DAY IN THE LIFE: Skin colour is not a barrier

“Like a lot of little girls, I dreamt of a life in front of cameras. But just as I was approaching teenage, I was diagnosed with vitiligo, a condition that causes parts of my skin to lose its pigmentation. This altered the course of my life.

“I found my purpose when I was studying for my degree in business administration. I met other people with vitiligo and I witnessed first-hand the discrimination that most of them got at the places they applied for jobs. I heard a perfectly qualified friend being told that they couldn’t be given a job at a bank because they would scare away the clients. I resolved then to be a youth leader.

“Now I am a politician. I speak up for those who cannot. I do this at the County assembly. My current project is a Bill that will allow people with vitiligo to be classified as people with disability by the medical community so that they can get treatment and sunscreen from Government at no charge.

“It might not look like it, but being a politician is tough. When I get out of bed every day, I am thinking about what I can do to make my community better. There are focus only on the negative, on the things that I haven’t done. It can be very disheartening at times.

“When I am not at the assembly, I am biking. The Government provides sunscreen to people with albinism and vitiligo. There are those in the rural areas who can’t afford to travel to the health centres so I take the sunscreen to them on my bike. Other days, I talk to women and youth in slums about self-sufficiency. When I can, I distribute pads with my friend Salima who is also in the assembly. I also spend lots of time with disabled people. You can only represent someone adequately if you understand what they are struggling with.

“I also love adventure. When I am not out looking for mountains to scale, I read. I am currently reading I am Malala: The girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai. You can see that whilst our challenges are different, women across the globe are still struggling with so much.

“At 10 or 11pm, I do a short review of my day, thank God for my success and plan for the next day. If I could change just one thing in the world, it would be the systems. I would do away with bureaucracy and the corruption. I think that would be an ideal Kenya for me.”