From forced marriage to a rebellious faithful, inside Maimuna's advocacy for justice

 

Mwinyi Maimuna, a Nakuru human rights defender who escaped early marriage. [Yvonne Chepkwony, Standard]

Dressed in an elegant black Buibui, Mwinyi Maimuna steps into court, her calm demeanour concealing the burning flame inside her.

Her smile buried the struggles, emotions, and untold stories she goes through, selflessly seeking justice, and was called names due to her advocacy and vocal stand in condemning wrongs in society.

She has seen it all, from forced marriage at a younger age to being accused of being a rebel by religious leaders, fellow youth, and family, but she stood tall.

Justice and equality are her language; she fights for the less fortunate, advocating for justice and fighting against oppression.

Even her religion, she says, couldn’t stop her from defending human rights, a voice that can’t be silenced, a job she does with pride.

“I’m a human rights defender, my mission is to be the voice of the voiceless, seeking justice, and following a case to the end is what I do; each time I’m in court, I’m keen not to miss a detail,” she said.

During an interview with the Standard, Maimuna was observant and cautious throughout, only to learn that she was cautious as her job comes with dangers and being branded an enemy of the state.

She puts on many hats as a mother, human rights defender, and advocate for the rights of children and women.

To her, activism is a calling, which she does wholeheartedly, and nothing would stop her from doing the Lord’s work.

“There are some instances I felt abandoning the work, but my soul won’t be at peace knowing I would help someone, one day, I was tired and wanted a break, but received a call from a police officer about a child found abandoned, just picked up myself and stopped whining,” Maimuna says.

When she defends and helps someone get justice, she says it is what drives her every morning to wake up.

Her activism, she says, started way back when she was a teen, after she witnessed injustices meted out against her cousin sister.

“Being a female defender isn’t easy. My journey started in December 2004 when I was 18 years old, and I joined the civil society world as a volunteer at the Red Cross Kenya, which activated my passion for humanity,” she added.

Maimuna is the co-founder of the Youth Bila Noma organization, advocating against violence and extremism among youth.

 Seeing youth rehabilitated and their growth in contributing to building a just society is what she takes pride in.

 She stated that since 2010, she had walked a journey with youth who were involved in crime and drug addiction, who have transformed their lives, becoming useful to society.

  “I have been able to empower many youths in Nakuru County, through programmes, rehabilitation, with some going back to school and others engaged in bead work and earning an honest living through it,” Maimuna said.

  Lobbying for Identification Cards(IDs) for youth is something she has invested in after learning that youth from slum areas aged 24 years didn’t have IDs.

She later learned that the system wasn’t favorable, as the youth ended up failing to procure the required document.

“My biggest heart's desire is defending human rights, championing, advocating, and defending the rights of people violated,” she added.

Her childhood, she says, was rocky, but bittersweet. While at Standard Seven, she lost an uncle who was the pillar of the family, leading to wrangles and being ejected from their land.

There, she learned that the uncle was the unifying factor, and his demise opened a space for greedy members.

“We slept on cold streets in Nakuru, couldn’t understand how the people we lived with turned on us, we separated from my cousin sister, my parents did their best, and within a month we got a place,” she explained.

  Her cousin's sister lived in a dilapidated state; she stopped schooling, and getting food was a privilege; her plight made Maimuna beg her parents to allow her to live with them.

 Eventually, she reunited with her cousin, and her parents supported her education.

The incident she recalled was part of her activism advocating for justice and equality, even in her teens.

 As if fate were playing a trick on her, while in Form Two, a rich man approached his parents seeking her hand in marriage.

“The man was from a wealthy family and wanted a wife as a way of relocating to a foreign country. I was young, and society decided without my consultation. I resisted, which created a rift with my family,” she said.

She was branded the black sheep for failing to rescue the family from poverty, and her peers went ahead with the marriage proposals as they didn’t dare to refuse, believing their fate was sealed.

“Activism for me started a long time ago. I never knew what it was; resisting early marriage three times was part of it. When I was trained as a paralegal in 2010, I understood that I had been a human rights defender since my childhood,” she added.

Her dream was to become a lawyer, but it was shattered, and accused of stubbornness.

Even though she didn’t study law, she said she still advocates for people's rights as a paralegal.

“I will never stand and watch injustice sail, have faced threats from the political class, security agencies, and oppressors, and I brush shoulders with who's who in society,” she said.

She recalled an incident where a child was rescued by police officers and told to find shelter for her, but later, the parents came to her house demanding to see her.

The incident terrified her, but she later learned that one of the officers had given out her details, which was risky.

She stated that she contributed to the 2010 constitution by going to the grassroots level to educate people about the content of the constitution.

Having roots in Uganda and Tanzania, she believed that Kenya was far ahead in terms of democracy.

Unfortunately, she said, there is a notion that human rights defenders have money, which has sometimes hindered her work.

She dismissively stated that work was a calling.