I like to invite you to travel a journey
a visionary journey with me let’s only
imagine a situation where for you to
access higher education you need an
identity card a situation where for you
to access banking services you need an
ID card a situation where even to access
this building you need an ID card and a
situation where for you to enjoy your
freedom of movement you need an ID card
that’s not a theoretical concept it’s a
reality I know many of the people in
this room come from states that have
such restrictions and that is the
situation in Kenya so now imagine
denying an individual that document how
that person lives how will that person
be able to fed for his family let me
begin by giving you a story of Mohammed
Mahmoud is a talented painter that I
personally knew and I remember once we
painted a friend’s house together my
hood used to live from hand to mouth why
it ask yourself why with this talent who
told me that he got several corporate
contracts but he could not take
advantage of the corporate contracts
because he did not have the access to
the facilities I’ve given you in the
contract but he cannot access my
facility because you don’t have an ID
card and that’s how he was denied the
right to get economic development
personally I share one thing with
Mahmoud we all come from the same
community we both come from the Nubian
ethnic minority in Kenya a community
that settled in Kenya before can I
became a state a community that settled
in Kenya
by 1885 in the constitution of Kenya the
Priya the post-independence Constitution
he says that any person holes in the
country by 1963 basically deserves to be
occasioned but after today we know B&C
has treated as second-class citizens so
unfortunate but when did I start feeling
that pain in 2010 after dropping out of
college because I felt like I don’t feel
like this is my way I was doing
networking like I don’t feel I feel like
I need to give it to my community so one
year later I volunteered for the Kenyan
liberal council of elders they were
doing the first nubian census because
the government used to classify us as
others when they’re doing the national
census so why don’t you count themselves
so I volunteered it was one of the days
that I can never forget in my life just
like the life that I was living on the
line because I came to reality that some
people within our community were living
a very bad life they were in the noise
of the lowest there were beyond poverty
and it’s not because of their own making
it’s because they were denied the right
to have rights they were denied the key
to enjoying the economic empowerment I
came across three mothers living
together in the same house because
they’re related all of them had tried to
apply for an IDs several times several
years and they had failed to get it as a
result their children did not have a
birth certificate so it is the sins of
the parents inherited by the children
they said what can I do what can I do to
contribute to the reduction of this
menace luckily it was like a process in
my life one year later I still in the
spirit of volunteerism i gen another
crew they mobilized forum we sat
together with a very few friends
my in organization and he drafted a
concept a concept that was built along
the African committee of experts on the
rights and welfare of the child they
basically said that every child
according to international law has the
right to national tea and name at birth
which the Kenyan state was denying the
Nubian child and this exposed the
children to the risk of statelessness so
we decided to do something instead of
complaining all the time and whining
about how we’re discriminated how can we
be the change makers we partnered with
open society Justice Initiative and
ammachi and my mentor who passed on
Adamson and we came up with a project
that basically the youth from the
community that we call community
paralegals will come up and help the
community in two ways one empower the
community to know that it is not the
favor that the state is doing to them by
giving them document it is their right
it is their entitlement and once they
understand that that we know that they
have the responsibility to apply for
these documents but we didn’t stop at
that we say there’s this underlying
problem we’ve been doing a lot of
anecdotes here and there saying we’ve
been discriminated we are being
discriminated but can we prove it to
prove this we needed to collect data so
I said the paralegals will help the
community to get the documents but it
won’t stop there they’ll collect the
data from the day the person stepped at
the government office from the questions
that they were asked to watch documents
that are requested until the day that
the document was issued so in 2014 two
years after the implementation of the
desire of the project we got an
opportunity the government was going to
report to the Committee on the status of
the implementation that they allegedly
claimed to have implemented and we wrote
to the committee with statistics of over
2,000 client
that our paralegals had handled a team
of only seven paralegals within two
years had helped 7,000 2,000 people so
what did the statistics show us it
showed that the government did not even
implement the decision not only did they
not implement it
they even wasn’t the situation so we
presented this this findings to the
committee and in 2017 this year we were
