 We are looking at the strength of a woman whereby we give you inspirational stories that you can learn from as a young person back at home in studio. I am joined by the beautiful and lovely, yeah, should I add more? Should we add on this title, Tabitha? But Tabitha will go to, she's a journalist, student and also a program coordinator for young women leaders connect and advocate on the youth and women economic empowerment through agribusiness that is and also Teenage Mentor and a governance expert. Thank you very much for creating time to be with us today in the morning. Thank you very much for having me Michelle. Yes, you look fantastic. You look awesome as well. I am so drooling over your shells darling. So, starting us off, introduce yourself. Tell us what you do. I've mentioned your titles. Yes. But take us through what you do and who is Tabitha. All right. You've mentioned a bit about myself. I think generally that is me. My name is Tabitha Guthu. I am a journalist, student at Marseille University. I am a youth advocate, my programs and leadership coordinator for governance and leadership for the young women leaders connect. A passionate advocate on matters economic empowerment for women and youth through agribusiness. And I'm also just a woman who has some strength like the show is today. Exactly. And the father is also helping other young women, teenagers on issues, social issues that are going through. That makes you a woman to like, you know, be, you know, applauded and also appreciated. And that's why we have you here on strength of a woman. Thank you for having me. What was life like growing up for you? Where did you grow up? All right. All right. I grew up in the village, a small village in Seah County called Signolo. Growing up there, I went to primary school in Uranga. It was just a small school, a very ordinary school. And then at a point, I came to study in Nairobi from my class six to eight. From there, I miss my parents because my parents retired to the village. So I went back again to do my high school. So I've done my high school from four months, four four in the village. And I think that formed a very strong basis on what I've translated to be in my life right now and what I stand for and advocate for because some of them I've come across, some of them I've seen happening. And especially you asked me what has really translated to, for example, my passionate advocation for matters of agribusiness is because I see a lot of potential growing up that our people have and they can utilize when they're doing their agriculture. So one of a couple of these things that you could see growing up being a teenager that, yeah. Yes. So growing up, for example, I would see that young girls, maybe when they get pregnant when they're teenagers, the opportunities to go back to school are very null and void because their parents viewed them. Some of them are even chased away. View them as people who have failed in life and that is not really the case. So for me, I always say that if I can get a platform or create one that I could just tell these parents, you know, once somebody has messed up the first time, it doesn't mean that everything is lost for them. You can still pick them up and encourage them to be what they're supposed to be. That doctor in them, you can still naturally... Yeah, it's all right. If you've made a mistake, that doesn't make you late. Your life, it's all summed up to that particular mistake. Exactly. Also, growing up, I viewed a lot of girls never had confidence, really. You know, in the village, hardly, especially if you go to the village schools, I saw a lot of my peers. They had a lot of self esteem in themselves, a lot of confidence. This translated to them, even some of them left school. Some of them never saw anything good in themselves. So every day of my life, when I meet a young girl or somebody, or I'll say my younger self, I want to tell them something to do with what I saw then that if my peers would have been told, some of them will be better or they've known how to show up confidently and love themselves. So that is something I always want to do with the teenagers as well. So what is your educational background like? Because out from those titles, you're doing a couple of so many things and I would like to assume that you're quite very young. You know, have all these titles. So take us through your educational background. Alright, 23. Like I said, primary school, I went to Ranga, partly Nairobi, high school I went to Ranga and partly in Borough, in Alleggo. I come from Sierra County as I said. So then after I had finished my high school, by the way, the first time, I don't know but I was not able to go to university straight, one thing. So when I was not able to go to university straight, of course I scored, I missed the university, they called the aggregate, with only two points. Then I told my parents, I don't need to go to a parallel, I am a learning institution to do my education. I want to be a government sponsor because it's quite expensive. And I went back to school again. So this time I went back to school in Borough. And going back to school, I really knew that I wanted to be, because sometimes when you have a lot of passion and you want to do this and that. Did you get the government sponsorship? Yes, I did. I realized if you do not really show up and even