OZON’s Global Take Over
To watch the 5-day Global Take Over (GTO) on Instagram, please visit the GTO highlight on the OZON instagram page here.
Take Over On Day 3
Watch Stella’s discussion here.
“The truth is that in the global South, people don’t fight because they want to. They have no choice”
How is the climate crisis affecting Kenya?
We have the flood and drought cycles. The weather is very unpredictable, it can get really (really) hot, and we get dust and dust winds. It’s a struggle, but there’s people who are dealing with a lot more and a lot worse, like losing their homes and losing family members to floods.
What problems do you face as an activist?
People who are interested in actually making a difference, people like me, activists, anybody who is interested in environmental protection, does not have the job options that they would like to have, so that’s very limiting.
Culturally in Africa, doing a strike is not- people don’t look upon that as constructive. It’s shunned. A challenge, what we struggle with, is climate change awareness.
For example, I’m vegan, I don’t have access to vegan yoghurt, or icecream? I have to depend on traditional foods, which is not that exciting.
What has climate activism already achieved?
What I do like, is that there have been regional actions, like for the Act on Sahara Desert (Sahel) #actonsahel and the East African pipeline.
After one of my conference presentations, I shared with a friend, about urban farming. She went and started a farm in her back yard, she just shared a video with me last week. I was very impressed.
What do you wish to tell the OZON community?
The truth is, no one in the global South, is struggling because they want to. No one chooses to be poor.
No one wants to be poor, unless you’re meditating- you’re a monk- unless you have decided. The most poor and the vulnerable ones, don’t have an option, they just found themselves there.
If you, for example, put yourself in my shoes, or those people’s shoes, the vulnerable ones, the poor ones, what would you like for other people, who could help, who have a voice, what would you like them to do, to represent you, to get you heard, to get your needs addressed?
Stella Nyambura Mbau PhD
Founder & CEO LOABOWA
#teamOZON
