 Good Tuesday morning to you. You are watching what in the morning your favorite breakfast show We do this every Monday to Friday between 7 a.m. And 10 a.m. Today being Tuesday. It is entrepreneurship Tuesday It's about time we let you know what the young people are out here doing to make ends meet and to empower other people and with us in Studio we have we have a group which is Power Moja initiative and They're making us know today and they're teaching the rest of us today to see the opportunity in the challenge So today we are going to be having a small conversation about what they're doing for all the youth such as What can I say unsaved unsaved underserved underserved? Okay, big words If you're from the slums if you've not been able maybe to get a proper education and you feel like oh You're you're you're a bit stuck in life. Well, Power Moja initiative is here with you So we we're here today with the founder and the senior facilitator one Jesse Jackson and Titus Korea Please say good morning to the wine the morning family for the first time and my name is Hilda. What did he buy the way? Good morning. Why family? Very glad to be here. Thank you for having us. All right. Good morning. Why family? I'm glad to be here looking forward for an interesting session. Okay So what so what so what was the idea behind this initiative? What inspired this initiative? What was it about the youth that you saw that that that made you feel like we need to do something for this before what happened? First of all, I grew up in Madari and like any other marginalized area. There are a lot of challenges especially connected to young people and Through those challenges, I went through I didn't want the same challenges to be felt They are coming youth and that's why I decided to start Power Moja initiative basically to challenge young people to look at the opportunities in Those challenges that they are going through because there are a lot of challenges in the community. So what are those challenges? Issues to do with employment mostly issues to do with hygiene environment Issues to do with crime issues to do with drugs as you know that Madari is like the capital of Changa and other Bruce. So the youth They don't have so many opportunities to really develop their skills or earn a good Living so what we do as Power Moja initiative is that we look at these biggest challenges in the community and we Come up together with young people develop solution and we engage these young people to implement those solutions So we have programs in different primary schools different high schools And also we work with the youth that have finished school because we want to to make sure that Every facet of the community is touched by our work. So what is your age bracket? Because I'm hearing are they those in school or those outside school? What is the age bracket for the youths that you are your particular be targeted? Mainly we we target people who have just finished high school and are transitioning to University or they're not doing anything in between because also university education is very expensive. Yes so we try to Tap into them because they have a lot of idle time during that time, you know School is a system you wake up at a certain time you go to lunch at a certain time and then you go to bed at a certain time So once you are out there, you are free and a lot can happen. So we try to tap them We give them skills. We give them tools. We train them to be to be local Community leaders, but also at the same time to think globally. So we also teach them about being Good global cities and you know taking care of the of the environment they live in knowing very well that it affects the outside world And through that that's how we come up with some solutions and programs that they go and facilitate in different primary schools and high schools So that's the connection that we have. Okay, speaking of facilitation the senior facilitator is here He has mentioned a certain group of people who are involved may be in drugs or they've given up or they're in crime And what have you how do you get those individuals to want to make? What do you call it 180 degree time in life and decide wow? No, I want to be a productive citizen How do you pull them out of the quagmire? Okay I've been being raised in another community a product of Such organization a community based organization. I and I went my high school with a scholarship program I saw it was that most of my Schoolmate primary schoolmate the the girls and the boys who are not able to make it to high-level education So I saw it was what can I do for the community or what can I give back to the community? So I came back. I like I was like with this information the knowledge that I have from University high school. What can I do? Can I give it back to the community? So I? I started facilitating and lucky enough the organization was really there for more initiative What was there? It was just a man power that was needed. So we came in like I've been first stator for More four years right now. Oh, yeah, so it's been a good experience that exposure like holding your younger brothers were down here telling them that There's something good out of this life. There's something how do you convince them? That is what I'm curious because some of them end up in jail Then they come out then they want to rehabilitate themselves or They just don't want to listen at that point. There's a lot of influence. So how do you get them to listen to you? I'm very curious. It's it's a living testimony like you get to see The way the lives have changed like we have various many facilitator who have gone through the process like we have sexual education They have not dropped out to school. They are busy in schools. They are busy giving out Facetation with their life how they have overcome what they are going through like basically uh It's it's a it's a testimony what we go through in the slums We have been able to walk away through all those challenges Having a successful life Yeah, that's it. Okay, mr. Fouda Yes, you've mentioned some challenges such as unemployment and lack of opportunity So what do you do? What opportunities are these you create for them? Do you do help them? Create their own businesses or do you help them get jobs? What exactly happens like if I if I decided maybe I'm a youth somewhere and I'm feeling lost somewhere in Mothering and I wanted to join from what's the initiative because I'm unemployed And I and I'm just there let me put it like that. Maybe I can't afford to go to university So do I come and expect you to teach me how to start my own business or do you get me a job? What exactly happens? uh, actually I I basically do nothing just Because the youth they do everything themselves. So what we do is that we provide that environment because Personally, I've been lucky to travel a little bit around the world and learn a few skills in in terms of how do you work? As a team, how do you collaborate with other