 Welcome back. It's been ram with youth and politics and you had what youth need to do to get into leadership positions. You even had some leaders saying that it's time for youth, some should retire and so that youth themselves can get into the real power. And now what we ask ourselves are the youth themselves prepared. What are the youths doing already, not what they will do, what they are already doing to show that they are ripe and ready for it. And that's why we are in this conversation with two experts here. I'm happy to call you experts because you are people who are already doing something. One is Wendy. Wendy Ingle is not new here and the one is Sefas Dirangu. So Wendy will start with you. You are going to comprehensively introduce yourself including your Facebook, Twitter, social media handles and what you are doing right now. Welcome. I am leader and currently I am participating in different volunteer programs. I do girl rising that deals with girls and it works with STG4. Apart from girl rising I also involve myself in other community services. Currently it's an initiative kind of a club thing but I started it on Facebook and I'm a co-founder as well with another young lady and it's called Talent Star Hubs. It's on Facebook, you can find us on Facebook. For my personal handles on Facebook you'll find me at Wendy Ingle G on Twitter. I'm not so vibrant on Twitter but I'm there, Wendy Ingle G and also on Instagram I use the same handles. Thank you. Now you see why I chose Wendy for this particular topic and again we have another person called Sefas Dirangu. Sefas I've only told them your name and it's your first time here. So tell them everything about you apart from being Sefas Dirangu. Wonderful. My name is Dirangu Sefas. I am a 25 year old gentleman. I have studied, I have a bachelor's in community development and master's degree dropout in organizational leadership. Currently I am bringing together professionals to join in community organization because that's what I believe is the game changer in terms of our politics and even citizen participation in general activities. So it's something that we can be able to discuss further as we go on but that's what I'm currently doing at the moment. Wow, you are an expert in this field. Yes. Love the fact that you studied even community development and even continue to pursue master's on the same field or something. Organizational leadership but I've put it on hold to pursue what I feel is most urgent in this country right now. Yes and that's why I'm there. Just starting with you and according to your study background and others. Do you think youths are participating the current Kenyan youth? Do you think they are doing enough on their own to help improve their hood or their villages? People are working, the youth are working but it's not coordinated. There is something that's called duplication of projects in community development but you have one person doing a foundation, another person doing a foundation. Instead of coming together and meeting the very same objectives, people want to do things independently. We have two similar organizations targeting the same group of people and so there is not much efficiency and effectiveness in what we are supposed to do. So I don't think that we are doing enough and what we are doing currently is not being done in the proper way in my opinion. So according to you the problem is coordination which has now brought back, gave back to another problem which is duplication. Yes. Are you as a person, as a professional doing something to address this? I'm bringing up that conversation. I have a background, that's what brought me to Nairobi to start having these conversations. I believe that change starts by having the right conversations. So we need to be able to understand what is the role of community organizations in bringing about the change. What I've observed as a person is that we are having a lot of conversations that are not pegged on following up activities with them. You see if you go to school and you keep on studying and studying and there is no end, there is no point of going to school and everything. But if you go to school and at the end of your education you're expected to do something, that's what counts. So I am doing what is civic education on what community development ought to be and how it ought to be practiced. Ram was having a conversation with the guests that he was mentioning that people come and say one thing as aspiring members of parliament and then at two weeks after the orientation they learn that this is not a job description that we signed for. So they are not able to be effective. If we are able to have the right information after how we are supposed to do things, we are going to be more effective. So currently I'm educating people online and also in personal conversations and I believe that it's going in the right direction. We'll come back to you, tell us more about that. Let us come back to Wendy. Wendy, I am happy and I've told you I picked you because I know you are already doing something. What's your take on youth participation, generally youth participation on social issues or community development, whether social or physical and all that? I think one of the problems that we face as youth is that we want to get things fast. We want to do things rather in a more faster way and gain them. And we forget that there is a process to which you need to get where you want to go. For instance, I graduated in 2019. I love personal experiences. Yes, I graduated in 2019. And since I graduated, I wouldn't say that I've really been employed in any office. Whatever I do today is as a result of connections and networks that I've had with different people. In fact, there is no day that I've really sat in an office like 24 hours that I'm employed there. Most of these things I do, I get them from people I meet from different places. And this is something that the youths, rather they have it but they don't want to use it. You get to meet different people. Today I've met Sefer. I've had all the things that he has talked about. If I wanted to link up with him, I will link up with him. And I will ask him for platforms that can enable me to get something. Or even if I'm not getting it, so let me use an example of... I've really volunteered and so many things that I've volunteered in have led me to getting activities to do. Getting things to involve myself in. And by the end of the day, I've earned something from whatever I get from the other person. So that is something that the youth in the society are not really working towards. We are all waiting for Serikali to Pekazi. And