invited again to the committee and we
were asked to present in front of the
government a finding luckily we had more
so first word what happened to my mood
after working with a paralegal for one
year man food finally got an ID in 2015
he was able to open a bank account he
was able to answer money but he was
tagging his target did not stop at only
these small contracts little did I know
that he was saving to get a job in the
Gulf now he’s working in the Gulf but
why do I design it with this it’s
because I am Mahmoud share one thing not
only a neighbor because I’m called
Mustafa Mahmoud but we come from the
same community we went through the same
process and from the first documentation
that you gave to the African Committee
of expert on the rights and welfare of a
child other communities expressed an
interest they said look here it’s not
only the Nubians were surveilling from
this problem as the Somalis asked the
soilless we are suffering from this we
want the same things that you are doing
and at that point we decided to do a
trainers or friends we brought our
organizations we shared with them the
concept we trained them of how the
paralegals are working and the
importance of collecting the data now we
have a team we have four organizations
scattered around the country working
within their communities helping their
communities to empower them and tracking
the data and from this beautiful data we
were able to present to the committee
that look here we are not only talking
about the Nubian child now we are
talking about the Kenyan child
every Kenyan child King is where they
give you the right one hand and take it
with another hand whereby every child
has the right nationality at birth
what proves you’re a citizen at birth
about certificate ironic and it’s
written this is not a proof of
citizenship so what is the proof of
citizenship so that is what we are
trying to address and from that we were
able to also populate other information
we realize it was not only about an ID
card
we realized that many people didn’t have
a birth certificate many children didn’t
have birth certificate seven out of ten
one let birth registration at thirteen
twenty and they were playing because of
necessity and from this finding we were
able to share with a United Nation High
Commission for Refugees UNHCR Kenya and
they funded our partners to do several
more bed bath campaigns from the
beginning of 2015 after that our
partners in Mombasa hockey center was
able to do three mobile bath campaigns
and the reached 3,000 people who got
birth certificates our partner in
Nairobi no BR I’s forum was able to
reach 3,000 people in Kibera alone
popularly called Kibera but did he stop
there we said they small and we are
still pushing because we don’t want it
to be just getting documents we want
equality we want fairness and this is
where I was pushed to think about how
can I work better how can I have a
better reach how can I influence policy
how can I have a wider reach the journey
was long I had it I had to choose we
shoot we’re a wider one another one we
go on a fancier one and i related to no
mati and I said if I join the mati I’ll
be able to work with the same partners
that I work with I’ll ever to be
supporting them to do the same work that
I have passion
four so my friends with a team of only
24 paralegals were able to support
10,000 people to get identity documents
and they never had thought that they’d
never get those documents sometimes when
I look at the client testimonials
I feel like have I done all I need to do
I feel like crying cuz I’m like all
these people had a problem but I’ve been
looking at it as an individual problem
when I go and apply for an idea look at
it as my own problem I’ve gotten an idea
over I don’t see it as someone else will
go through the same process now we
started thinking how can we change and
see to resolve this problem and we
realized that the problem can only be
read addressed by the community
my mentor once told me you can silence
an institution you can silence an
organisation but you can never silence a
community and we decided the approach is
to begin a community movement and for
this community to stand up for their own
rights so we decided to start networking
clients networking beneficiaries to say
that now start thinking of this as an
individual problem think about it as a
community problem think about is the
Nubian problem now we begin bringing
them up and then I said why don’t you
take it a notch higher why don’t you if
they say is no longer Nubian problem
it’s a national problem you can say that
they are minorities you can say that
they’re mean Slim’s you can say that
because of their names
they’ll be discriminated upon they’ll be
taken through different processes for
example the Nubians have to apply on
only two days a mainstream Kenyan can go
to an registration agent when mandate is
there when Isaiah says the any day of
the week any time of the day but a
nubian can only apply on two days of the
week on Tuesday and Thursday
and then the application does not stop
there you have to wait between three to
four months to get vetting where you
appear before a Security Committee that
determines are you really a Kenyan they
ask you questions that I relevant is
this really your name is this how you
spend your name I was like it’s my name
I never knew so what is the relationship
