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Shaban Varajab Reflection on my work with Rural Women Peace Link
Name: Shaban Varajab
Born: 1986
Education Background: Bachelor of Education Arts (Mathematics and Economics) from Moi
University and (Certificate in Peace Building and Conflict Transformation from) St. Augustine
College of South Africa in Collaboration with African Peace Building Institute
Employer: Rural Women Peace Link
Assignment: Youth Development Officer (Yes Youth Can Project-2011-2012) and Program
Manager (Peace Initiative Kenya-2012-July 2014)
My 4 years (2010-2014) at Rural
Women Peace Link has been the most
positive and enriching employment
experience I have ever had in my life. I
would like to thank the Rural Women Peace
Link board and staff for giving this
invaluable opportunity and accepting me as
one of their employee and above all a
mentee.
It is quite lucky for me that in the
midst of this 4 year period I was able to
witness RWPL flourish in its mission to
mobilize, influence and promote local women
and youth participation in peace building,
community governance and development
process. To me, this signals the evolving
role of RWPL in coping with the changing
development priorities of a Kenya and the
world. As an employee and a mentee who
has dreams to be an icon in human rights
advocacy, peace building and development
work, this was very interesting to observe.
The leadership and board of
governance at RWPL are incredible. Since I
set my first foot into RWPL I met a team of
cheerful and charismatic leaders. I met
loving, supportive and caring mothers,
sisters and brothers. From them, I observed
and learnt a lot of great leadership qualities.
I enjoyed working with my fellow
colleagues. I found them to be a team of
very high caliber and with great insights in
their work. I found RWPL experience truly
a steep learning curve for an upcoming
ambitious young leader like me.
Being part of huge and challenging
HIVOs funded project (Empowering Women and Girls as Active Citizen and Change Agents-2011-present) where I served as a
volunteer Program Officer, and USAID
funded projects including (Yes Youth Can Project-2011-2012) where I served as a
Youth Development Officer and (Peace Initiative Kenya-2012-August 2014) where I
worked as a Program Manager was an honor
and a big experience for me. Working in
conflict zones exposed me to different social
issues women, youth, children and elderly
face during and after conflicts. I loved being
part of the teams, solutions and projects that
helped reconstruct, rebuild and give hope to
these vulnerable groups in the society.
Report writing, work plan development,
facilitation, project proposal writing,
mobilization, community organization,
program budgeting, evaluation and
monitoring, stakeholder meeting
representation, training and providing
mentorship to other mentees (women
groups,youth groups, interns and volunteers)
made up a good part of my work. I enjoyed
every minute of my work since the team I
worked with was keen on giving me the
widest exposure to their work, from
attending conferences and trainings (locally
and internationally) to compiling project
documents, to conducting
evaluations/research projects to inform
RWPL project development. Every
experience of my work was challenge to do
more and I did learn a lot. Thanks to my
team leader, supervisors and teammates
who did not hesitate at all in teaching me
and guiding me through my work.
I attest that, beyond work, RWPL has
enabled me to meet dine and interact with
high-level officials from the Kenyan
Government and International leaders too. I
also met with very enthusiastic activists
from Kenyan and International NGOs who
are well versed and passionate about women
and youth issues. The mix of people that I
encountered was very telling of what is
going on in Kenya and across the world.
Everyone I met was very resourceful and
inspiring. I have made a broad network of
friends and had numerous interesting chats
and learning moments. Some have their own
personal ambitions in their minds, some
have brilliant life experiences eager to tell,
and some have unique perspectives both in
looking at Kenya and the world.
My experience at RWPL was helpful and
insightful since it informed me more about
the role of local and international
organizations in Kenya’s development
efforts. In particular, I was able to pinpoint
that Kenya’s NGOs were much more active
than I thought and represent a very
promising community devoted to the
betterment of Kenya and the global society.
I will live to remember my participation in
the 2013 Mennonite Central Committee’s
sponsored Africa Peacebuilding Institute
(API) Short Course (1 month) training
Program on Conflict Transformation and
Peace Building that took place in
Johannesburg -South Africa. This program
that took place in June-July 2013 convened
old and young peacebuilding practitioners
from more than twelve African countries
(including South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria,
Zambia, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Uganda,
Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, DRC,
Mozambique and South Sudan) as well as
Canada and Sri Lanka. While there, my study
focused on different peace building modules
including: (1) Introduction to Conflict
Transformation, (2) Non-Violent Faith-
Based Philosophy and Practice, (3) Art
Approaches to Peace Building and Gender
and Peacebuilding. We also had outside
classes, where we visited historical sites
such as The Apartheid Museum, Nelson
Mandela and Desmond Tutus Homes in
Soweto, The Calabash Foot Ball Ground
(one of the many football fields that hosted
the 2010 World Cup), Soweto slums and
Sonke Gender Justice Organization. This
field experience helped me discover how
each contributed to today’s South Africa’s
stability and development and the
interconnectedness with other developing
countries in Africa. The program brought a
lot of insight, lessons, experience,
knowledge and skills not only in the
peacebuilding field but also in what cultural
diversity and development means to human
beings. API helped me learn a lot about
conflict transformation and peace building
process from an international perspective.
It increased my ability to connect and
strengthen my peace building practice and
theory. Today am in a better position to
analyze and find creative solutions to violent
conflict and how to be a human rights
advocate. I also made many friends and
networks with which I share ideas, dreams,
thoughts and experiences.
At last I must make a note on all that
RWPL working areas (including West Pokot,
Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, Nandi, Samburu,
Laikipia, Baringo, Kisumu, Kakamega,
Bungoma (Mt. Elgon) Counties) offered me.
While each area has its own unique issues
and strengths, to me, setting a foot in ever
community was a life time eye opener and a
big socialization process. Apart from
discovering so much about the social
problems facing different communities in my
country, I learnt how rich Kenya’s diverse
cultures are. Every community has
something unique to offer including, Art,
Songs, Music, and Dance, generosity,
hospitality and much more. I found every
cultural element in these communities
strong. There was so much to see and to
feel that even the 4 years of work with
RWPL was simply not enough for anyone to
make the most out of these communities.
Every part of my experience was even more
memorable.
Going forward, exposure and
experience I had at RWPL has increased my
desire to further pursue my education and
career dream in Peace Building. That is
why, am grateful for Kroc Institute for
International Peace Studies generosity to
provide me a full Scholarship to pursue a 2
years (2014-2016) Masters studies in Peace
Studies and Conflict Resolution in a
prestigious University (University of Notre
Dame-Kroc Institute for International Peace
Studies) in Indiana USA. This will expand
further my experience knowledge and skills
in Peacebuilding work and make me more
competitive in this 21st Century job market.
After graduation , I plan to come back to
Kenya and continue giving back to my poor
rural community, through Youth Star for
Change Development Network (YSCDN)}, an
organization that I co-founded in Kakamega
to empower and provide youth with skills,
resources, mentor-ship and opportunities to
develop their leadership, social
responsibility, entrepreneurship and
networking necessary for them to realize
their potential, live healthy, peacefully and
become champions of positive social
change in their communities.
While it is a welcome decision to go
pursue my further studies, I find it a sad
moment to say goodbye to RWPL and the
wonderful communities I worked with.
Above all, I must say that being with RWPL
was an experience that I learnt the most,
and more importantly, enjoyed the most.
Working with RWPL really gave me a very
unique perspective to look at not only Kenya
and the world issues but also discover
myself. I sincerely thank RWPL management
once again for granting me this opportunity.
May God bless you and may you have the
most interesting projects for the sake of
humanity.
Photo Gallery of my Work
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