Gilda Odera – Truly a Kenyan Star

The noise level is rising in Kasarani Gymnasium at the Moi International Sports Center. Almost 3000 school children and their teachers are filling the stadium for the Kiwi Arts and Crafts Competition awards ceremony, the competition attracting entries from all over Kenya. The arts and crafts project is run by Gilda Odera, a GenerationKenya nominee. Gilda is pleased that in 2009, the competitions’ 14th year, over 70,000 entries have been received. It is a fantastic opportunity for children to express their creativity and skills, explore careers in art in the future as well as being an incentive for them from a young age to believe that hard work and effort pay off. Initially started as just an art competition, it now includes crafts as well, enabling all children in Kenya to take part and be creative using different types of media and material even if they can’t afford conventional art supplies. The attendance today is a tribute to her success.

Gilda Odera was born and raised in Nairobi. She started her education at the Kilimani Primary School followed by State House Secondary School and then the University of Nairobi. She started her career by working with Marketing and Support Services Limited for a number of years where she was involved in branding and brand management. At this point she came up with the idea for the Kiwi Art Competition for primary school children throughout Kenya. She currently works in the I.T sector, having made the move from marketing. She claims “It wasn’t easy penetrating the market; you just need to have an open mind, be willing learn and work extremely hard.” What helped her was her vision, people skills and an amazing team of technical staff who work well together. “Nothing is impossible; just believe you can do it,” is one of Gilda’s mottos.

Gilda Odera wants the youth to believe that they are capable of achieving their goals no matter how big or small. She especially encourages young people to become entrepreneurs and help solve the youth unemployment problem. “Kenyan youth need to start thinking about change and creating a better future for themselves. Realize that they are capable and that there are limitless possibilities for them. They can make a difference.” The strongest positive influences she had growing up were her parents, instilling strong work ethics as well as religious values in Gilda and her siblings from a very young age, pushing them to work hard and believe that they could achieve anything. “Start something, follow it through and believe in it…” she adds. In addition to her role as C.E.O. of her own IT firm and director of the art competition, she raises a family and mentors University of Nairobi students who seek her out for advice and support.

Gilda’s final advice: “Follow your passion. Do what you love, see it through, and be true to your heart.” Gilda Odera is truly a GenerationKenya star.

Story by Nilofer Elias and Jerry Riley

Fishermen

September 2009, Galu Beach, Diani, Coast Province
Early morning departure of fishermen, Galu Beach, Diani

Fishing Boat

September 2009, Galu Beach, Diani, Coast Province, Kenya
Fishing boat resting on the water

On The Guitar

October 2009. Nairobi, Nairobi Province, Kenya
On the guitar at the Hip Hop at Marshall House, Goethe Urban Beats concert.

Hip Hop Crowd

October 2009. Nairobi, Nairobi Province, Kenya.
Hip Hop at Marshall House, Goethe Urban Beats concert.

Visionaries

September 2009, Nairobi

I am at the Lions SightFirst Eye Hospital in Loresho with my friend and fellow photographer, Sir Mohinder Dhillon. Sir Dhillon (known as Mo to his friends) has started a personal campaign to raise money for the hospital, having benefited from the hospital himself. He has asked me along to make photos, and is my nature, I jump at every chance to see another side of Kenyan life. I have never been to an eye hospital, and certainly never in an operating theatre where repairing peoples vision, bringing sight back to the elderly, was just a routine day. Of the 250,000 sight impaired people in Kenya, 130,000 could have their sight significantly improved with routine surgery (cataracts, cornea transplants).

We are led through a courtyard, headed towards the prep and operating rooms. Many people are milling about, most elderly, some sitting in rows on benches out of the sun. It’s a touching, and pardon me, humorous scene. I looks like I have stumbled upon a convention of retired pirates, almost all of the forty or so people wearing a bandage over one eye. There seems to be comfort in numbers here as everyone has at least one very important thing in common, and there seems to be a slight air of relief as these are post-surgery folks.

