Mercy’s Mission

For three days after the hurried December announcement that Kibaki was to be president, Mercy Gichangi sat in her house, stunned and afraid. As 2007 gave way to 2008 she could find no cause for celebration. All around her, chaos was in charge. Day and night she could hear shouts and wailing, could see bashed-in houses and torched kiosks, the result of angry citizenry on both sides giving vent to their feelings about the General Election. Many of those rioting, yelling, and beating were youth, and that touched Mercy. It was this that gave her the push she needed to come out of hiding.

She was sure her skills as a consultant, formed through a university degree in economics, a training stint in Leadership at the National Democratic Institute in Lavington, a Master’s in International Relations, and experience in Mandera and Southern Sudan would be of use. Stints in Mandera and Southern Sudan had tested and honed this expertise.

“I was particularly interested in gathering and mobilising young people to think differently,” she said. They are, after all, our future, which is very bleak if they are the ones taking to the streets, looting and burning their neighbours.

Mercy first made it to the PeaceNet meetings. However there was already a youth co-ordinator there. She had heard of another group, Concerned Citizens for Peace (CCP) through a news item on TV, and decided to try there. And it was here she found her niche.

“CCP struck me as more individual oriented rather than NGO focussed,” explained Mercy. “Their approach is that if you have an idea, they will support you, but you have to run with it. You have to do the footwork.” That was fine with her. She had plenty of ideas. And she was ready to run.

Together with other volunteers and with a force that belied her slight, pinstriped frame she set about creating a structure that linked the various young people initiatives she came across. A network of 30 youth leaders from 20 groups across the slums formed a network called Balozi wa Amani to help co-ordinate a slew of peace initiatives. They in turn teamed with a host of NGOs ranging from UN Habitat to the Mwelu Foundation. Soon Mercy was co-ordinating a group of 60 people that made up the new grouping Concerned Youth for Peace (CYP).

Everyone worked on a volunteer basis, and everyone worked with a fierce energy, tackling each event with greater urgency in their desire to help mitigate the rising tides of violence in the slums. They arranged peace meetings, and created a countrywide National Youth Violence Prevention week. They organised football matches in Korogocho, a fashion show in Kibera, peace walks in Dandora, theatre in Huruma, poetry in Embakasi, community dialogue in all areas – anything that brought both sides together and allowed them to interact non-violently. Event after event was planned in Dandora, Mathare, Kibera, Huruma, Kawangware, focussing on reflection and forgiveness.

“I became adept at seeing things from the perspective of these marginalised young people,” said Mercy. “It gave me a whole new understanding of the problems those living in poor urban settlements face. Gainful employment, finding relevance and all the frustration that the absence of these can bring is as much a part of the issue as ethnicity.”

Of the various initiatives she co-ordinated, she feels most satisfied at the outcome of one of the first, a Night Vigil. “We had people coming from all the slums to attend the open forum, to speak their minds, and to cry. It was very moving to see these young people come forward to elaborate their opinions as to the way out of the conflict.”

But it wasn’t all easy. For the first six weeks she kept a low profile as she organised events, afraid that her actions might make her a target for retribution. “Because I worked with people from all communities, I stayed out of the limelight I didn’t want to be harassed by those who felt I should only work with those in my tribe. It has been a time of such pain – there are many who have really hard feelings because they lost a relative, or a business – or everything.” Then there were those who took one look at her tiny frame and dismissed her for being too young, too inexperienced. It was sometimes very discouraging, she said.

In the recent past, , Mercy has worked with the Mediae Trust – makers of TV soap Makutano Junction, and Slum TV – who arrange screenings of motivational movies to show a special episode of the popular programme that directly tackles violence and tribalism. “We had viewings in the evenings to distract youth from more harmful activities,” she explained. “It’s a great series made by Kenyans for Kenyans and including all tribes in the production and the performances.”

“Even though our audience know that it’s actors, I see many of them in tears when they watch that episode,” she says of the many screenings that Slum TV have made of the special Tribalism episode around Nairobi. A snippet is available for viewing on YouTube:

Two months on and she has seen much positive come out of their work. “The best is always when I see someone begin to turn around through a community dialogue or a training day and say that this can’t be allowed to happen in our country. Then I feel great, as though I have in some small way been able to help bring about transformation.”

CCP gave me a network to work with, and, in setting up CYP, it allowed me to help my country in this time of suffering, said Mercy.

As she makes her way back to the relative quiet of her home, she knows that she has played her part in the effort to achieve that peace.

Shalini Gidoomal is a freelance journalist, writer, businesswoman and inveterate traveller, born, and currently living in Nairobi. She has worked extensively on various UK and international magazines and newspapers, including The Independent, News of the World, Today, FHM, GQ and Architectural Digest. She profiled five Northern Irish photographers for the book Parallel Realities, and has worked in Kenya for the Standard and Camerapix. Her short stories and non- fiction have been published in The Obituary Tango, Jungfrau and Kwani 04. She is editorial co-ordinator for the GenerationKenya45 project and festival director of Kwani Litfest 2008.

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