people? How do you communicate? How do you solve? Uh Conflicts when they arise. So when you bring those skills Then you challenge the mindset of the youth because the youth normally what they do is that they mostly complain Instead of looking at okay. There's a challenge here. How can I? Shift my mindset and then become the solution at the same time Deal with the challenge And also create a living out of that So yeah, we we don't train them to start a business We we train you to look at what what is bothering you around you and then from that you can find a solution and once you find a solution Then you can communicate with other people bring other people on board fundraise find resources But also there are a lot of resources Also in the community So what can you start with what you have and then from there? Other people will see what you are doing and then come on board and that's what I've been doing because like I told you I came from Madari and right now i'm working with people from somewhere in Bangkok Who are supporting what we are doing today? It was not easy to get to those people but through what we have been doing in a very small way They have seen that this is a good thing that uh, they are doing and we need to support these guys Oh, so i'm hearing uh, there's a lot of life skills that you're teaching people should stop to get out of that That's a block mind block So that now when they are able to interact with others and they'll see the opportunities and be able to make use of them That's a very good summary. Wow. Okay. All right. So i'm hearing you have a conference that's uh, sorry A program that's said to come up between the 24th and the 25th of this month. Can you please let us know a little bit about that? Uh, basically it's called Rooka leadership program 2019 we have done another conference in 2016 This is a partnership between the jump foundation an organization based in Beijing and also in Bangkok And what they do is that they work with young people to To use experiential education to inspire them to give them skills to enhance collaboration What's experiential education? Experiential education is where you put people in situations So that they can learn for themselves, you know, the traditional learning That's the opposite the traditional learning is where you go to class and then the teacher gives you all the information But in experiential education A facilitator comes in the room Give some instructions and let you do the experience and you learn from it So every experience is different. What you do with this group today is not the same with what the outcome of another group And that's why we say it's it's a lot of experience So with jump we did it in 2016 together with them and For the last two three years we have had challenges in fundraising But right now 2019. Luckily jump got funding from one of their supporters They decided we need to do it again. So what we do is that They have a lot of tools. We have a lot of learning materials And for us as parmoja, we have the facilitators. We have the local team. We have the local connections So what we do is that we take The facilitators for two-day training in those trainings their workshops We also visit organizations in madari that are doing amazing work so that these young people can also get inspired They can also learn about their challenges about their success and also about Why why they started the organization and then on the second day we have Some people who come to do training and then as well as something we call open space conference whereby we have Workshops running around and people can easily join a new workshop. Okay. It's also a very new model. How big is this team? No, I'm surprised. How big and how long has it been? The the the team that is running roka Is only five of us But we work with we are working with roka 2016 Participants who we are going to train to be the facilitators So 10 of them have have been recruited. They're going to be Facilitating in the conference. So basically like I told him so we brought them in as participants Now we are going to bring them as facilitators And that's the journey that that's how pamoja and jump work because we want we don't want center to have like a power Revolving like one center We believe that leadership should go. It's like a ripple effect. So it should go and go and go So next week we're training them so that they will be leading the the conferences And then the good thing is that after the two-day conference groups will emerge That will come up with ideas for community impact project And there's a hundred thousand shillings For the group or the groups that will emerge with the best idea And then they will be given the seed funding so that they can start those initiative Anyway in Nairobi because we are working with Marginalized youth from different parts of Nairobi. That's a good way to keep people motivated. Yeah, put some money in the pocket anyway, so um, what um What what what motivates you what keeps you going? What keeps you so passionate about pamoja? Like why like do you feel like you'll ever stop or what keeps you so grounded in this? So To say what's coming going what's motivate me or my drive towards this pamoja thing is that I get a chance to also Tell a certain youth a certain Friend a certain my younger brother my younger sister told so that to tell him that you can make it in life like The process that we went through mother mother is not all about bad things, but also good good stuff can be found inside we have University graduates we have those top celebrities footballers great footballers and like Seeing these testimonies all over Make me like want to tell those people who are using like They are under influence of drugs Maybe school dropouts these guys that think they cannot make it This drive me like I like I need to empower them to make it and be like you here present on a tv So that's that's what keeps me going. All right. That's a very noble move Okay, maybe I just talk a little bit why uh one of the reasons is someone like jesse who is seated next to me because I can't see the transformation He was a junior facilitator Now he's a senior facilitator Now we are serving in the same committee organizing a big conference. So just to see that transition It keeps being motivated because right now i'm working with different youth from all over Nairobi And when you interact with them, I was just about to ask if it's only in madari or it's no the organization is based in madari But right now the conference Works with young people from different parts of Nairobi, but from marginalized areas And every day you meet these young people They have a lot of hope a lot of potential a lot of insights and it inspires me even more to Find resources Go out there network and and make sure that this young potential doesn't disappear and and we regret Because as you know, there are a lot of extra judicial killings A lot of young people are ending up into drugs It's not their fault