advance your studies, it becomes a little bit difficult. So I went back the second time and that is now where Borough High School comes in, in Nalego. I went there and did my KSC and passed very well and joined Marcelo University, where I'm a third year student and a third qualification in media technology. Tell us more about the problem that you are dealing with, is it youth connect? Young women disconnect. So Young Women Disconnect is generally an organization that was formed to bring the minds of young women, especially the ones who maybe have graduated from universities or the ones who are in universities and their leaders at their own levels and even the communities. And then we see how we can lobby for issues that really affect our society and come up with solutions through partnerships. So as a program coordinator for governance and leadership, I am mandated to come up with projects, for example. So for me, my mind is always like, okay, as I said, growing up I saw issues that I was not able to address at that time. So being a program coordinator, I'm able to say, for example, the teenage mothers, or the teenage students basically, we come up with projects that are geared towards mentoring them. We go to schools, talk to them about life skills, tell them how life is hard out here if they really don't give it their short because some of them do not understand. So it's good we tell them because we've been through it, some of us have been through it. And also we give them real life stories for teenage mothers, you know, like if you, for example, got pregnant when you were in school, it doesn't mean that now you should not go back to school and get married. One key mistake that parents do, which as an organization we clearly noted, is that when these teenage mothers, for example, get pregnant, they are forced to go get married to those men who made them pregnant. Some of these men, for example, maybe somebody, they're not even, okay, I will not say, they're not even ready for marriage or they're not set a family. So the vicious cycle of poverty keeps going on and on and on for this kind of families. So we also try to bring the parents on board. Also the issue of youth employment. I'm a key believer that our education system, as much as it has made us to believe that you have to finish school, get to campus, finish campus, go to an office, sit there pretty much with a tie. Okay, it's okay if it's working for you, but you realize that even if you have a tie or you have a white collar job, you cannot rely on one stream source of income. We have to be a little bit versatile. So what happens to somebody or a youth in the rural areas? Some of them, they inherited this land. Yes, that's true. Ancestrally. So what happens to this youth in the rural area? Who does not have employment? All they rely in is maybe, okay, some of them are into picky-picky. Motorbike is not bad, but you see it's so flooded right now that you cannot say that you can get something that can sustain even for a month. So what do you guys do? So for us, we tell them that the land is a very rich asset for us. So what we try and do is partner with organizations or offices who can generally pack their knowledge on land and how they can use them better sustainably. And also with the aspect of climate change as an SDG, we also try to incorporate that and advocate that agribusiness is also a source of employment. Okay, so do you have like a learning session where you're offering all this information when it comes to leasing of land, when it comes to, you know, tilling of land and how to do it and also the production and the business aspect of it? Quite practically. For example, you see, we have value-cheating actors in agriculture. We teach them or train them. We bring the facilitators, quite professional, to teach them on the magnitude of the value chain from production direct to the market. And even sometimes, for example, if, you know, there is no point of you coming, for example, and train me about poultry and give me what I require materially to have large production and not give me a market. So we also bring sometimes these, you say, organizations or people who deal in the line of poultry. So we make sure we take them through the value chain up to the last actor, which is the market. So it make it readily available for them. All right. I'm so sure it's not like a standalone project. It's not. You have a team you work with. So who are this particular team that you work with and how a couple of challenges that you actually face? Number one, we make these projects to be owned by the local people. You know, when it's owned by the local people. And for example, generally, we do not just come and tell you want to train you in agribusiness or agriculture. We always have those open forums. We ask you, where are your challenges and how well do you think they can be addressed? And then we find resource people to come and do that for them. So when we make it locally available for them, and then also we believe in the strength of synergy. So we have partners that we get to work together. For example, we have the agriculture sector support development program too. In CI account, which we have worked with the era. Another seed company is this agricultural organizations, which are also really working towards making sure that the farmers and the youth and women