between my nationality and this process
and if you can only establish the
community to think that is no longer an
individual problem it is a community
problem it is no longer community
problem it is a national problem then
we’ll be able to rise up and say we all
are humans we all are Kenyans we all
belong you are my neighbor you are my
brother your name might be different
your religion might be different but you
are also a Kenyan and that’s our vision
I personally look forward to a Kenyan a
Kenya where everyone is equal a Kenya
where everyone is treated the same and I
can you well I can work in any day apply
for the same service and get it the same
way and I believe it’s true it rich if
only we have a vigilant community and
that’s the vision that we are trying to
establish so what am I trying to share
with you the power is in the community
[Applause]
we might assume that you have the
solutions by the solution lies in the
community beyond the community let the
community fend for itself let the
community speak for itself let the
community advocate for itself and
believe you me your goal will reach but
if you want to speak for the community
if you want to work for the community
the community will never grow they’ll be
dependent on you teach me how to fish
but if you fish feed me with fish every
day I’ll be dependent on you as they
approach that many of us are using
unfortunately so I envision that all of
us should borrow this never work for the
community work with the community grow
the community empower the community
empower one of the community members to
make the change and bring them together
their voice is louder than you
we have only 24 paralegals if we were to
grow a paralegal for by per person we
need to be visionary will it be
sustainable but what if these people
could work for themselves that is the
vision that we have and that is the
vision that I want you to carry home
that if you can empower the community
the community can bring the change that
they themselves will love the change but
if you wanted to do it for yourself it’s
going to be a long walk I’m Mustafa I’m
a nubian
[Applause]
and before I go away remember one of my
canyons that I was with in the lift I
won’t mention your name and forgive you
for today
she was like oh my god you also can said
yes from where I’m from Nairobi so I you
know in Kenya once you already say
you’re a Kenyan it becometh Nicole so
which type are you
among the she’s like I’m among the big 8
the main tribes like so who are you
which tribe are you from I’m like I’m a
nubian oh so which type like ok that’s
how it feels to be a minority but a
minority can teach the majority that is
their right
[Applause]
[Music]
a visionary journey with me let’s only
imagine a situation where for you to
access higher education you need an
identity card a situation where for you
to access banking services you need an
ID card a situation where even to access
this building you need an ID card and a
situation where for you to enjoy your
freedom of movement you need an ID card
that’s not a theoretical concept it’s a
reality I know many of the people in
this room come from states that have
such restrictions and that is the
situation in Kenya so now imagine
denying an individual that document how
that person lives how will that person
be able to fed for his family let me
begin by giving you a story of Mohammed
Mahmoud is a talented painter that I
personally knew and I remember once we
painted a friend’s house together my
hood used to live from hand to mouth why
it ask yourself why with this talent who
told me that he got several corporate
contracts but he could not take
advantage of the corporate contracts
because he did not have the access to
the facilities I’ve given you in the
contract but he cannot access my
facility because you don’t have an ID
card and that’s how he was denied the
right to get economic development
personally I share one thing with
Mahmoud we all come from the same
community we both come from the Nubian
ethnic minority in Kenya a community
that settled in Kenya before can I
became a state a community that settled
in Kenya
by 1885 in the constitution of Kenya the
Priya the post-independence Constitution
he says that any person holes in the
country by 1963 basically deserves to be
occasioned but after today we know B&C
has treated as second-class citizens so
unfortunate but when did I start feeling
that pain in 2010 after dropping out of
college because I felt like I don’t feel
like this is my way I was doing
networking like I don’t feel I feel like
I need to give it to my community so one
year later I volunteered for the Kenyan
liberal council of elders they were
doing the first nubian census because
the government used to classify us as
others when they’re doing the national
census so why don’t you count themselves
so I volunteered it was one of the days
that I can never forget in my life just
like the life that I was living on the
line because I came to reality that some
people within our community were living
a very bad life they were in the noise
of the lowest there were beyond poverty
and it’s not because of their own making
it’s because they were denied the right
to have rights they were denied the key
to enjoying the economic empowerment I
came across three mothers living
together in the same house because
they’re related all of them had tried to