I have gone to school but I have ideas in my mind. If today, and I stop looking at myself like I'm this young lady who has gone to school and I deserve all I want in the world, if I stop looking at myself that way and tell myself that for me to get to where I want to be, I have to start from somewhere. And where I'm going to start from, it is going to be dependent on my surrounding and the people I interact with. Then it's going to be very important that I take up every small opportunity that I get. If I can start a business, let me start that business and see where it gets me to. If I can start a small organization, let me start it and see where I can get funds and see where I can get different activities without waiting for Serikali ni Pekazi or rather waiting for a job that will pay me some 30,000 by the end of the month. I will tell you that I don't get 30,000 by the end of the month. You get more than that. I get sometimes, not that I get more than that, but it can pay for my bills. It can settle some of my bills. So it's not like I need to be seated somewhere and it also gains me skills, different skills. It puts me somewhere across so that when I'm employed somewhere, I can work anywhere and I'll be very comfortable working there. Let's get maybe away from Yuki Dogo. Are there tangible changes that you can pinpoint that you've made to individuals' lives or as society as a whole? I have done my part and I believe that through doing my part because like recently, I facilitate a program in the informal settlements. Places like Madari, Samaya Long Kiboro, there is a school there and I go to them, I talk to them, it's more like life skills. I talk to these young boys and girls and I encourage them to, they want to have that ad for education because personally I've seen where it has brought me to. So I believe through the little talkings that I have with them plus I am a mentor, I have mentored a good number of people and sometimes I am happy of my success because I've seen these people flourishing in their different fields that I helped them to go through. So for me it's something so beautiful to see someone flourishing out of something small that I told them. Save us as an expert. What do you think of Wendy? As I mentioned earlier coordination, she is doing a lot but it can be amplified by bringing together people and I love that she is big on networking because networks are what bring people together and make bigger things to be able to happen. I can relate to the number of things that she has mentioned in that through to my campus years, all short long term holidays I was able to volunteer, worked with a different organization I had four volunteer experiences by the time I was graduating in 2018 and one of the things that I noted was that you would have because in that year I did a civic education program to stop by road pollution because it's a problem that I had noted so despite having the information there wasn't much that government was able to do with the information that I was able to acquire and so it's things like this that drove me out of employment because I was working, I do work as a part time photographer and we're also running a small family business then every evening I'd have a lot of thoughts because you get to hear that this is going on, this is going on I didn't feel it proper for me to earn from a business knowing very well that I can be able to enable more people to get employment by bringing coordination into the picture so I think that she is doing a lot and it's very impressive what she's doing and the impact, the ripple effect that it's going to have especially when you touch on the information sector and the education sector You know, so far Kenya is a young nation and by young I don't mean the age of independence but I mean the majority of the population I am like 64% of Kenyans are below the age of 30 now what currently we describe as youth is the age of between 15 to 30 that is 29% now that is age set and that is age group so youth as age group is the majority other age groups include children, middle age the senior members of the society and all that and you are only talking about coordination do you think majority of our youths are as charismatic as Wendy do you think the only thing lacking is coordination but they are doing something Yes as charismatic as her, not very many why because it is something that has been frowned upon on from when you and we talk about charismatic in this sense I believe that you are mentioning charismatic that she is a go getter she wants to have Yes, charisma in terms of societal service it's not something that has been glorified in the entire education system because when I did commit development most people were what is this about so even when you get out here the things that are being seen as good things are things like owning a car owning a good house or things of the sort so if we were able to have people who champion Doctor Ben Kasun was talking about he was addressing a plenary in the US some years back and he was saying that sports people they get trophies so society sees it as something worth pursuing because you see at the end there is that glory there is that trophy there is that many things of the sort when it comes to education if you are smart you just told it when it should be that's the end of it so we need to find people who are going to bring out people like her and praise them and give them things like awards like the head of state commendation things of the sort to show that this is something worth pursuing and then giving people like her forums in which other people can get to know that people are finding satisfaction in getting to serve people not everybody should get into it it's not something that everybody should everybody should but it's not everybody who should quote and quote start an organization to do the same work like I said duplication of projects so I don't think many people are like her because of the reasons that I've said it Back to you Wendy you have so many age mates I want to ask you the same thing that I have asked you as a participant him as an expert because when you do masters is something you mean you have mastered it so you have age mates you have those with whom you went to school are they doing the same thing do you see them participate in changing lives of the society and of people what is your rating how do you rate your age mates your school mates and all that in terms of how they participate in changing their hoods and villages I would commend a good number of them because in the different fields that they are in they are definitely doing something and but