#6 SPOTLIGHT FEATURE
Female Empowerment, Volunteering and Growth.
Mwanaharusi Juma Salim, a social worker and Founder of Phoenix Girls Initiative is a vibrant young woman born and bred in Mombasa — the coastal city of Kenya. Over the years, she has identified problems, taken initiative to solve them and moved on to do more.
In this interview, Juma walks us through being a volunteer, her work on empowering young women, as well as her struggles and successes. Happy Reading!
Let’s start with knowing who Juma is.
My name is Mwanaharusi Juma Salim. I was born in Mombasa the coastal city of Kenya, and I’m still in Mombasa.
How has living in Mombasa been?
Well, Mombasa has been good in terms of social activities as people are free with each other. Most of the people here are Swahilis — that is a mixture of Bantus and Arabs. So, people live like a family most of the time. Economically, things aren’t great, and there is the stigmatization that Swahili people are lazy.
But that isn’t true, is it?
Not at all. People out here work really hard. Everyone wants to put food on their tables, so we have to work hard. But out here, the crime rate is not good and most of the young people engage in criminal activities.
What has been the response of the government or individual leaders to this?
Actually, right now things are getting good. With the majority of the youths getting involved in community work by the government, they are kept busy.
That’s a great move. Now, let’s get back to you. Tell us something random about you.
Well, I like reading. I have an app for books. Also, I love baking and cooking. I just feel at peace when baking. Whenever I am stressed up, and I start baking, all is going to be well. *laughs*
That’s rather interesting. So, let's talk about the last 5years, what have you been up to?
I started entrepreneurial activities, and I was supplying doughnuts to local shops in our village. That wasn’t going so good, so I engaged myself in volunteering as a mentor in an organization implemented by the BOMU hospital. It has been 2 years now, and I have been mentoring adolescent girls and young women in our community all in a bid to create awareness on the subject of HIV/AIDS and early pregnancy. This also led me to start an organization called PHOENIX GIRL INITIATIVE. Basically, I have been a volunteer in our community to create awareness and also the co-founder of an indigenous female empowerment initiative.
That’s great. How did the idea of Phoenix Girl initiative come about? Can you walk us through what the initiative is about, and what you do there?
Well, the idea had been in my mind years before we started. Every time I look around, I see young women not being financially independent, and this led to me start the initiative. The whole idea is centred on empowering young vulnerable women, by equipping them with skills which will help them start their own business and in turn, be financially independent.
How do you do this? Do you just organise skill acquisitions or you walk them through to funding?
We start by walking them through entrepreneurship courses that entail how to manage their businesses. Then, we take them to colleges such as baking classes, beauty classes, henna art making, and tailoring. Upon completion, we find placements for them, as well as referrals so that they can have a good foundation in their businesses. Our major focus, for now, is on drop out girls, those who gave birth early and have no one to fend for them or those who finished high school but are not able to continue with their studies due to one reason or another. We also focus on young mothers or those who have experienced early marriages and their husbands are not looking after them.
How do you recruit this people? Is there a way you identify them in the community?
We get help from the village elders and the chief. They know their community so we ask them to identify the vulnerable women. But phoenix is just starting, and hopefully, we will device other methods to expand the reach of the change in our society.
I would honestly say you’re on track doing something great, as financial freedom is key in the Africa we look to see. You mentioned volunteering at BOMU hospital as a mentor, can you tell us more about that too?
Just like you said, depending on someone is not something we really want in most cases. At BOMU, I have sessions with the young women in our community twice a week taking them through life skills to better themselves. I have been there for almost 2 years now, and it has been the most amazing journey of my life. You meet different women with different views on life, this way, you learn daily.
Interesting.
We work extra hard to ensure the young women around gets all available interventions. We also make sure each year they are tested for HIV/AIDS. Part of our intervention is teaching them about important topics like healthy choices for a better future, under the “my health, my choice” talk. We make sure those who need family planning have them. We are doing so much in empowering them and it is amazing. Each end month we make a report on the progress of each girl. Each girl in our community has her own file. So if someone wants to know something about a certain girl you just open her file and know her progress.
Great that you’re keeping data. However, is there plans to transition to keeping the data online? Or do you do that already?
Yes, we keep them online as well as in the files. So if someone can not access the online files in time, you could just open the file. But we do have every data online.
