TOUCH AND GLOW BY SARA KWALA

Kenya at 50years and we are celebrating those who fought for the freedom of this land. The question that strikes me the most at this point is where do all Kenyan women who have made an impact on society feature in all this? Kenya being a patriarchal society holds all successful men in high regard, statues have been erected all over in their honor to immortalize them. The least we can do for the Kenyan women is to recognize their efforts and accomplishment. In my mind I see a way of filling this gap is by mentoring our young girls and celebrating their being.

Mentorship is something to go back with to the drawing board and have a fresh start in terms of appreciating our women. Being a contemporary dance artist and a literature student. I am inspired by themes and stories that address the issues of women and I have created a work that speaks volumes on the subject matter: I still feel the need to do more.

Over the years I have seen girls with passion for art and categorically those from underprivileged background invest their time to learn and when they don’t feel the relevance of their being in what they are learning they abort their dreams and settle for anything that comes their way. We now have a growing breed of single young mothers with suckling babies strapped on their backs roaming the street, others becoming twilight girls and some turning to crime for survival. In other words I have seen talent being wasted and my position is lack of enough mentoring program for the girls is a setback especially in the contemporary dance field. I was privileged to be mentored by James Mweu who has been a constant guide in my journey as a young artist in the contemporary dance field. There are many other young female artists that need mentoring and don’t know who, where or how to approach this. Touch and glow is an initiative that seeks to empower young girls from all spectra of life, largely through arts and mentorship. In this regard the objective is to create a personal developmental relationship with the apprentice through learning, dialogue, stipulation of challenge, presentation in terms of performance and awarding efforts.

The launch of B3 T-shirts dedicate to all African women. Get yourself a copy and support the African women.