10 Year Old Kenyan Poet Moves The World
Over the last few years Nairobi has witnessed the phenomenal rise of spoken word and poetry.
Every great tree was once a tiny seed!
Every tall building was once in paper!
And so I dream my dream!” she yelled.
When 10 year old Eunice Akoth stepped up and uttered these words, her tender age aside, the audience gave in; with tears on their faces at the Women in the World Summit held last Friday in New York.
Hailing from the Kibera slums, her poem detailed her struggles, life and growing up in Africa’s largest urban slum, sprawling across Nairobi, Kenya.
Her inspiration to pen such a moving piece of poetry, the brave girl did not mince her words at all, “Most of the kids in Kibera are raped, some are neglected by their parents, some are homeless,” she said, fighting back tears after the performance. “Most of them have dreams, but they don’t know how they can achieve them, so I had to write a poem that tells them that they can achieve their dreams.”
Watching from the side, was one very proud Kennedy Odede,the founder of Kibera School for Girls. The school’s founder is now giving back to the slum community he grew in and through the school, Eunice Akoth was given the platform to explore her poetic talents.
Watching the events of the slum girl in the big city(New York) proudly from Nairobi Kenya, was Fatuma’s Voice co-founder Eric Onyango. Fatuma’s Voice is Nairobi’s urban event that brings together spoken word artists, poets and poetry lovers for great and interactive live sessions.
“Some people will of course be negative about that poem but they do not know that child’s story. They don’t live in Kibera and do not know what people who live there go through. Yes, Kibera does not always have the many problems people sometimes associate it with, but children are suffering there, my friend. People there need help to get out of it while others have embraced it so deeply that they do not imagine themselves living somewhere else. Some of them are surely happy there and others are just acting so out of fear of not knowing where else to fit.”
On her last day in New York, Eunice made a point to visit the Central Park and she was fascinated by the intense kinship between New Yorkers and their canines, ““I never knew people talked to their dogs,” Eunice said.
Catch Eunice’s amazing performance, as well as finding out more information on the Kibera School for Girls, check out the video below:
