When a young girl finds her voice!

I was always a very quiet child who preferred to be by themselves and do her own things. I had gone through some traumatic experience as a child which contributed to this, and the adjustment was not easy. Not to forget I am literally a middle child in a family of 9 kids.  These experiences contributed a lot to me being introverted. I would never have thought that one day I would find my voice.

I first found my voice while staying at my aunts for a school year, she would make my brother and I read before bed and would later ask us what the stories were about, and lessons we drew from them. She was a teacher; she would keenly listen to me narrating what I had just read and applaud me and see me to bed.

When I was 10, my family and I moved to a new place, and we joined the Presbyterian church where I found my voice again. This time, I was selected to perform a solo verse. I crammed what seemed to be a depiction of a life event that had just happened (the traumatic experience in reference above). I cannot tell for sure who wrote this poem and for what reason, but it did feel so DeJa’Vu. My Sunday school teacher told me to channel my personal experience and draw inspiration for my emotions from this. I performed this poem effortlessly and was among the top three. As sad as this poem was, I found my voice again. Poetry became my way to channel my thoughts and a way to process my trauma. So, I began writing short poems as early as when I was 11 years old. My primary school years were filled with lots of performances both at church and at school. I loved how I would easily bring a piece to life through spoken word poetry both through intonation and emotions. I would embody the poem, become it and give a performance of a lifetime. I found my voice again. Words carved into a poem would take me places I had never been, an escape. Easy!

When I joined high school, I was unstoppable, poetry had become my life and so I wrote, filled notebooks, performed at the Kenya Music Festival (KMF) and wrote some more. Every year, I made sure I did a solo verse at the KMF and also participated in a chorale verse. I loved it. It was the school policy for form fours not to attend KMF. I personally approached the school director and assured her that attending the KMF for a solo verse would not interfere with my education. I remember telling her that I did not need extra time to practice in comparison to chorale verses that involved a group and lots of meetings to synchronize. I was so adamant and even went further to justify how I would practice even in the shower which meant this was a very flexible endeavor. She finally agreed and allowed me to participate. To be honest, I have lots of certificates in my house than I would know what to do with. I sometimes joke that if this would have opened certain doors of opportunities as they are, I would be so ahead in life. Good thing, I found my voice as a writer and poet.

When I joined the University, I joined a poetry club called COFFEE, I cannot remember what the initials stood for. But from this club we started another club called the GATHERING which targeted poets from other Universities in Eldoret. Here, I was part of the leadership team, and we offered mentorship to upcoming poets. We then started a monthly poetry event called One Night Stand. I know, the name was definitely very bold, but the goal was to showcase bold and authentic poetry with no filter. I officially became an emcee of this event, and I enjoyed dressing up, showing up, performing, and hyping other poets for their performances. I found my voice as an event planner, emcee, mentor and performer.  

Leadership.

While in primary school, I was selected to be the class prefect all the way from class 5. I don’t remember enjoying this, but someone saw the potential. I would ensure our class stayed organized and helped the teachers with roll call and delivering books to students after they were marked. By the time I was in class 8, I was in charge of our little library and read every book in the library. I particularly loved Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s books. He inspired me so much I would tell myself that I would want to be an author just like him.

In high school, I quickly became part of the school leadership, I was first a sub-prefect, prefect, senior prefect then a Captain which was such a huge deal. Being a captain imparted leadership skills that I have carried over the years. I had the opportunity to occasionally stand in front of the whole school and address the assembly which built my public speaking skills, and my confidence. I became very proactive and at some point, I did feel like I was always ahead of my time.  I found my voice being in these leadership roles

Mentorship.

I was lucky to have had a mentor through high school and University which prepared me for mentorship roles. I enjoyed paying it forward and mentored young people when I graduated from the University.

I found my voice as a young mentor helping other young girls find their voices. We spoke about what it takes to dream, find and occupy space, pave way for others and change a little corner of our world.

I found my voice when I started LatitudeZero Opportunities and started working with young people through our skills training program. I learnt what it took to take on a bigger leadership role, to influence a generation, to shape young minds and to help little boys and girls believe in the power of their dreams as they explored their interests.

My journey to finding my voice has been one long one that took self-belief, other people believing in me and lots of taking leaps of faith and being consistent. I am grateful that as a young girl I always dreamed and pushed for those dreams. Finding my voice required me to push away self-limiting beliefs and dig deeper. 

When a young girl or boy finds their voice, certain wheels of fortunes are set in motion. 

Have you found your voice? Sometimes to find your voice you must pursue those things that set your heart on fire.