I’m here seated at my corner and, whenever I put my head up and look around, I see her. 

As I walk around to get a cup of coffee, she is there looking beautiful and sophisticated. She is everywhere, like the wind or the air that we breathe. I go to have lunch at Friends and she is there looking classy, asking for chapati and matumbo — because she defines her class, it’s not the matumbo defining her class. She walks barefoot around the office because she can — and how else are you going to see her manicured toenails? When she decides to wear a pair of high heels, she rocks them like a star on the red carpet.

She is the first person you see when you walk through the door, with a bright welcoming smile. If you’re new, she makes sure that you aren’t stuck at the entrance and quickly asks how she can help. She never forgets a request, even days later. Her speed on the keyboard when responding to the “kings in the field” is amazing. She makes sure no request is left pending to ensure they have an easy time. She is polite, witty, organised, curious, and punctilious. 

In the boardroom, she takes a seat at the table and confidently takes charge. She has shown that when a woman’s voice is heard, when she participates in discussions, and when she exercises leadership, she brings something unique and highly valuable. The quality of her contributions are key to good decision-making, the impact of which will be felt across the company. The law is on the tips of her fingers and she knows all the jargon, not forgetting that she knows every human being in the company by name and by character.

Walk with this woman and you will never get stuck, because she has a solution for almost everything. She will randomly remove a screw driver from her handbag to help you fix a car issue. Wondering where the screwdriver came from? She works in the Network Pillar where she assembles SupaBRCKs and ensures all the cables and boards are in place. Having a problem with opening your beer? She will open it using the spanner in her clutch bag. When she holds a glue gun or a soldering machine, she will do her job to perfection. Ask her what a PCB is, and she will give you all the details.

And don’t act surprised yet… she can carry a 40KG Kio Kit down the stairs and across borders to present to a client. I am not exaggerating… this woman will go on top of a building to repair or install a PoP to ensure that you get a good signal for Moja Free WiFi wherever you are. 

When it comes to purchasing supplies, be it locally or from China or anywhere else in the world, this woman is a pro. She knows the ins and outs of customs and with just a few questions, she will get your procurement details right and get you what you were looking for — or even better. She handles and counts the cash better than a bill counter and will tell whether a note is fake or not. Spend some time with her and you will be astonished.

Whenever she goes to pitch about Moja Free WiFi to a client, she puts her best foot forward and takes charge of the conversation, ensuring that the client is heard. And even if she does not get a deal that day, she will never give up. Her strength is renewed everyday like the sun and she will eventually close that deal. 

Give her a problem to solve using code and she will do it like you have never seen it done before. Her attention to detail, critical thinking, and black screen magic will amaze you. The night owl will commit code in the wee hours and in the morning she will look refreshed and ready to take on another day and another challenge. 

When she tests that code, you will never get away with bugs. Because she is curious, a fast learner, creative, and will drive for the results. Don’t be shocked when she wakes you up in the middle of the night to fix a bug. From a distance, during the Wednesday lunch, she will look at the rice and tell you whether or not it’s well cooked. She will even tell you the temperature at which the rice was cooked. 

She picks that customer service phone call with a smile on her face. She gives them an assurance that everything is under control and follows up to make sure that the customer is happy and satisfied. She is resourceful, ingenious, and creative. When she is project managing, she will document the details keenly and follow up frequently and cheerfully. She will be on time with the delivery of a project because she is timely, keen, and creative.

Whenever she boards a matatu during a marketing activity or UX study on Moja Free WiFi, she is friendly with the touts, drivers, and customers. She thrives in user satisfaction and user happiness. She commands the crowd smoothly yet with authority.

She is strong, understanding, a critical thinker, self-motivated, and curious.

She is the Woman at BRCK!

When you hear about breakfast at Mukururo base near Amboseli, what do you think it looks like? Some hyenas eating a lion’s leftovers? Well… I would also think the same, but on 4th November, the view right outside the camp was breathtaking for the team and I bet even the hyenas would agree with me. The sunrise view is one of a kind that reveals the beauty of the African landscape.

This is the second day for us in Mukururo and we have the privilege of setting up a Moja for Big Life at the conservancy. Moja is a product of BRCK which allows users to access free internet through a SupaBRCK. The SupaBRCK is a rugged router, which is waterproof, dust proof, and so strong that you can drive a Land Rover over it several times without breaking it. Yet it is beautifully designed, giving it a superior look with the metal casing making it stand out even in the wild. If the SupaBRCK was human, it would qualify to be a bodybuilder.

We start by preparing pancakes for breakfast right outside the camp using my own Mhogo Foods Cassava flour (a company I run) which is a gluten-free and grain-free flour and the best replacement for wheat. As Ruth and I cooked the pancakes, everyone in the team enjoyed every bite and I realized that their faces are brighter and hangovers are gone. There is something about cooking in the wild that makes you want to stay there and eat till you drop. The antelopes and zebras are just staring at us and I am sure they secretly wish that we could get them a tent and give them some of the pancakes.

After breakfast, we head out to the ranger’s base to set up Moja, with an antenna mounted on the rooftop so as to make sure that the rangers and their visitors access free internet at a wide range. Even before we finish securing the antenna, some rangers are busy enjoying the cached content, while others are enjoying free internet provided by Moja Free Wifi. We train them on how to use the device (which most of them already know) and have lengthy chats with them.

Around 2PM and we head out for a game drive right after having our lunch. The rough and beautiful landscape makes you want to stop after every few meters and take a photo or even get out of the Land Rover and breathe. We finally get to this beautiful view of Kilimanjaro, where we make toast and enjoy our sundowners. When we started the expedition, I thought that we were all going to die… But so far, I have enjoyed every bit of the expedition and I can’t wait to see what is in store for tomorrow.

We board flight UNO 405H at 0730 hrs from Wilson Airport and 1hr 45 mins later, we are at Kakuma Town in Turkana County. Have you ever seen photos of Turkana people? Most of the photos show a bunch of men and women, boys and girls, young and old Turkana people with short, thick and kinky hair smelling of sun. Do you know how the sun smells? Neither do I. They are usually in their best clothes which are ironically their everyday clothes.

This is not the case in Kakuma Refugee Camp. The Kakuma refugee camp is in Kakuma Town and is buzzing with activity. The camp was established in 1992 to accommodate refugees from Sudan but was later expanded to accommodate refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. According to the latest UNHCR statistics, the Kakuma Refugee camp hosts more than 100,000 refugees.

Janet and I are here to deploy the Kio Kit at the Amani Boys’ Centre, a boys’ rescue centre which is run by Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS). The temperatures are high. Francis, our contact in Kakuma hands us a bottle of water when we arrive and advises us to stay hydrated.

The camps where we will be spending the next two days is a fenced and secure area with nice concrete rooms and a kitchen. Soon after breakfast we leave for the Jesuit ICT centre where refugees are enrolled for ICT classes. It is an organised institution with two computer labs each with close to 20 computers. This is where we are going to train Paul, the systems administrator at the centre, and his team of 5 including Greg St. Arnold, the Regional Education Coordinator Eastern/Southern Africa.

On day two and we drive to Amani Boys’ Centre, which is 10Kms from Kakuma Town, for training. Janet introduces the Kio Kit to the boys who are between the ages of 6 years and 19. Having grown up in harsh conditions both from their home country and in the refugee camp, 70% of the boys in the centre had not interacted with a smartphone or a tablet before.

They were curious to learn and interact with the Kio Tablets which made the training easy and enjoyable and in less than an hour, the boys had learnt how to navigate on the Kio Tablet. The trainer- Felix Otieno- starts training the boys with the choice of content like Mr. Nussbaum Games.

The best thing about the sessions for the boys was that they thought they were just playing, not learning. Yet over the few days we were with them, we noticed how much more confident they became in class and also with using the device.