Women Changemakers TELL Their Stories- #HerCityNairobi

She shapes the City is exploring a new way to tell important stories. There are the usual features and interview pieces in the press that we read- but nothing beats the intimacy and interpersonal connection of voice. Up has partnered with She Shapes the City to bring you these amazing women’s stories this March- using the power of recorded speech as a part of conversation to really feel these women’s stories.

 

You can access these stories on Soundcloud and Itunes. The ladies from Chapter 2 have their audio and pictures on the She Shapes the City site.

 

The launch of the Chapter 3 cohort- along with their pictures and stories is happening tomorrow, the 8th of March (International Women’s Day) and will bring an entirely new collection of inspiring women to learn from.

 

 

 

Here are some excerpts from the amazing discussions they’ve had.

 

Paula Kahumbu

 

 

“I grew up in an extremely forested wild area playing in the forests, swamps and rivers and climbing trees. I was fascinated with nature and all I wanted to be was a wildlife ranger. “

 

Charlotte Campbell Stephen

 

 

“I work with some fabulous women on the ground and they’re the ones doing it every day. The strength, the resilience I see is profound and once you get them to tap into that the sky’s the limit. Getting them to understand that their core being is so beautiful and that they have inner power. Even if it’s beaten out of you, you never lose it because what you’ve got to understand is what they did to me, what they do to you is not about you once you get through that and understand it your life is different.”

 

Susan Githuku

 

 

“We’re trying to tell the story of the evolving contemporary African that must equip himself or herself for the future that is unfolding…We want to tell the story of the continent, and its a beautiful story, of a beautiful continent that needs to stop denigrating itself.”

 

Kalekye Mumo

 

 

“In a country where we are African women and essentially our bodies should be fuller people really look down on you for being plus sized…I trended on twitter with a #tag for being fat. For a long time my biggest challenge was “how am I going to fit in?…” Then I said “wait a minute I’m not going to change my life because of what other people think” being able to be myself has motivated so many other girls who are plus sized.”

 

Margery Kabuya

 

“We belonged to the generation that were going to change the world…what is different between your generation and my generation in university is that as student leaders we used to influence… what society did. We were not having political leaders come to tell us who to elect. We were looking at what we wanted and what the government needed to be told.”