generally, you know, get the best out of what they do in terms of agriculture and agribusiness. All right. So looking back to the projects that you have done, especially when it comes to young women leaders connect. What type of impact are you people having and how do you actually like, you know, look back and say that we have done ABC DND and that we are actually helping young leaders out here. All right. I'll say that so we have made strides and we're still continuing. It's been a journey. But then we are very happy to also say that the impact we have created in society. For example, in matters advocating for teenage mothers, we have even an menstrual poverty campaigns that we are doing and we have still we had in the past. We have to say that we've been able to impact lives, change lives. And through agribusiness, that is that is a key major thing. I will say that if you go, for example, to areas that we have had sessions and even brought organizations to work with this particular group of women and youth. They are very thankful because their knowledge has been broadened and they have actually embraced the fact that you do not really need to go to a city. If there is no job there and you've left your land at home, just playing idol. Yes. And for young person is watching this and let's look at, you know, freshly a new graduate student and they're thinking on a space of just, you know, white collar jobs. What would be your advice when it comes to ways to just free yourself and get yourself in a space of economic independence? This is what I will say. You see, I'm really not into this mindset that you need to get a job once you're done with college or what. Start doing something when you're in college or university. I think I learned this thing quite early. And it's because I saw the period that I awaited those people, not everybody, but a good number of the graduates. Other than graduates, it is when they start looking for jobs, what can I do with myself to make myself productive? So let us start doing a few things even when we are in colleges. But for those who have graduated, for example, and you are thinking what nets for us. Technology and innovation is a space for us as youths right now that you need to really get into. Let's get into innovative spaces, push ourselves. Let's just show up. You know, I always say nobody will know what you're passionate about or what you can do basically if you do not do anything about it. So my challenge is always that if, for example, you want to be a CEO, like in agriculture, you just start with your hands. You know, it's good to get dirty. You just start with what you have. And what you have. And then with time, you realize that it just grows. It just grows. Maybe you're a CEO of your own agricultural farm and all that. You'll be able to just sit at the time on the table. I'll be like I started from somewhere. Just start from where you are, even if it's business. All you need to do is broaden your network. Networks for me always is everything. Sometimes this network don't need to pay. When you hear that there is somewhere where there is an event where you can go just to network, you just show up. So also we need to demystify this aspect of thinking that the youth always have that time. I need to make it today. I trust to be today. I trust to adapt. The pressure, yeah. Let's trust the journey, yes. Let's just trust the journey of life. It happens. But sometimes you need to pay the price. You know, like sometimes you need to use a lot of your money, by the way, for you to get that a million or a thousand shillings that we all dream about. All right, so let's look at who is eligible to be part of this program. And are you guys in all different countries or are you guys for now in CIO? No, no, no. The Young Women Disconnect is a national organization. And that's why I told you, like, we've worked even in Tarakaniti County. So who is eligible to be part of this? So anybody is eligible, but you have to be somebody who has, who has a leadership quality and wants to be a change maker in the society. Because that's all we need for us to make the next generation a better place even for the youth to come. All right. Okay. Allow me to take you back to the club, the She-Rise Club. About from addressing on issues pertaining to teenage pregnancies. What are the issues of your dressing? And yeah, tell me about that. You know, some of us, if we were never mentored, will not even be able to sit down like I'm sitting down here and say anything. So there is power in mentorship. So in the She-Rise Clubs, we always want to mentor the young group of women leaders that we'll have. You know, leadership begins from way, way, way back when you're young. So we mentor them. We also make sure that they're able to come up with projects, want them to be as innovative as they can as young girls, you know. And sometimes to give them the space, you know, peer education, you know. They talk amongst themselves through these She-Rise Clubs. Now, we have a She-Rise Club in Kibra. So this club basically trans in a way that this, there's a day allocated in the week with the school which this girl sit down. They discuss about their issues. They're able to, you know, also talk about this thing freely amongst the seven advice themselves. So it's more like life skills. Life skills, you know. Okay. We also, you