is because they don't have anything to do And you know the percentages are that are out there connected to jobs The youth are educated they have a lot of Passion to do something good, but they don't know how or they don't know where to go And that's why roka is there for them Wow, so how do you how do you get your initiative out there? How do you get your recruits like now you've said that your for your leadership program you want to work Or you've been working with people from all over all over different counties all over the country How do they get to know of palm of palm orja? Initiative, what do you guys do to make sure that the word spreads especially in a place where people like for example Maybe don't even have the money to have phones to be on social media. How do you make sure the information spreads? It's actually our social media manager. He can't I said Like how do you get to reach these youths from Nanformals community within Nairobi is like very simple The first uh 2016 Ruka conference was a little bit headache We had to go like we had to travel to these Nanformal communities like all over center like Kibera Ghidorai Oh, how safe are you? So it's just you know once you come from a ghetto I see say So uh, we had to travel uh, we had posters Everywhere at youth centers Also at uh, Nairobi one stop. So like each and every youth had this information like all over social media. We shared with Leaders within the communities now come 2019. It was like easy because we have uh, Ruka participants They were like our ambassadors So they were they shared the posters all over and also still went to these community-based centers or in these Nanformals Centers in different areas and then what we did was Create a google form where people could apply online so it was an online thing and Right now we have 200 applicants that have come In public life of these leadership conference. Yeah. Oh, congratulations All right, let's talk about uh, maybe what's next when it comes to palm watch initiative Like what can we expect from you guys? Maybe the next five years two years What can we expect? What difference can we expect before I ask you about any significant people that we know who you can see? Yes, they have benefited from this initiative and they've come out strong So before we answer that what can we expect from you guys the next five years, maybe? Um, uh, we we hope to have a bigger Ruka experience right now. We are looking at about 60 to 100 participants Depending on the resources that we have But we hope that every year we'll have at least 100 participants So those are like another 500 in the next five years And uh, this this is all over Nairobi So we want to create a critical mass of young people who can look at the biggest challenges in the community Turn them into opportunities Create themselves jobs as well as provide jobs to other people in the community Once we do that, uh, we'd be very happy, but it's not very easy because Like I said, we come from Madari. We don't have a lot of resources. What is the government doing about this? When it comes to initiatives, are you supported? What happens? Uh, what I would say is that uh We have tried to get support uh from different uh departments in the government Uh, I still am ongoing discussion We were hoping to get someone from the presidency to come and talk about, uh, the big four agenda Uh, we were not very, uh Lucky, but we're hoping that uh Before the conference Day is here. Hopefully we'll get someone. Yeah, Yambane. We we hope that will show up So, um We are hoping uh, that will be supported and another thing other than the government Uh, like I said, we're hoping to get a hundred participants right now What we can afford is about 50 to 60 participants Uh, we are hoping that local Companies and individuals can come in and support us and support it doesn't necessarily mean Financially you can provide t-shirts. You can provide beverages. You can provide halls You can provide transportation for participants because they're coming from all over Nairobi We have to pay for their transport. We have to pay to pay for their food We have to pay for their t-shirts stationary. You can provide printing. So there's a lot that Because this youth will help this country And people like the jam foundation are not even Kenyan. They are based in in china. Yes, they're investing in our own future In Thailand and then they're investing in us. So it should be uh an inspiration For local people to come on board and support this kind of initiative So we are looking forward to anyone who would be interested Uh to come on board. Uh, we have an amazing coordinator. Her name is sylvia. She'll be waiting She'll be waiting Okay, so the door is open. The invitation is open. Yes So jackson, can you please give us your social media handles because it's about time we conclude this interview So yes, please can you let them know where they can find you how much they wanted to join or apply If you want to join or apply or know about pamoja initiative We are We are on all social media platform like at pamoja facebook at pamoja twitter at pamoja Uh instagram And also our website is pamoja p with a moja dot or g Yeah, that's our Website. All right karibunis and everybody for all of you who are underserved. Yes. Yes, please please check out pamoja initiative However, I would like to I would like to as we as we go I'd like to really really enable you guys to answer this particular question on who can we say is a person of Of significance who has come out of your hands any anybody any testimony or even just a statistic How many people have you empowered when we put it like that? Uh as pamoja initiative I would say more than More than a thousand. Wow Because like jesse has said It's a it's a we have we have we have young people That we train and then they go and teach in schools in in primary schools So in one year we reach about like 200 kids Different and formal schools in madare But also as ruka the people who went for ruka 2016 Some of them went and started their own organizations and now those organizations are also reaching young people So for us, uh, we say that The most important thing is the experience not really the the numbers Because once you gives a young person A skill They will use that skill for the rest of their lives Wow So that's why you're more built on the life skills and whatever it will sustain them even to go for it It goes and goes and goes. So it's a ripple effect Wow For coming to studio today and congratulations for those whose lives you have changed Yes, yes, yes. Yes. So it's about time. We conclude this interview. Thank you so much for coming through They've enabled us to see the opportunity in the challenges around you So make sure you do subscribe to power bonja. Make sure you do attend the initiatives. They'll be following up. So yes Thank you so much. My name is hilda vaditi. It's about in my pain the way for barymosis Then you can come in with the next big interview. Peace