I forgot to mention I did political science in public administration that's your profession that's what I studied not my profession but rather what I studied so these young people are doing something in their societies and around me I would say that ok truth could be that some of us just like I mentioned before some of us want it fast but some of us are ready to go through the process and the process the other day I was reading some some write up somewhere and like everyone was complaining that it is time that the process starts too also trust us we've been trusting the process so much and it is very hard it's very hard when you're trusting the process and you feel like the process is really failing you and you feel like I'm going to give up because no one is giving me a pat on the back for whatever I'm doing no one is giving me a pat on the back no one is appreciating me and it is time that nia chanenayo or should I just continue doing this and sometimes when you don't have your inner self like you do the introspection he talks about you're not having your inner self and by the end of the day you're telling yourself why am I doing this is there a motivation as to why I'm doing this is there a goal as to why I'm doing this and when you come to understand that you can answer those questions by yourself then you will find yourself you will find yourself doing these things continue doing them even when no one is giving you a pat on the back but you're encouraging yourself that as long as I'm encouraging someone somewhere to be better with their lives and when you wake up the next morning you can see from them that they are really doing it and you're like okay that is my motivation and I'll still continue doing this and asking those around me in my different capacity because I would say with my peers they are those who are doctors they are those who are lawyers they are those who are chefs they are those different kinds of professions and I would say that they are really doing well in whatever they are doing those who are teachers I'm seeing they are really doing well in as much as they are not yet there but wherever they are they are doing something you just told us a lot of what she is doing but I believe this is also what you are doing so that people out there will see at least some people are doing something so that maybe they are inspired to do the same things tell us what you are doing it's information it's sharing the foundation of sustainable development is the right information once you have the right information on what should be done that's when sustainable development can come what I'm starting is a network of professionals coming together to do the different responsibility implementing the different skills that they have towards the betterment of the country with the direct thing the direct goal being to better the country it's what worked for Singapore because when you hear the first prime minister when they talked about in 1960 that people came together and it was their one and only goal to make our country better I think that's something that lacks in our country in that we want to better ourselves to put a buffer zone around the injustices that are being experienced in this country and the hardships that people experience so you want to work hard to create a small zone a small bubble of yours in which you can be kept safe so we're bringing together people of different trainings, different skills mesons, engineers, doctors carpenters anyone who wants to be on board and take Kenya to the next level so you are bringing people together as the first stage as the first stage what do you intend to do after that first stage when you have the right people you have a vision leadership is when you are able to influence people to follow to believe in the vision that you have and follow you as you implement it so you need to start by showing them what you are able to do. My goal is to have an efficient and an effective country so the key things that we want to bring about is prosperity professionalism and prosperity professionalism yes prosperity and professionalism we are bringing professional together that is the goal that I have so starts by bringing the vision clear to everybody and then now implementing where and how do you do it? I'm a social worker on Twitter I'm the development coach you call development coach and so this is how a coach works a coach is not a striker a coach is not a defender he's not a midfielder he directs he's not a goalkeeper he directs people but he brings the best people on board to create an unbeatable team right? so that's what is going to be my responsibility because I'm trained all round in health accounts in transport all these things I'm trained in as a social worker I can't be able to work on them so what you do is you bring together for example you're bringing let me give a good example when I was coming from Thika Road you find that traffic starts all the way to Nairobi what you need to what can be from research you find that the problem that you're having in the public transport sector is that they are not the public transport services are not effective they're not efficient in terms of time in terms of the services that are brought so you need to bring stakeholders in the transport sector so you're bringing conductors, you're bringing drivers you're bringing investors, you're bringing government all these people enable them to come up with a framework and then lead them or rather let them lead themselves in bringing the change that is there so when you bring people together and you share the little skill that you have and they bring the information it's called participatory development so it's not limited in any specific sector let me give you another example I went to the on Twitter I saw that I don't know whether you've come across it like somebody needs blood here somebody needs blood there so I decided to take a walk I went to the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Center I asked them what's the procedure if somebody has an organization or institution say like church and would want to donate and they told me all you need to do is just tell us when you're not paying anything they have the tents they have the equipment they have the staff if you have a church just tell them I'm next Sunday we're going to be donating blood come prepared have a snack or something of the sort and then donate blood just by that you'll have met a need in the country I was talking with a friend of mine she was telling me that one time she wanted to go and donate blood when she got there the person had read it what? so it's a small you told