Final bow for peace champion

By Lillian Aluanga and Felix Olick

At 11.45am, on July 14, the lights went out for a symbol of peace in the arid north.

To many, Dekha Ibrahim Abdi was not just a Right Livelihood Award Laureate, (also referred to as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’), but a global peacemaker on a path many dared not tread.

According to the citation that came with her award in 2007, Dekha was recognised for "showing in diverse ethnic and cultural situations how religious and other differences can be reconciled, even after violent conflict, and knitted together through a co-operative process that leads to peace and development."

Dekha Ibrahim Abdi

To those who knew her, she was simply ‘Dekha’, a woman who chose peacemaking at a time and in a region where such roles were entrusted to men.

It was in 1993, when the drums of war sounded between the Degodia and Ajuran clans in North Eastern Province as preparation for the then Wajir West constituency, now Wajir South, by-election climaxed.

Big dreams

Disturbed by the incessant rattle of gunfire and clan divisions, Dekha, then an employee of the Nomadic Primary Healthcare Programme, vowed to make a change.

That decision would lead the 1964 born Dekha across the world, earning her accolades, including the PWAG (1,000 Peace Women Across the Globe), the Distinguished Medal for Service by the District Commissioner for Wajir (1999), and Kenyan Peace Builder of the Year (2005).

In 2009, she was awarded the Hessian Peace Prize, joining the likes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and US Senator Sam Nunn, for fighting nuclear terrorism, former Finnish president Martti Atisaari for helping end the Kosovo war, and John Hume for mediating between the IRA and British Government.

For a life snuffed at its prime, Dekha lived true to the meaning of her name, ‘Gift from God’, building bridges across ethnic, religious and racial barriers.

Although she was Muslim, most of her friends in school were Christian and came from different ethnic backgrounds.

It was this revolutionary streak that saw Dekha take on grassroots peace initiatives despite initial opposition from clan elders. Like subjects of her favourite biographies, Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandela, Dekha devised a mobilisation plan that involved women, whom she believed were key actors in the peace process, in her strategies.

These efforts birthed the Wajir Peace Development Committee with representatives from clans, the Provincial Administration, MPs, Christian and Muslim leaders. The peace model would later be used to resolve conflicts in Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, and South Africa.

Dekha’s search for peace and conflict resolution also took her to Somalia, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Philippines, Jordan, Israel, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and the UK.

It came as no surprise when Dekha was called to chair the Concerned Citizens For Peace initiative when chaos broke out after the disputed presidential poll in 2007. Earlier, the mother of four, was part of the National Steering Committee for Peace, and held various positions including team leader for the Community Development Training Programme of the Arid Lands Resource Management Project.

Always on the go, Dekha naturally worried about leaving her family but was often reassured by her husband, Abdinoor’s presence. An ophthalmologist, and a great companion and pillar of Dekha’s career, he, too, died in the fatal crash near Garissa town, alongside the couple’s driver.

Dekha with Jakob Von Uexkull, founder of the Right Livelihood Award, when she received her award. Photo Courtesy

Dekha survived and was later transferred to the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi where she died. Months before her death Dekha was on what she called ‘a spiritual journey’ and had started writing poetry in Somali and English. None had been published but that was one of her dreams.

Dekha dreamt big and in that dream she envisioned a peaceful world.

Thus, she grabbed every opportunity to further this vision. In 1997, she was among founders of the regional Coalition of Peace in Africa (COPA), and later the Global Peace Practitioners Network ACTION.

She also worked as trainer and co-ordinator of Responding to Conflict, was patron of London-based Peace Direct and sat on several boards, including Co-Existence International, and the International Advisory Board of the University of Ulster, North Ireland. As she was buried at the Langata Cemetery in Nairobi, many recalled her dream to set up the first university in North Eastern Province.

The number of dignitaries and ordinary folk who gathered in solidarity with her family to pay their last respects was testimony that Dekha was a woman of the people.

Mandera Central MP, Abdikadir Mohammed, said the loss not only affected the Muslim community and North Eastern Province, but the entire country.

University sponsor

"Dekha and her husband were great people. Her roles in charity work, peace initiatives and education were noble," said Abdikadir.

Her brother, Mohammed Ibrahim, said Dekha accepted to use part of the money from awards to sponsor the university project. According to Mohammed, plans were under way to set up the institution.

Mohammed, who is also a member of the board of the proposed institution, remains optimistic that Dekha’s vision would not die. As the Muslim cleric made his last prayers for the departed, the words of Chinua Achebe in his novel Things Fall Apart rang true. "That when death knocks at your door and you say there is no seat he replies that he has his."