- SEPTEMBER 10, 2024
Mama Peace: »Our politicians must unite us - not divide us«
Mama Peace from Naivasha, experienced violence in 2007 and marches for peace.
It’s hard not to notice Mama Peace in the crowd. She stands out – and she does it deliberately. Her white dress is not just another dress from the closet.
»My idea was that I wanted to make a dress where you don’t see me wearing it, but all of Kenya. All ethnic groups, the whole country, as one unit, « says Mama Peace, as Margaret is best known.
The dress, which features the names of all the country’s ethnic groups and the Kenyan colors green, red, and black on the white fabric, has seen many streets and heard many speeches about peace and coexistence since Mama Peace decided to use her private tragedy to change her country.
An election that changed everything
The 2007 Kenyan presidential election has gone down in the country’s history as the most violent ever, with more than 1,100 people killed and 650,000 displaced by the violence that followed the election.
»I am healed; now I want to heal my country«
One of those who lost his life in 2007 was Mama Peace’s husband, a policeman trying to protect civilians from a different ethnic group at a roadblock.
»One of the problems is that we have normalized violence, so it’s no longer something we pay attention to – especially among young people. We need to change that, « says Mama Peace, who, after participating in MIDRIFT HURINET’s program on preventing election violence, decided that she wanted to tell her story and use it as a driving force.
»During the program, we focused on reflecting and facing our demons. In doing so, I concluded that dwelling on the past doesn’t help if it doesn’t create change, « says Mama Peace with a smile:
»I am healed; now I want to heal my country. «
Marching for peace and unity
Mama Peace lives in Naivasha Municipality in the Nakuru region, where many different ethnic groups live in the same areas. This is also why the region is notorious for being a hot spot of election violence, as politicians exploit the underlying conflicts between groups to their advantage.
»In Kenya, we need our politicians to change course and find solutions to the problems. They need to speak differently and understand the power they have, « says Mama Peace, whose husband was from a different ethnic group than herself.
»Our politicians need to bring us together, not divide us. «
While she waits for politicians to change their behavior and take responsibility, she has taken change into her own hands. She marches in her dress and with a whistle, telling her story and talking to those who seek her out. Sometimes she walks alone, sometimes she walks with a group, and some days she is accompanied by a local woman who translates her messages into sign language.
And she has no intention of stopping until the country’s elections are peaceful. She firmly believes they will be.
»Elections are only for a certain period, but we remain brothers and sister, « Mama Peace says, asking to lead:
»Why should we kill our brothers and sisters? «