us how you do it so where you do it mostly is Twitter yes online and personal engagement so stakeholder engagement meeting with different people for example I've met one of the presidential aspirants getting to discuss with them meeting different politicians as they allow me to yes what do you think is doing what you really need as a link for your success okay for yes because you will link me up with my stakeholders like those people who work in the same field as I do or rather those people who have the same interest as I do so he is doing a great job because sometimes like he talks about the blood donation thing you know before you get to the hospital and the person that is very sad by the way the person is already dead and you are very willing to do that what he's doing is like saving this person before the other gets to the hospital so he's doing it earlier than the time that it should be done so I rather think he's doing a very great job as well yeah is there something you want maybe the public to help you maybe in doing this or maybe in furthering this is there what is missing or what is lacking whether it's goodwill, whether it's connection or whether it's what for me development there is always an opening for everybody everyone no matter your skill, no matter your social status if you have time, some people have time some people have money, some people have energy all of that you can be able to bring it on board and be able to bring change they can reach out to me through my Twitter handle Twitter handle and then we can discuss what is the best they can be placed with people who also have similar interest and bring change in the country somebody was telling me that they are not participating in bettering their hoods because they are not aware how they should do it and one was telling me that they are not given a chance to shine I think when they addressed that when she said that she did not wait to be given employment and all that is this person justified to say that she is not aware of what she should do there is something about information indication that breaks down I was thinking to myself that at that time when I went to bring my degree you just sit in class and you listen to people who have been in the field and without realizing that it changes how you think how you see problems how you see people and how to encounter things somebody has not been exposed to that kind of education it is possibly justified for them to think that maybe I am too small to do anything but when we have information brought to them through shows like this they are able to understand that they can be able to bring change that offering to give blood for example even when there is no blood appeal can actually save lives without you knowing so it is breaking you down you know what the first he is saying is that it is contagious what you do can be contagious to others he is saying being with professional changes his thinking and all that and you are doing great things and you have several friends and even the organizations you belong to even in church do you think you have influenced some people positively especially your and youths to start being productive to the society as you are I challenge I love that I challenge people by my deeds sometimes I don't go ahead and tell you I want you to see me and decide what you want to do with yourself and Sifas talked about he said something about when you see and you asked a question about this guy who thinks that he needs someone to go to them and tell them about sometimes I feel even our upbringing has failed as young people because what is community service it is the simple things that you do that you like this is a child growing up from childhood if this child is taught you know our environment we have really invested on the book education than the outside education so this is a child being brought up and this child needs to know that when I see maybe we have a house help at home I can assist this house help in maybe cleaning utensils after food or taking plates out of the table after dinner or after breakfast or at lunch hour and this is something that maybe our parents or the society has failed to instill in children if you are in primary school and I kind of love the CBC kind of setting where you see children cleaning the market place the environment and that in itself is service and when you do that you communicate with others you see how some people are not as advantage as you are and you come up with this idea that I don't really need to wait for a white color job so that I can do some blue color job as I wait for the white color job but as long as it can bring something on my table and it is something genuine for myself and I'm even not just assisting myself around me then it's going to be a very important thing and I believe I believe that those around me have seen what I do and some of them feel very because you know sometimes when I get a job to do and I'm not able to do it I always call one of my friends and I tell them I delegate it to them I really love delegating because it teaches the other person to also do it better than you or even just being able to do it is something that is very important somebody is alarmed that you say you volunteer a lot voluntary means you not paid but at the end of the month you have bills to pay so somebody is asking if I dedicate the whole of my life to volunteer how will I take care of myself like do you on your part is there a way and something to take care of your bills so that when you volunteer you don't lack okay I through the volunteerism I have got things to do I get opportunities and sometimes I get called for facilitations and when I go there I get my pay I'm paid for my the expenses that got me there for example my transport and the facilitation itself so yes I volunteer I do it part time so it is not entirely voluntary you and somehow hand from it can you help us this person who says how if I volunteer how will I make the ends meet for myself I'd say I do agree with what she mentioned that you might be having a small source of income to supplement the work that you're doing but there is also resource mobilization it's something that people also do maybe if like I mentioned everybody has a resource so you might find that there is somebody who is passionate in the area that you're in and would want to do something about it but they don't have the time but they do have the resources so they can help you to actualize your dream as well as them actualizing their dream through you so in the event you can learn a few things about raising resources am I raising funds through like-minded organizations