 This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. Welcome to Youth in Action where youths are no longer the leaders of tomorrow but of now. Today we have Hyrol Matete doing an amazing job as a teacher. Hyrol, Karibusana to the program. Thank you. They say being a teacher is a calling. What do you have to say about that? I think just like any other profession, being a teacher could be a calling, being a banker would be a calling. So yes, being a teacher is a calling. And there are different fields of teaching here. So what field do you operate in as a teacher? So you know when you study, when you're a P1 teacher, you basically go and teach everything from math to science and it's English, social studies. So you teach everything so you don't specialize on anything if you're a P1 teacher. You have been recognized internationally as a mentor. Talk about that for a bit. So I joined a program called Akili Dada. Akili Dada is an incubator leadership program where young women from all over Africa, mainly East Africa, they get a chance to be mentored on how to run the organization. So your total leadership skill, management, financial literacy, emotional intelligence, a lot of things you're taught in a span of one year and then you go out there and make a difference in your community. So that is what we did at Akili Dada. So once you are done, you also have to give back. So you also have to hold another woman's hand, also have to hold another girl's hand and bring her up. I would like to know how did you come across Akili Dada? Is it something you knew about? No, it's not something I knew about it. I was just on my social media and then I come across it. Wow. And you're doing a great job. Thank you. What other activities are you involved in? At Angels of Sunset. Yeah, okay. What is Angels of Sunset? So I am the founder and director Angels of Sunset. It's a talent academy for children and teenagers. So we take children between the age of three to 16 years. We train them on music, dance, modeling, acting, public speaking and generally performing arts. And then every school holiday we have events where these kids get a chance to showcase what we've taught them. And then people pay to come and watch them perform. So part of the money we raise from our ticket sales is used to equip a community library that we have in Maniata, where children from Maniata Slam can get access to workbooks used in school that their parents cannot afford. So Angels of Sunset, that name is striking. Where did it come from? So you see when the sun sets, there's so much hopelessness, there's so much uncertainty. You're not even sure what will happen. You know, it's dark. It's just like you've been blinded. You don't know what will happen tomorrow. And that is the case for most children in Maniata. They're not sure of where their next meal will come from. They're not sure of their education. They're not even sure if come at the Mimalizah school, will I go to a university? Will I go to a college? Will I go to a high school? So Angels of Sunset, an angel comes in to show you that there is still hope. There's someone who still cares. There's someone who sees you as a child in Maniata. There's someone who really wants you to have a bright future. So that is what happens with Angels of Sunset. So that is what we do for children in Maniata. And also, just as we said, there is so much darkness when the sun sets. We also run a program at Kibo school for the blind. Just from the name the blind, it's dark. Those children are always in darkness so that it's during the day or night. So some of them have never interacted with books. Some of them are brought to school at a very late age when maybe they are 10, 12, and it's when they're in a nursery school. So they've never even interacted with books. So Angels of Sunset comes in to just read to these children. We run a read allowed program for them and just help them interact with books even as they go through this other world that people who see cannot experience or cannot even follow. So speaking about working with the children from Kibo School for Blind, do you have a training that works with children who need special needs? No, I am not trained to work with children with special needs but passion drives you to do things. So I read a lot and I try as much as I can to just find ways that I can make it easier for them to just interact with education because I really believe that children are the future and we are looking for that inclusivity in everything that we do be it in fashion, be it in education and we do not want to let any children be left behind. And how is the experience working with the children from Kibo? Do you know those children? They really love when people visit them because very few people go there. So when you just go there, there's just that energy that they give you that you do not experience working with any other normal kid. So I feel working with them as much as our resources might be strained but it's so fulfilling. And by resources being strained, what do you mean? You know, when you're going there, I have volunteers who will read to the children so you need to transport them to that place. You need, there are just some logistics that needs to go into place. You need to have different books. You need to buy those story books that you read to them. So there is a lot of logistics that goes into the read aloud program. And do you have supporters or partners that you're working with to make sure that that is done? We believe that we cannot just do this alone. So we usually call out for people to come. So sometimes when we call out for people who can just come as reading assistants, we have friends who will show up with their cars. At least now we are sorted with their transport. We have friends who will just say we are buying snacks for the children. We have friends who will just say that we are doing photography for this