Mrs Omanga: I live for the women

By Winsley MaseseWe meet Mrs Clare Kwamboka Omanga by the gate, just to ensure we are at the right place, having honked at a neighbour’s gate."Karibu," she says as we exchange greetings and later on leads us into her house.After taking our seats, I steal a quick glance that can reveal what unique attributes she possesses, which thrust her into the male dominated world with alacrity.Mrs Clare Kwamboka Omanga displays a copy of children’s storybook she wrote, The Girl Who Couldn’t Keep a Secret Our inquiry about her role as the chairlady of Nyansiongo Tea Factory summarily comes in a revolt. "I am the chairman and not the chairlady," she disputes the latter title. Omanga strongly believes a woman can do what a man can do, hence sticking to the title, ‘chairman’. A keen student of current happenings, she cites Rwanda as a case study, with majority women parliamentarians. Women represent 56 per cent of MPs in Rwanda.She believes Kenyan women can equally achieve that feat if they persevere and struggle diligently."I am happy that Rift Valley women are moving to the centre," she says. There are seven women MPs from the Rift Valley.Omanga’s humble background inevitably instilled in her the sense to fight and aim for success."I never saw my father and never called anyone dad. Seeing my mother struggle to raise us injected a dose of yearning for results," she says.The inexorable input by her mother to educate her bore fruits as she eventually became the first girl from the Gusii community to step into a secondary school classroom at Loreto Girls School, Limuru, in 1955. "My mother’s fortitude best exemplifies the integral role women play in any society. If given a chance, society will not be bereft of worthwhile development," she says.Equipped with this simple wisdom, she has gone her way to mobilise resources to empower women, as the face of any society. The girl-childHer ambition is to ensure that the girl-child gets better education. "I fought for the establishment of Nyandoche Ibere Girls’ Secondary School because I believe girls cannot perform better in a mixed school," she explains.She argues that cultural traditions have hindered the education of the girl-child."Girls are assigned household chores, denying them the opportunity to study well. Most affected are girls from rural areas, where traditions are still held in awe."She thus argues that it is time the government established middle level training centres which girls can access easily after school."I am still fighting for the introduction of courses, which girls who do not make it to other institutions of higher learning can train in essential life skills."Clare says this is integral to the development and growth of the society. "Any woman needs to learn some useful skills, which will help her eke out a living on her own," she explains.She has also contributed her resources to improving the education standards of the area."I channel part of my income from the farm to fundraisings. I have constructed two classrooms at Andrew Omanga Gesibei Primary, named after my late husband," she says.She hopes the library would be partitioned into two, one for the pupils and the other for the public.Her love for education is seen through a children’s storybook she wrote, The Girl Who Couldn’t Keep a Secret."As a child, my grandmother narrated a number of interesting stories, which I thought should be reserved in the written form," she offers.Clare intends to construct a dormitory for disabled children so that the distance they travel to and from school would be reduced."I have no child to take care of and all that I get from my farm and other sources are channelled to assisting the less fortunate in the society," she says.RepresentationHer love to participate in women’s activities at the community level saw her elected as the chair of the then larger Kisii District Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation (MYWO) in1985.This gave her the bargaining power to attend the famous Beijing Conference in 1995.Later on, Clare would find herself getting deeper into the public limelight when she was nominated councillor in Kisii, 1993.This scooped and shovelled the ground so that when she vied for Bobaracho Ward, 25km from her Nyansiongo home, she easily beat more than five men to claim the seat.Once again she broke the record when she was elected mayor of Kisii town, becoming the first woman from the Gusii community to hold such position."The position added another feather to my cap, and I am happy about it," she offers.Omanga is credited with the improvement of Daraja Mbili market, where women trade their wares on Mondays and Thursdays."I installed three clocks in Kisii town for women to know when it is time go home," she says, matter of factly.She intimates her role in these positions is to prove chauvinists wrong and that a woman’s place is not in the kitchen.Her husband, the late Andrew Omanga, influenced her by taking community participation a notch higher.As the Nyaribari MP, before it was split into Nyaribari Chache and Masaba constituencies, Omanga literally carried materials meant to construct schools and other projects.I love peopleHe infected his wife with the sense of community participation, which now seems to run in her veins."I love being close to people and that is why people love me." As the chairman of Nyansiongo Tea Factory, she credits the recent better buying prices farmers got for delivering their crop to massive campaigns over the same. Women, she says, spend numerous hours picking the tea and taking it to the collection centres. "I endeavour to ensure they get good money for their tea and labour," she says.During last year’s Nairobi International Fair, her factory was awarded a certificate in recognition of the superior quality of its tea.For Clare, it was no easy sailing. She attended Nyabururu Primary School before proceeding to Loreto Girls, where she attained Division II in her Form Four examinations. She married Andrew Omanga in 1961. He was a Makerere University graduate."He must have heard of the first girl from Kisii who had broken the record to step in a form one class," she says. She first worked with the Kenya Postal Office and later with Shell and BP, where she trained as a secretary.On leaving the oil industry, she worked at Express Travel, as a booking agent, before retiring to get involved in women’s affairs with the Maendeleo ya Wanawake organisation. She was an observer during the 2004 US elections and has participated in women’s forums in New York.When not on national call, she is busy manning her 100-acre piece of land, with her co-wife, Grace."As you can see, there is no boundary separating the two of us," she says pointing to Grace’s homestead, approximately 200m from her compound.Cry for youthClare regrets that the youth are intoxicating themselves with alcohol and drugs, instead of getting involved in meaningful initiatives.She is incensed by the fact that despite the huge potential in Nyanza Province for example, the region lags behind economically."Those who go to the US do manual jobs like digging graves and the youth can do all manual work they come across.Her wish is for Kenyans to entrench a culture of love and peace as Nyerere did."I told President Kibaki at the Gusii Stadium last year to ensure that Kenyans live together," she adds.Her greatest worry, however, and which she repeats severally during this interview, is discrimination against women. "We still think the place of a woman is in the kitchen, denying the competent ones a chance to guide and lead society."

Mrs Omanga: I live for the women

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