do you also think there are enough policies to help encourage youths to be developing their societies do you think they are enough is the government doing enough all the government arms do you think they are doing anything or enough to help encourage the youths to do these things the model in which most political leaders work is it's not very encouraging allow me to mention one time I was working in the government office in Nakuru town and when people would go outside for let's say field work you'd get maybe an appreciation am I fair of around 500 shillings was enough fair for me for the entire work week because I was paying approximately 100 shillings so if you have a politician getting about 10,000-5,000 per sitting if somebody would want to bring changes just by using little money like that because if I can pay my fair to and fro for an entire week it's more about the good will if you ask me this is they've mentioned something about giving interns around 15,000 I think that was sometime in 2017-2018 but I haven't seen it implemented across the board I think only interns are able to get intern doctors in government so I think what lacks is the good will by politicians the paperwork is I feel is okay but it's only good on paper yeah it's most of our problems is just that lack of political will there's no good will in supporting the youth but the paperwork is there some things actually Kaisu is that you don't even need paperwork most of those things you don't need because if you are for example in an office my friend was telling me that they were going out for a trip even a lot of money if you have the youth interest at heart the least you can do is just even give them a thousand extra or give them two thousand it's going to be able to push them to the extra level so that doesn't need any paperwork for you to be compelled to give them it just comes from the goodness of your heart the most place we've seen our youth come together is when they are destroying yeah and there is some politicians add them to stone some other people or when they is manamano they break they destroy they burn the road they stone glass houses and all that is it good to say that most of our energies are diverted negatively the thing about violence is a reflection of where the majority of society is there is maslu pyramid in that there are those people who cannot be able to afford even a meal give you an interesting story we were having sometime in 2020 when corona had just come in and people were saying there might be there might be a lockdown and things of that sort I think he was a police officer he said it's not possible to have a lockdown in Kenya because if you lock down Kenya there are just too many poor people who live from hand to mouth so what politicians sell is hope so if a young person is convinced that them going to the streets and having their person inside getting the position that they feel can be able to save them will bring them to the streets so it's that and the small amount of money that maybe they get at the end of the day so it's poverty that leads us to that when people are poor they do anything to survive and get to the next day so we need to address poverty among the youth that's the only way you can stop political violence when did you share the opinion because like he said you go for the work you are given 500 shillings for fair which is very minimal for whatever you are going to do there and then there is some politician coming in and telling you I just want you to go and shout in the streets and you will get your 1500 shillings so tell me which one will you choose even if it were you what will you choose basically I am just going to shout and destroy things my 1500 shillings but this other side I am going to be involved in a lot of work I am going to use my mind I am going to use my profession and I will only get out with 500 shillings so what will you want the youth to choose because I still have a lot of expenses to see through and 500 shillings will not even be enough in Nairobi you live around Thika Road 500 shillings is like 2 days that means that you haven't even taken something so people choose to go for violence because they will get something out of it by the end of the day now tell them think your camera is this camera one tell them what you do that they should also do on your final remarks because time is not on our side okay I know as young people it's very tough and we also need the process to start trusting us we've trusted the process some of you have waited longer than I have waited and it is sometime very frustrating it's disappointing with all the other challenges that you might go through but one encouragement that I will need to give us all of us is that in as much as it goes it's going to be tough every other day, toughen yourself as well toughen your seat belt and be ready for it whatever it is outside there that you can do with the abilities that you have do it and learn grow and impact on other people's lives and I'm encouraging you to be a go getter these opportunities are out there but if you don't go for them you will not get them don't wait for someone else to go outside there and bring it to you go for it and you never know someone somewhere is seeing your effort and you will be appreciated for that someday that's why I sing well 30 seconds 30 seconds I'd say only coming together as numerous people can be able to bring change every 5 years we are promised that if somebody gets into power things will change but we've seen this cycle leading us to the place that we were 5 years ago and having the same conversation that you're having so I implore every one of you respective of your social status that's in terms of marriage whether you're single, whether you're working whether you're not where you're working and things of the sort let's come together reach out to me on my Twitter handle if you have a conversation and get to see what we can be able to do I believe that everybody has a resource I'm leaving you with a quote which says if you planted a hope today if you planted hope today in someone's heart which felt alone if you caused a laugh or chased away some tears if someone's burden was made lighter because of your kindness then your day was well spent and those who feel that volunteering will not pay bills solve a problem this is the mindset of entrepreneurs that if you solve a problem money will follow it money is where you solve a problem this has been a man crash Monday with the experts and following several programs continue lighting your day this is the end of why in the morning today on Monday have a blessed day and let's keep it together