Rising star in the galaxy of big shots

It often seems like she is out of place. It is a G10 meeting. When she rises to contribute to the agenda, it is like a daughter talking to her mothers.

But she is not cowed by the imposing women and the collection of sharp and well-schooled brains.

G10 is a consortium of executive directors of Kenya’s top 12 women and children rights non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

It meets regularly to discuss and present joint positions on national matters affecting women and children.

During such meetings, Tabitha Njoroge listens more than she talks, for she wants to learn all she can in women rights activism.

Some members are mothers to children older than her and are wives in very stable marriages.

Single and with no child, she still feels easy among them.

Last year, G10 members ruffled the feathers of many men in Kenya when they called for a one-week sex boycott to protest at the way the country’s affairs were being run.

At such meetings, Tabitha doesn’t feel intimidated.

She is a member of the G10 through her headship of the Kenyan chapter of Women in Law and Development in Africa (Wildaf), where she is the executive director.

Other G10 members are the heads of Fida (Kenya), Maendeleo ya Wanawake, Tomorrow Child’s Initiative (TCI), Young Women Leadership Institute, Coalition of Violence against Women, African Women and Child Features Services, Caucus for Women Leadership, Centre for Rights Education and Awareness, National Council of Women of Kenya, Gender and Media Initiative, and Development Through Media.

At 27 years, she is the youngest member.

“I am humbled by this elevation to a platform where leaders of key organisations can have one voice over issues affecting women,” she says.

“I think my presence represents the young Kenyan woman. There is a disturbing trend where issues touching on women are only those affecting our mothers,” she says.

When she talks about women, Tabitha is keen on the age bracket. She looks at whatever she takes up in the perspective of that woman who is aged 15-35 years.

“Any talk about the girl-child centres on those still in primary school. When it is about women, it is about those over 45 years.

“Where is the place of that up-and-coming woman who is discovering life after her teenage years, or the one at the onset of young motherhood?” she asks.

Born in 1982 in Nyahururu to a father who worked at the Kenya Railways as a casual staff, and later became a catering manager, Tabitha grew up in her paternal rural home in Kieni East, Nyeri district.

She attended St Thomas Catholic Academy in Othaya for her primary school education after a three-year stint at Ndathi Primary School.

“My parents valued education. They struggled to pay my boarding fees and, ordinarily, I should have been at a public school, “she says.

Early in life, Tabitha — who loved reading, and still does — wanted to become an author.

“I also loved singing. I am a singer and I can compose songs. My passion was in arts,” she says.

She performed well in her KCPE (1997), and joined Bishop Gatimu Ngandu Girls High School.

Here, her leadership abilities and go-getter spirit flung open.

By the first week of Form One, she had been appointed the class prefect, a position she had enjoyed throughout her primary school years.

Confident, quick in decision-making and talkative, Tabitha admits that people perceive her as pushy and domineering.

“I have a penchant for knocking off anything that threatens to block what I want to achieve.

“It is in my blood, and I think it has helped me reach where I am. Several people have a problem with this, especially men,” confesses the single woman.

But beneath the toughness, Tabitha is a good negotiator and pushes her cases with multiple justifications.

In fact, her authorship dream diminished in high school, and was swapped with an ambition to become an ambassador.

“I realised I love representing people. I’m usually at my best when arguing cases on behalf of others.

“As an ambassador, I imagined myself representing the whole country. I thought it was what I would like to do in life,” she says.

But the ambassadorial dream was just that — a dream. When she qualified to join the University of Nairobi in 2002, she was invited for a Bachelor of Arts degree. Later, she specialised in sociology.

It is her stay at the university that catapulted her to women rights activism, clearly cutting her path to join WILDAF.

As a rural girl, she had been made to believe that university life was hard… that one had to resign to certain challenges to cope up.

“I loathed to see female students cohabit with male colleagues, lecturers and outsiders. Others were forced to procure abortions. I personally attended to many colleagues on the verge of death during abortion,” she says.

Like cornered birds, she and other female colleagues made great efforts to improve the students’ dignity.

The initiative, Manzi wa Campo (campus women) was launched. Soon after, she helped revive the university’s Women Students Welfare Association.

As she did this, the political bug bit her and soon she was in student politics. She was elected to the Student Organisation of Nairobi University (SONU) where she represented one of the largest female halls of residence.

Before she graduated in 2006, Tabitha had already executed a plan to join the women lobbies.

In November of the same year, she decided to swim in the deep waters of activism and participated in the +21 Women Conference in Nairobi.

It is here that she met her mentor, Dr Eunice Brookman Amissah, the vice-president and head of IPAS Africa Alliance, an international NGO.

“I gave a contribution and she came and parted my back. Young girl, you have the whole world before you. You will go places,” she remembers Dr Amissah telling her.

As she joined Wildaf in January 2007 as a programme assistant, Tabitha knew she had found a mentor. She quickly rose to be programme officer six months later.

When the post of executive director came up, it would have ordinarily been given to a more experienced woman.

There was talk in the industry that the organisation needed a woman who had learnt the ropes of the NGO sector to be able to drive its agenda.

“But I was convinced I was capable. My referees, who included Prof Leah Marangu of the African Nazarene University, thought I had the energy and the will to hold the challenging position,” she says.

She has not disappointed.

Since she was confirmed to the post in October 2008, Tabitha has injected enthusiasm into the way the organisation pursues its mandate.

Wildaf is a policy-oriented outfit that values feminist principles to promote transformative change in women’s lives.

We are keen on women freedom, social justice and participatory decision-making processes.

Through her input and that of the G10 group, women were able to bargain for favourable provisions in the harmonised draft constitution.

“We worked day and night to ensure our position was clear even before the draft was published. Constitution making is a key platform to correct women injustices,” she says.

Eradication of sexual violence is dear to her heart.

Last year, she co-ordinated a project that saw 52 police stations participate in production of a Survivors of Sexual Violence management toolkit.

“It is imperative to sensitise both the public and the police on the Sexual Offences Act,” she says.

During this interview, she showered rare praise on the police force.

“The officers have no problem co-operating on sexual offences cases. It is only that they have few resources and capacity,” she says of her tours to various police stations in Kenya.

A great swimmer, Tabitha loves Chinese rice and flying.

“I like travelling. I do not need the whole day to prepare for a safari,” she says.

She still remembers the words of her mentor, that the whole world is before her.

She harbours political ambitions and, after the 2012 elections, she hints at venturing into politics.

“I come from Kieni constituency in Nyeri. It is there that I would like people to taste the able leadership of women,” she says.

For now, she wants to concentrate in making the organisation even more forceful in the fight for women rights.

“I believe in legacies. It is an integral component of good leadership,” she says.

bmuiruri@nation.co.ke