Art4Leadership Season III: Empowered To Empower

DoweMusic junior students.
From left: Kyle, Sonia and Scott

August 24, 2018 goes into the records of Dowe Music & Arts as one of the important days on which an Art4Leadership event was organized. We can never be thankful enough for the Kenya National Library Services in conjunction with The American Corner for availing the ample and efficient space. 

The theme for the day was “Empowered to Empower” where more than fifty young people discussed the importance of giving back to the society. The outstanding fact was that one is never too poor to offer a helping hand. 

The youths were challenged not to wait until they are well endowed resource-wise for them to consider empowering others. From a discussion that sought to find out what unique ability distinguished each one of them from the other, the message that at least everyone in the world has something they can do better than others was driven home.

The event was spiced up by Dowe Music & Arts junior students performing with guitars. The speaker of the day, who is also the director of the initiative, joined them with his violin accompanied on piano by the Academy's admin Ms. Mwihaki a.k.a Michieygial. 

This was an event which also saw children from New Life Home Trust attending. Even though they had come to see one of their own, Sonia performing, the children were lively and some shocked the whole group by the way they participated actively in the discussions. Two of these, Oliver Daima and Judy Bahati became darlings of the whole team due to their boldness and eloquence. When asked about what she had learned, Judy calmly responded, "How to love people!" Led by Mr. Daniel Omitto , Adminstrative assistant, the group is a lively time one wishes to stay around them, all the time.

Towards the end, YALI Alumni gave short speeches sensitizing the youths about the need to join the network as well as giving tips on the just opened application for cohort 31 and 32. If you are interested in applying, click here. Take a look at the photos below to get the  gist of the event as you plan to attend upcoming events.

 Applications for Cohort 31 and 32 is now open. Apply!

Youths from Nakuru Listening actively 

Judy Bahati from New Life Group
 responding to a recap question

YALI Alumni Kate Cheptoo on how to 
apply for YALI RLC opportunity

YALI Alumni Amdany enlightening youths

YALI Alumni Oliver Jemuge on how to join YALI Network

Music performance by DoweMusic Team

From Left: YALI Alumni Oliver J.,
New Life Group child Oliver Daima and
MLM Consultant Oliver Kibet

Oliver Kibet Pitching his idea

Young Oliver presenting a song

Ms Mwihaki,
DoweMusic &Arts admin
 rehearsing for the event

The author is the founding director of Dowe Music &Arts and the frontier of Art4Leadership

Blogging and Human Rights

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According to the Swahili dictionary, Human Right refers to:

Any basic right or freedom to which all human beings are entitled and in who’s a government may not interfere

There are various ways in which blogging can help foster protection of human rights in Kenya. Below is a highlight of some of the ways.

The first step Is for the blogger to get acquainted with the concept of human rights. This is not just about the definitions but one has to know what rights the Kenyan citizen is entitled to. The basic rights include but are not limited to: right to life, right to education, freedom of expression and freedom of worship. These can be read from the Kenyan Constitution which is available both as a hard cover document as well as mobile phone apps. It’s easier to write about something one knows as one has the confidence to stand for ones opinion and stated facts.

Secondly, through blogging, bloggers create awareness to the society. Many people do not know what their rights are. With a tough economy, the Kenyan citizen is too focused on making ends meet to spend time reading the constitution. Since blogging is a creative venture, bloggers can present the information by the use of cartoons or other attractive ways. The advantage of this again is that in blogging, the main aim is to get the reader understand as easily as possible. The writer breaks down the rights in a simple language avoiding the professional jargon that scares the average reader.

In the same vein, bloggers can carry out interviews with both human right specialists and post on their platforms to increase the awareness. Since this is a social media era, such information can instantly be shared on all platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and so forth.

In addition, since a blogger commands follower-ship to some extent, it means s/he is a leader. In that case, and this being the 21^st century, bloggers need to lead by example. It is not just enough reading and posting about the human rights. They need to make sure that they are not infringing on anyone’s rights and freedoms. One can only speak against a vice if one is pretty confident that one is not a perpetrator of the same.

