Activist champions rights of slum dwellers

Wangeci Wachira-Moegi, 32 rose from a program officer at the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness to the executive director. She shares with EVELYNE OGUTU on her successful projects

While growing up, Wangeci Wachira-Moegi wanted to pursue a career in Medicine, but this was never to be.

Her exposure and experience made her settle for community empowerment and landed her a job at Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (Creaw). Here, she started off as a program officer and rose to become the executive director having inherited the position from the vocal rights activist Ann Njogu.

So where did it all start?

Having been brought up and schooled in Nyeri, Kangubiri Girls Secondary School for her O level and at Chereta primary school in Laikipia, she knew little about the outside world.

But her joining the University of Nairobi to pursue a BA in Sociology and Communication in 2001 is what opened her eyes into the harsh realities of life.

"I set foot in a slum for the first time in 2001 and that was in Kibera. I was so shocked to see Kenyans living in such deplorable conditions. I was used to my rural setup where fresh air and abundant space was a common scene. It was a rude awakening. I resolved to be the change in my small way," she says.

Community empowernment

So, for the four years at the university, Wangeci became actively involved in community forums and would visit slums in Nairobi to donate food together with her fellow students.

Upon graduation, she applied for internship at the NGO Council, which later became her first employer.

She was an assistant project officer in charge of policy and advocacy and was instrumental in the organisation of the NGO Week.

After working at the council for one year, she quit to join Creaw as a project officer in August, 2005.

As a program officer at Creaw, Wangeci was tasked with handling a program on community empowerment which most of the time found her in Kibera and Mathare slums.

"This experience prepared me for my current position as it involves innovative programs which not only change lifestyles but also seek to empower citizens," she says. So has the journey been easy?

Wangeci admits that stepping into Ann Njogu’s shoes, the former Executive Director was not an easy job.

"Many people including the media were used to the vocal Ann, and I am different from her, hence for sometime people still thought she is still at the helm of the organisation," she says.

But she has done her best and under her leadership, the organisation has received several prestigiuos awards.

Work as a team

In 2008, Creaw was named the Civil Society of the year for its outstanding performance. Last year, Creaw was the winner of the management category in the Civil Society of the Year Award.

Creaw has also won various awards including the Mayor’s Achievers Award and an International Community Awareness Award. Despite these achivements, Wangeci has taken all this by her stride.

"At Creaw, we work as a team and this award is as a result of hard work from the person who makes our tea to the board of directors," she says.

Some of the programs that Wangeci is proud of setting up include a fully functional office in Kibera slums.

"Many poor women would throng our offices from Kibera slums. Some would trek all the way to our office, which is almost 10 km and I felt the need to have the service close to them hence, the Kibera Creaw office which is located near the District Officer’s offices," she says.

Balancing act

"We provide free legal aid to the residents and have a program for paralegals whereby we focus on training the women and men on their rights and basic legal knowledge," Wangeci explains.

Besides the legal clinics, the Kibera Creaw office recently started a men’s forum whose focus is gender-based violence.

"At Creaw we recognise that men are also part of the larger community and they should be given a chance to share their problems. We learn a lot from these discussions including domestic violence amongst men which most of them would never dare talk about," she says.

So how does she manage to balance her career, family and busy office?

"I wake up at 4.30 am to clean and sanitise baby Sharleen’s feeding bottles and dishes. I then ensure everyone is set for the day. My day ends at around 4pm," she says.

They say it’s the shoe wearer who knows where it hurts most hence being a mother of two herself, Wangeci has also made it a policy that all breastfeeding mothers who work at Creaw report to work at 9am and leave by 3pm.