Transcript
Raya Famau: My name is Raya Famau Ahmed, I'm also the executive director of a women-led organization called Lamu Women Alliance. Lamu, it's our paradise, with beautiful beaches, serene environment, a lot of wildlife. We don't have any single industry, so the air that we breathe is very fresh. Because this is a World Heritage Site, motorbikes and cars are not allowed here. It's only donkeys and people do walk. So we walk to the market, walk to the hospital and most of the people here walk barefoot because the land is still very fresh.
But we wanted the development, because when government brings development in a place, then it grows. It means they will take electricity to the people, they will take water to the people, there are people who are going to be employed. So we wanted this, but we were afraid of our government implementing the coal power plant project because they said that they are going to build it near the sea. And they will be dumping the harmful waste materials into the sea. The sea is the heart of Lamu people. Eighty percent of Lamu people depend on the sea. So we as Lamu people cannot just sit down and accept our government to implement a project that will harm the heart, which belongs to Lamu people. We want our country to generate electricity, but it should be a sustainable project.
A lot of people are very afraid of the government. People are telling us you should not petition the government. You know, these are big people, these are big corporate, but we believed as community, we are the power. We are the government. And we decided to soldier on. So the government decided to threaten some of us, and they sent 10 policemen to my house. And being a woman with children, I don't stay with my husband, my husband stays in Mozambique. So I normally reside with my two boys. One was 13, and the younger one was ten years. And they came to my house at 12 at night, and they said that they have information that I have a gun in the house. And my boys were really scared. And they were wondering what was happening because 10 policemen with guns and big sticks. I know I don't keep guns in my house, but I was afraid that maybe they would bring a gun and then say that they have found a gun in my house. And you know, here in Kenya, if they say that, it means you are done. My boys were crying and we didn't have anybody to help. Maybe they will take me to the police station, maybe they will shoot me, maybe will make me disappear and what will happen to my boys? I knew there are environmentalists who have disappeared, who have been killed. So but then there was a part of me telling me that no, you have to go on, you have to go on.
I think it's a passion, you know, activity activism is a calling, so despite having all these challenges, I still have strength to go in front of the government in front of cameras on TV or radio and still say that no, this should not go on. The government have to give respect to community deliberations, and they have to implement projects which are sustainable. They should not sacrifice their own community at the expense of few business, few rich people, they have to uphold the human rights of their own people.