not be idle, so as I waited to join university I had to “earn my keep”. KEFEADO was then one of the few organisations in Western Kenya doing any form of “gender and development” work. Due to my mother’s history as an educator most of the early projects focused on formal education institutions, specifically primary and high schools. I used to accompany my mother when she travelled with her colleagues to “implement” these projects. I started out as an observer really, filing out registration and payment forms. This observation sporadically over two years resulted in a deep appreciation of the meaning of access to resources, questions of choice and the importance of faith. Many of the young women we encountered in these schools which were often far removed from the reach of the State saw, through school projects KEFEADO ran, people who believed in them and who facilitated the re-mobilisation of local opportunities.