I am required to don surgical garments to enter the operating theatre. Entering through a swinging door, I am in a dimly lit room, full of modern medical gear, five beds ready for patients. Having been prepped in another room, patients are led in, asked to sit until their turn comes. There is anticipation on the faces of those just arriving, already under the influence of local anesthetic. When your turn comes, you lie on the bed, your body covered with a clean blue sheet, entirely covered but for a small hole to expose the prepared eye. One technician does the preparation, making the patient comfortable. The surgeon positions themselves over a microscope above the patients head, looking into the eye. With everything else covered, the eye becomes a thing on its own, shining under the intense, focused light. Needles and scalpels go to work in skilled hands. And in five minutes it’s over. Next. The patient is bandaged by another staff member and escorted out of the room to a recovery area, then to the courtyard. In the operating room, the doctors are well on their way with the next patient. I was told that on a busy day Dr. Jyotee Trivedy and her colleagues perform as many as one hundred operations. Yes, one hundred. As I exit the hospital through the incoming waiting room I see there is no lack of candidates. The waiting room is full, the hallways into the main hospital lined with a
row of people sitting in chairs along the length of a long wall. There is apprehension in the air here. After all, it is a hospital. I wish I could tell them all that it will be okay. I have been on the inside, and seen the results in the courtyard beyond.

(Dr. Fiyaz Khan is the chief surgeon at the Lion SightFirst Eye Hospital. In the operating theatre I had the opportunity to watch the skilled hands of Dr. Jyotee Trivedy and the support staff work their magic. Private and corporate sponsors as well as various global organizations provide the funding needed to offer the hospital services and financial assistance to those who need it. It’s about making a difference in Kenya.)

Return to LCVR

One of the primary jobs of photography is to document everyday life for reference in the future, and the photograph’s ability to recall memories, some buried under a lifetime of experiences, is one of its true powers. We all remember a time in our lives when school was our world. I had come to be at the school while accompanying my partner Dr. Wambui Mwangi, a former Valley Road student, on a visit to an important part of her past. The LCVR photos posted online triggered good memories in many people, some of whom sent comments about their reminiscences.

In response to these comments I am posting more LCVR images. As I was preparing the images, I was struck by the backpacks in hallways, books on tables, and hallways empty of students, all busy in class. As a photographer I am always looking for views and angles that give a sense of a place, the proximity of elements, how the light defines or accents its features. I look for places that feel like they have history. In this series, the photo of the base of a spiral staircase struck me as one of those places that someone would have marked as their own via a memory or experience. The green benches under the trees also seems to hold stories. I hope these images trigger more memories.

Rock Quarry

Rock quarry near Kikuyu, Central Province, Kenya, August 2008.

Working without safety gear or power tools, it’s a hard job, but I was taken by the texture and colour, and the young man posing for me with that Kenyan smile.

On the train

August 2008

I drove out of Nairobi in the darkness of early morning to catch the commuter train into Nairobi station, boarding somewhere just outside of Kikuyu as the day was dawning. Trains are fascinating unto themselves, but thousands of people depend on it daily to get into Nairobi for work and return home to the outlying areas. Space is at a premium long before the train reaches Nairobi station, and just when you think it has reached capacity there is another stop. My intention was to make photographs inside the train, but that turned out not to be possible once I was packed in.

Early morning near Kikuyu

A schoolboy boards

Travelling the countryside

The train caters to every type of person

Pulling into Nairobi station

Depature

The local restaurant near the station. It's one of my favorite places to hang out.

You can still get a cup of tea for 10 shillings.

Shop

Shop near Kikuyu, Central Province, Kenya. August 2008.

The Safaricom colour is part of the Kenyan landscape. That was my first attraction as the late afternoon light bathed the building. I also saw the building as a microcosm, containing many interesting details of Kenyan life.

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