apply for an IDs several times several
years and they had failed to get it as a
result their children did not have a
birth certificate so it is the sins of
the parents inherited by the children
they said what can I do what can I do to
contribute to the reduction of this
menace luckily it was like a process in
my life one year later I still in the
spirit of volunteerism i gen another
crew they mobilized forum we sat
together with a very few friends
my in organization and he drafted a
concept a concept that was built along
the African committee of experts on the
rights and welfare of the child they
basically said that every child
according to international law has the
right to national tea and name at birth
which the Kenyan state was denying the
Nubian child and this exposed the
children to the risk of statelessness so
we decided to do something instead of
complaining all the time and whining
about how we’re discriminated how can we
be the change makers we partnered with
open society Justice Initiative and
ammachi and my mentor who passed on
Adamson and we came up with a project
that basically the youth from the
community that we call community
paralegals will come up and help the
community in two ways one empower the
community to know that it is not the
favor that the state is doing to them by
giving them document it is their right
it is their entitlement and once they
understand that that we know that they
have the responsibility to apply for
these documents but we didn’t stop at
that we say there’s this underlying
problem we’ve been doing a lot of
anecdotes here and there saying we’ve
been discriminated we are being
discriminated but can we prove it to
prove this we needed to collect data so
I said the paralegals will help the
community to get the documents but it
won’t stop there they’ll collect the
data from the day the person stepped at
the government office from the questions
that they were asked to watch documents
that are requested until the day that
the document was issued so in 2014 two
years after the implementation of the
desire of the project we got an
opportunity the government was going to
report to the Committee on the status of
the implementation that they allegedly
claimed to have implemented and we wrote
to the committee with statistics of over
2,000 client
that our paralegals had handled a team
of only seven paralegals within two
years had helped 7,000 2,000 people so
what did the statistics show us it
showed that the government did not even
implement the decision not only did they
not implement it
they even wasn’t the situation so we
presented this this findings to the
committee and in 2017 this year we were
invited again to the committee and we
were asked to present in front of the
government a finding luckily we had more
so first word what happened to my mood
after working with a paralegal for one
year man food finally got an ID in 2015
he was able to open a bank account he
was able to answer money but he was
tagging his target did not stop at only
these small contracts little did I know
that he was saving to get a job in the
Gulf now he’s working in the Gulf but
why do I design it with this it’s
because I am Mahmoud share one thing not
only a neighbor because I’m called
Mustafa Mahmoud but we come from the
same community we went through the same
process and from the first documentation
that you gave to the African Committee
of expert on the rights and welfare of a
child other communities expressed an
interest they said look here it’s not
only the Nubians were surveilling from
this problem as the Somalis asked the
soilless we are suffering from this we
want the same things that you are doing
and at that point we decided to do a
trainers or friends we brought our
organizations we shared with them the
concept we trained them of how the
paralegals are working and the
importance of collecting the data now we
have a team we have four organizations
scattered around the country working
within their communities helping their
communities to empower them and tracking
the data and from this beautiful data we
were able to present to the committee
that look here we are not only talking
about the Nubian child now we are
talking about the Kenyan child
every Kenyan child King is where they
give you the right one hand and take it
with another hand whereby every child
has the right nationality at birth
what proves you’re a citizen at birth
about certificate ironic and it’s
written this is not a proof of
citizenship so what is the proof of
citizenship so that is what we are
trying to address and from that we were
able to also populate other information
we realize it was not only about an ID
card
we realized that many people didn’t have
a birth certificate many children didn’t
have birth certificate seven out of ten
one let birth registration at thirteen
twenty and they were playing because of
necessity and from this finding we were
able to share with a United Nation High
Commission for Refugees UNHCR Kenya and
they funded our partners to do several
more bed bath campaigns from the
beginning of 2015 after that our
partners in Mombasa hockey center was
able to do three mobile bath campaigns
and the reached 3,000 people who got
birth certificates our partner in
Nairobi no BR I’s forum was able to
reach 3,000 people in Kibera alone
popularly called Kibera but did he stop
there we said they small and we are