That actually sounds relieving. From being a mentor to starting Phoenix Girl Initiative, you might have faced challenges. Do you mind sharing some of this challenges?
Sure. I’ll start by saying Funding is a challenge, actually. You really need to push yourself to the limit to get these funds. Secondly, the girls themselves could be a challenge at some point. cooperate, there are girls I have to push in order for them to cooperate with something. However, I have a great team helping out. Time is a challenge, too. As I am actively engaged in both places, it actually gets tiresome at some point. An example is when two things need to be done at the same time (at BOMU and Phoenix). So, I just get to wonder how I am going to do that. There are also times I miss meetings of either Phoenix or BOMU because I can only attend one of them.
Interesting. How have you been handling the challenges?
As Phoenix is known to be a significant bird that goes through fire for it to gain another life, we know our girls have gone through hardship for them to be financially independent hence that name. Recognising that the impact might not be instant, this belief helps us know the girls will benefit so I just keep pushing them and making them understand that it is something they need. And about timing and handling things, when I have things to handle at BOMU, I let a member of phoenix handle things at phoenix because I believe if you want to go far, you have to move together.
True, working in teams go a long way to spread impact. We would like to know if you have faced any challenge that is linked to your being a female.
Yes, I have. There are times at BOMU when we go around creating awareness to men because our girls often get involved with these men, and when we are out in the field, some guys don’t actually take you seriously. I am young and female, so when I go out to teach men about sexual things they say it is a taboo. Or they start catcalling you and calling you names they feel like calling you.
That’s sad. However, I rejoice in your being able to stand strong, heads up. You sure have learnt a lot from volunteering at BOMU and founding Phoenix Girls Initiative. Can you share some of the lessons and why they’re important to you?
My biggest lesson is that resilience is the key. We are all vulnerable, so accepting our vulnerabilities and ensuring it does not become our set back in life is most important. Another thing I have learnt is the need to be determined, persistent and consistent. Achieving what you want is not easy, so you need to have those to better your best. Not everyone will accept you and what you have to offer, so you need to push past that in order for you to get where you really want to be. Another lesson I’ve learnt is that the most important thing is the impact you want to create.
Those are really important lessons. Here at Hertory Africa, we are also big on Resilience as it is key in creating the leaders that would change Africa. Asides resilience, what are some of the other strengths that has kept you going?
I am persistent. I hardly give up. When I set my mind to achieving something, I work hard and regardless of how hard it might be, I hardly give up. My communication skills has me speaking my mind out, constructively. If I don’t like the way things work I just find a great way to say it. And, I don’t hold back to unfairness. My love for what I am doing also keeps me moving. Overall, I have discovered that if you don’t love what you are doing, then there is no impact you will create. So, the love that I have for a better society keeps me going.
Great strengths there, Juma. I’ll like you to share some of your achievements to inspire other young African women?
Well, I would say my biggest achievement is the drive that I have towards social impact and community work and the trust that I get and the love that I get from my co-workers my family. I have a great team of people who are ready to change our society for the better. When you have a great team which supports you and have the same vision as you I believe great things will be achieved.
How has Covid-19 affected your work at BOMU and Phoenix?
Due to social distancing, we only approach 14 girls at a time no big gatherings so it is time-consuming for us to reach many girls at BOMU. At Phoenix, we go door to door so you can imagine how that is.
Must really be more tasking. Quick one; do you have other interests? What are they?
Well, I do have other interests but they go hand in hand with the community. The other interest that I have is the need to lift the boy child. So hopefully I will achieve this too. I am also working towards getting a degree in social science.
Are there young African women who inspire you?
Yes.
There is Kashi Juma, a legal secretary who works non stop for the justice of others. Then, the women at BOMU who are numerous and I can’t name them all. They have mentored me into who I am and what I do for the society. There is Rasheeda and Leyla who own their own businesses and they have always believed in me. Another great inspiration is a young incredible woman named Lovely Mughalu. She is my go-to person and never fails to call me out on my errors. She is one of the greatest force behind my desire to go to college because she believes that I could be a social worker and get a degree too.
Before we go, if you could tell fellow African women just one thing, what would it be?
Well, I would tell them to believe in themselves and take that one step. Change is within us, so let’s break the glass ceiling.
They sure are listening. Thanks for that, and we look forward to seeing you lead more change. Thank you for all you do.
Thank you for all you do too this is great recognising young African women.