In conjunction with the above statement, bloggers need to be part of the organizations that enhance protection of human rights. Examples of these include Oxfam, Transparency International, Red Cross to mention but a few. In the event that they feel these organizations do not serve the right purpose, there is freedom to form their own associations to voice out their protection of human rights. Some of the human rights defaulters are the big fish of the society and it is only easier and/wiser if attacked through agencies.

Lastly, blogging is a good skill to use in reporting violation of human rights. A blogger is in a way a whistle-blower. Being able to do research on an ongoing vice, involving the authority using the right protocol(including talking to the authority) is a great step towards human rights protection. Readers always want to know what, why and how a scandal came to being. Bloggers have a chance to feed the society with the right information. It is important to note that with technology, time is of great essence. If a blogger decides to look into a case say sexual assault, then s/he has to utilize the technology such as use of cameras, screenshots, text messages effectively to acquire the relevant information fast enough. Being late is unforgivable.

To sum up, blogging is a wonderful tool that can help in promotion and protection of human rights. This can be achieved when bloggers are well informed of the human rights, have a willingness to create awareness and educate the citizens about their rights, report human rights violation and get involved in activities that promote the human rights. It begins with me.

Douglas is the founder of 

Dowe Music & Arts

 based in Nakuru

Art4Leadership In Nairobi

Douglas Giving A presentation on Transparency 

Photo: Joseph Jinju

 The line “Say No to Poor Leadership” that makes up an easy chorus to sing is slowly gaining popularity as more youth’s pledge to stand up for sound leadership not only in Kenya but Africa at large. Much gratitude to the various organizations that have given Dowe Music & Arts the platform to demonstrate leadership through music. These include but not limited to Fatuma’s Voice (Still longing to see them in Nakuru), Kenya National Library Services (knls), American Spaces and most importantly Young Leaders Initiative (YALI) Network. 

At Dowe Music & Arts, we believe that it is not just enough for an artiste to learn the musical language but how to use the skills and/or talents for the benefit of the very society s/he speaks to is very paramount. That is the reason we have Art4Leadership, an initiative that seeks to mentor youths for both present and future roles whether or not they get leadership posts.

On 3^rd of August, 2018, Dowe Music & Arts a privilege to host an Art4Leadership event at the American Reference Center, Moi University, Nairobi campus. The topic Good Governance and Transparency was well embraced with young people learning that it is not only the role of the government to foster good governance, but also the citizen’s task. A challenge was posed on the youths to get involved in the leadership forums to be able to understand fully how they can cause positive change in the society.

Transparency was widely discussed with the weightiest point being that for a country or any organisation to grow well, systems must be created to ensure accurate dissemination of information on time. The youths learned that it is not just whistle blowing that is the key to achieving transparency, but the how. 

The speaker quickly reminded the energetic minds that voicing out for change doesn’t have to be violent. He pointed out that one ought to take the right measures including making use of established bodies like Transparency International to share concerns. He also encouraged the artistes to use their talents well with an aim of speaking out the change they envision.

The event was spiced up by Music on Africa. The audience found it easy to sing a long the simple but rich message passed across through the music. Songs, as you may tell, are persuasive in nature and singing along helps one to reflect on their role as citizens of Kenya as well as sons and daughters of the black soil. You can listen to Say No to Poor Leadership and Carry On by clicking here: Afrika Songs Below are photos of the Dowe Music Band. 

Photos: G Kariuki

As the event ended, it was a privilege for the young people meeting the co-founder for You4She Initiative where they empower girls and women on Menstrual Hygiene Education. Elizabeth Mang’eni, Mandela Washington Fellowship 2017(MWF 2017) and Young Africa Leadership Initiative-Regional Leadership Centre (YALI-RLC Cohort 11) Alumna enlightened them on the why and how to join YALI NETWORK. She encouraged them to reach out to her for essay reviewing and consultations regarding MWF and YALI RLC.

Elizabeth Mang'eni advising youths

Photo: Joseph Jinju