know, it saddens me that we have been doing a research and it shows that many of these teenage pregnancy cases that we have in this country is the result of a young girl waking up one day and she was not able to access a sanitary travel pack. You know, some of us or some of the girls in this country, they come from very poor backgrounds and it's very okay to come from a poor background. You can change it if you want. And so you find that during the menstrual cycle, they're not able to even just get a pack of 50 She-Rise sanitary towels. So what do they do? If somebody can give them that 50 She-Rise by sanitary towels, they'll not mind. And in the process, they get pregnant, you know. So for us, it's always a pain for us to hear these stories. Like, we have them. They say, may I get pregnant because I don't have 50 She-Rise by sanitary towels. So I had to give myself to a man whom he used me and give me. Do you feel like this conversation should start back to the parents and just shifting the mindset, not only just on the aspect of, like, if you get pregnant, that is the end of your failure, but also on the aspect that, you know, that I need to have a conversation with my child if we lack, and also issue of poverty. Right. This conversation should start with the parents. But you see, this is what I always say that everybody has their own lives to live. As a young girl, always tell them, you know, if you cannot access a packet of sanitary towels, and sometimes your parent generally does not have, does not have, you can talk to somebody, maybe even a friend or a teacher or, you know, or just find a means to caution that. But do not give yourself to somebody to make use of you. And then one day you'll be sitting down, you know, these things, you know, come always come hunting, you'll be sitting down and saying, I wish I never did that. And I also feel like it's also on the aspect that if you know better, you do better. And the fact that you guys are on this, on this program like Kashi Rise and telling them the real truth, that helps them have a better option when it comes to making decisions. Yes. That is, that is a culture we want to develop in our young girls. And we really believe that if other organizations that are doing similar programs, we can invest really in our young girls. But you know, for a minute, Michelle, one challenge I think we are also losing it is when we want to really advocate for these girls to be better, all that. According to the UN reports during this COVID period, the teenage pregnancies, they said that the teenagers make their fellow teenagers pregnant, you know. So it means that if we are just going to be talking to our girls, the teenage girls and leaving the teenage boys. The boy has to be involved in this conversation. It's a whole society conversation. It's for the welfare of everybody. So the boy also has to be talked to and the girls also have to be talked to but we can't just leave any other side out. Yes. It comes from the parents, the society to everybody. Okay. This also comes with the aspect of taboo when it comes to menstrual conversation and also having young girls who still feel like, it's a shameful conversation to have also with another person, maybe a teacher. So they prefer to just shy shy, like on it, like we don't talk about this. So we end up finding different ways to just solve it. Right, right, right. You know, of course, even having such a conversation with our parents has been made to be a taboo. So sending my parents that I need to sign the taboo, for so many other people, me I'll say it, they will not, because also parents, some of them are not very good with their kids. They don't have that rapport. They are so harsh and all that. So we always encourage that as parents we need to make a very conducive environment for our kids to reach out to us, tell us this is happening and all that and then we see how we can move forward. All right, Abita. For someone who's watching us talk about this issue and they need to come and probably help you guys in on all that. How can they come through for you? All right. For us, you can reach us on social media. We are on Facebook. Young women leaders connect. I'm also on Facebook at Abita Guthu. And across all the social media handles, you can also email us. Young women leaders connect at gmail.com. And you can just, if you can't also reach us and you think you have the capacity to do something in just where, in the local places where you are, just help those girls, help those individuals, transform minds. Just do it. It's a whole and joint process. We can do it by ourselves. All right. Thank you very much. So make sure you reach out to Tabitha. Thank you for creating time to have this conversation with us, Tabitha. It's been a pleasure. All right. So make sure you follow up with Tabitha Guthu. She's a journalist, a program coordinator for Youth Women Leaders Connect. And keep up the conversation. And if you can help in one way or the other, and if you would like to be part of this particular Young Women Leaders Connect, you can surely follow them across all the social media handles and they will respond. Okay. So right before the channel is where you can find us across all our social media handles that Michelle Ashira is where you can find me across all my social. So we'll be right back with so much more right here on WCW.