so that people can see and it can get the publicity that it needs. So at the moment we are working with Crowdoll. Crowdoll, it used to be called Amazing Kisum. They've been great supporters of our projects from the community library that they've helped build. We are working with Ella Movers who have also been a great partner in making sure that people get transport to Kibo School for their Blind and YGAP who have just been like donors to Angels of Sunset as an organization. We're also working with companies like Jade Collection who have supported Kibo School for their Blind immensely and they've really gone out of their way. Just being a business and not a social enterprise. So they're not even looking at it as a CSR. They've just gone out of their way to really do it for Kibo School for their Blind. So we really appreciate Jade's Crowdoll and Ella Movers and YGAP as a partner. And so what is the driving force behind Angels of Sunset? Seeing that you're working with these kids and you're going out of your way without their training, without their, is just passion. So what is the driving force of it? So as I said earlier, I'm really passionate about children and education and I really want to see that inclusivity and we fight for more policies that will include not just children from, let me say normal for lack of a better word, not just children from normal families and normal schools. It will be so nice to have people who are supporting children from special needs school because as much as any other kid in Kenya, any other kid in our society, they really need people to show them they love. They really need people who can be parents and friends to them. And working with kids sometimes you have to be a parent to them. How do you manoeuvre that seeing that you're not a parent yourself? Yes, I'm not a parent but you see when you're a teacher, you automatically become a parent because there are those days when a child will come crying. You will have to be an adult and just see how you can work around it. So I also have nephews and nieces from my brothers and siblings. So it's just something that comes out naturally for me because I've also raised my nephews and nieces. So it's something that comes out naturally for me. Wow. And what would you say is your greatest achievement in your journey as Angels of Sunset till now? The greatest achievement that we've had not for me as an individual but as an organization and as a community that we've built over time is we've been able to build a good community library well-lit and child-friendly that children can access and use those books that their parents cannot afford. That has been our greatest achievement. And also just having children come from our mentoring program and go to events like Little Miss Kenya, get to represent Kisumu, get to represent Siaia. That has been one of the greatest achievements that we've had. Wow. You've mentioned Little Miss Kenya. I believe that is a fashion industry. So let's talk about it. Are you part of it? Are you the founder or how is it? No, I'm not the founder. I am the county director, Little Miss Kenya, for Siaia and Kisumu County. So Little Miss Kenya does the Nature Kids talent in the modeling world. So we have events at the county levels. So you participate in Siaia, Kisumu, Transoia and Nairobi. And then after all of each and every county has held their event, the winners get to represent their county at the national level. So when you win at the national level, you get to represent Kenya for Little Miss World. And as we are talking about the achievements we've had, we've actually sent two of our children to represent Kenya for Little Miss World. Two children that actually come from Kisumu. So you see it's a really great mentorship program. Yeah, it's really impressive. And speaking of working with kids as models, is it something you wanted because you would have chosen to work with adults in the fashion industry, but you chose kids. Why is that? So modeling was inspired by what happened in school. So when I was a teacher, when I was doing my teaching practice, I realized a lot of children were dropping out of school. This reason was not because they didn't like school, they were just being stubborn. So there are very few books, if you've studied at a public school, there are very few books in school. So one book you will share among four or five people. So when the teacher comes in the morning, the following day, you either have the option of taking another person's book or copy. You just wait and get beaten and then you should. So I realized most of the teachers were sending these kids out of class and they felt these kids were lazy, but it wasn't even because of that. So these kids who are getting ridiculed in class with their peers, they are getting frustrated and abused with teachers. So most of these children's self-esteem had gone down. So I was looking for a way, how can I make change? How can I boost their self-esteem? So you know when you're told you are a model, automatically your self-esteem goes up because you feel you are pretty, you're beautiful. So that is how we started the modeling journey. So we started doing modeling so that we can boost their self-esteem. So these children were really looking forward to coming to school because they knew how to do it. So at least it's something that will keep them inside school. But that wasn't going to solve the problem. The problem was they were not having enough books. So that is how we started doing the modeling and then we have the fashion events. People come, pay, we buy books. And the modeling sector, do you also involve the children at Kibos School for Blind? Yes, last year we did a fashion show that was immensely sponsored by Jed's collection, where we just heard these kids for the first time in Kisumu in Kenya and in Africa having a fashion show for blind children. So yes, it's something we did and we are