still pushing because we don’t want it
to be just getting documents we want
equality we want fairness and this is
where I was pushed to think about how
can I work better how can I have a
better reach how can I influence policy
how can I have a wider reach the journey
was long I had it I had to choose we
shoot we’re a wider one another one we
go on a fancier one and i related to no
mati and I said if I join the mati I’ll
be able to work with the same partners
that I work with I’ll ever to be
supporting them to do the same work that
I have passion
four so my friends with a team of only
24 paralegals were able to support
10,000 people to get identity documents
and they never had thought that they’d
never get those documents sometimes when
I look at the client testimonials
I feel like have I done all I need to do
I feel like crying cuz I’m like all
these people had a problem but I’ve been
looking at it as an individual problem
when I go and apply for an idea look at
it as my own problem I’ve gotten an idea
over I don’t see it as someone else will
go through the same process now we
started thinking how can we change and
see to resolve this problem and we
realized that the problem can only be
read addressed by the community
my mentor once told me you can silence
an institution you can silence an
organisation but you can never silence a
community and we decided the approach is
to begin a community movement and for
this community to stand up for their own
rights so we decided to start networking
clients networking beneficiaries to say
that now start thinking of this as an
individual problem think about it as a
community problem think about is the
Nubian problem now we begin bringing
them up and then I said why don’t you
take it a notch higher why don’t you if
they say is no longer Nubian problem
it’s a national problem you can say that
they are minorities you can say that
they’re mean Slim’s you can say that
because of their names
they’ll be discriminated upon they’ll be
taken through different processes for
example the Nubians have to apply on
only two days a mainstream Kenyan can go
to an registration agent when mandate is
there when Isaiah says the any day of
the week any time of the day but a
nubian can only apply on two days of the
week on Tuesday and Thursday
and then the application does not stop
there you have to wait between three to
four months to get vetting where you
appear before a Security Committee that
determines are you really a Kenyan they
ask you questions that I relevant is
this really your name is this how you
spend your name I was like it’s my name
I never knew so what is the relationship
between my nationality and this process
and if you can only establish the
community to think that is no longer an
individual problem it is a community
problem it is no longer community
problem it is a national problem then
we’ll be able to rise up and say we all
are humans we all are Kenyans we all
belong you are my neighbor you are my
brother your name might be different
your religion might be different but you
are also a Kenyan and that’s our vision
I personally look forward to a Kenyan a
Kenya where everyone is equal a Kenya
where everyone is treated the same and I
can you well I can work in any day apply
for the same service and get it the same
way and I believe it’s true it rich if
only we have a vigilant community and
that’s the vision that we are trying to
establish so what am I trying to share
with you the power is in the community
[Applause]
we might assume that you have the
solutions by the solution lies in the
community beyond the community let the
community fend for itself let the
community speak for itself let the
community advocate for itself and
believe you me your goal will reach but
if you want to speak for the community
if you want to work for the community
the community will never grow they’ll be
dependent on you teach me how to fish
but if you fish feed me with fish every
day I’ll be dependent on you as they
approach that many of us are using
unfortunately so I envision that all of
us should borrow this never work for the
community work with the community grow
the community empower the community
empower one of the community members to
make the change and bring them together
their voice is louder than you
we have only 24 paralegals if we were to
grow a paralegal for by per person we
need to be visionary will it be
sustainable but what if these people
could work for themselves that is the
vision that we have and that is the
vision that I want you to carry home
that if you can empower the community
the community can bring the change that
they themselves will love the change but
if you wanted to do it for yourself it’s
going to be a long walk I’m Mustafa I’m
a nubian
[Applause]
and before I go away remember one of my
canyons that I was with in the lift I
won’t mention your name and forgive you
for today
she was like oh my god you also can said
yes from where I’m from Nairobi so I you
know in Kenya once you already say
you’re a Kenyan it becometh Nicole so
which type are you
among the she’s like I’m among the big 8
the main tribes like so who are you
which tribe are you from I’m like I’m a
nubian oh so which type like ok that’s
how it feels to be a minority but a
minority can teach the majority that is
their right
[Applause]
[Music]
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