looking forward to having it this year. How did you do it? I'm curious, how did you do it? How did you tell them that this is what we're doing, work like this? How? So, and Joseph-san said, normally we have children who see. So and then we also have these children from Kibos. And something that we are trying to create as an organization and we are just trying to make sure that these children, we have blind children and then we have us who see. So there is that big gap. So we are trying to find a way where our children will just be together. We'll just have that unity, whether you are blind, whether you are handicapped, there's no discrimination. It's just something that they're born with. So our children were working with them on the runway as their guides and then we also had trained dogs that were working with them. And then there are those kids who have low vision so they can see some color, something that is bright. So we used a yellow string and showed them this is the runway, this is the end of the runway, this is where you need to pose, this is what you need to do. Wow, I'm so interested to see that for myself. So you talked about the mentorship. So being a mentor, you've come across Akili Dada, you've mentored the kids. What about yourself? How do you, how do you purpose to continue into the future with Angelic Sunset? Well, we want to make sure that we mentor a lot of children and then you also know you cannot just give from an empty cup. So you also need to be mentored. So I have people who, I also have women who have supported me, who have mentored me through this journey as a young leader, who has also mentored me through this journey as a young organization that is trying to come up and is trying to make a difference. So as we continue, I am looking forward to having other women who will support my organization, who will support our journey, who will support also the children that we work with. And while working as Angels of Sunset, any challenges you've encountered so far that you feel like you need to mention them and a solution should be brought about from that? One of the greatest challenges are just the resource train. You see for the, the read aloud program at Kibo school for the blind just as I had mentioned, we really have, we really need people to come in and support because those children really need us to be there and out there for them. For the community library that we run, it has been hectic because you see the Kenyan curriculum, it keeps changing. So every time it changes, we need to upgrade our books and sometimes we do not have those resources to immediately upgrade the books. So maybe today we are having KBL doing, we are having science, primary science, and then the next time teachers want KBL and then in the next two months teachers need work, need breakthrough. So you know the way the syllabus keeps changing, it's training, it's training our resources and it's also, we do not get to deliver so much for the children that we need to deliver to. And do you have people that help to develop the programs as they keep changing according to curriculum? Yes, I have a team of people who work, we have teachers who are volunteered for the program and then also have the, we have the reading assistants who usually help with tuition, we do have free tuition for children within Manyat. So what can the community, how can the community help? So how the community can help with, you know, education is something that, as much as we are all saying that we feel that we are so a light and people automatically know that parents in the slums, borrow we get food, borrow we get shelter, that is all. So we realize even in our program a lot of parents come up to me to do homework, they feel like, and you know the children do not want to go without doing homework because one day you're ready, they'll be sent out of class. So in Manyat, parents have really not embraced so much that because most of the children are coming from broken families, they're coming from parents who are just neglecting, so they do not see that as an option. So we maybe if we just get a way of educating more parents, we don't, let us not just assume that parents are really out there for education, parents are out there to look for food and shelter for their children, they do not care about education. And have you, have you tried to get some systems to help educate the parents? Yes, we've tried, we've worked with a few other people like Kefiado, Kenna Female Advice Organization, who are just trying to help us also equip the parents with knowledge that education is not like a tertiary or a secondary one for their children. Interesting. And so there is a young person out there who feels they have a calling to do a certain thing, but they've not actualized it as you have. What can you tell them? Usually we take so long because we think that we need a lot of money, we think that we need a lot of resources and we need a lot of crowd following us before we start doing something, but we'll just encourage them that if you have something that is going to impact, that is going to change our community, that is going to change our life, just start. Because at the end of the day, it's you waiting for someone, someone else is also waiting for you to start. So just start, you'll get people to mentor you, you'll get people to work you through the journey. So any, at any particular time just start. Wow, wow, wow. You're working with kids and that is so commendable. I love your work. I would want to be part of it. So congratulations. Thank you for coming to the show. If you have a calling to do something, go ahead and start. You do not have to have a lot of money. You do not have to have a lot of resources. As she has said, just start, you will get the mentors, you will get the right resources, you will get the right networks to complete your task. This has been Youth in Action. See you next time.