Advocate of the High Court of KenyaI am an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, so I was representing child victims of abuse in court as well as conducting child rights training to law enforcement agents.
My father is a Middlesex alumni, and I also met the former Vice-Chancellor, Prof Michael Driscoll, on his visit to Kenya and we had an interesting discussion on human rights and he assured me that I would enjoy my time at Middlesex University.
I gained a lot of knowledge on the area of minorities rights, and though my bias was towards child rights, I gained knowledge about other minorities as well.
Because the course was research intensive, I gained proper research and presentation skills.
The Course was taught by fantastic lecturers. Dr. Jeremy Gilbert, Dr. David Keane and Prof. Joshua Castellino, to name just a few, were knowledgeable and passionate about their subjects. This made the class discussion very interactive and interesting. I also enjoyed the selection of courses that the students is given to select from.
My fondest memories of life at Middlesex comprise of having discussions with our lecturers about various aspects of human rights, like the correlation between human rights and international criminal law. I will also never forget, Prof. Castellino’s knowledge on constitutional law. He came to class and described the constitutional making processes of all the countries represented in class. That was something!
This course changed my career because of the diverse exposure it gave me. I am now equipped to work in a variety of sectors, either policy formulation or direct service provision.
The skills I gained in research, writing and presentation have certainly played an important role in my career progress so far. I am now often invited to advise and present on formulation of policies towards age minorities.
I have always been passionate about child rights and so I knew I would take a path that would lead me to being a voice for children today, because I believe that all too often children are seen and not heard. I do also enjoy that human rights work is dynamic and therefore keeps me on my toes.
The benefits of doing human rights work, especially advocacy and lobbying, is that you see the change and feel the change. It changes the lives of human beings and in one way or another makes the world a better place.
The challenge is that it can be heart-wrenching, especially when working with the children, to hear stories of abuse and violence. It also takes time. It takes time to change legislation, to go to court and also to effect change in behavior and attitudes.
As I said, I knew this is what I wanted to do from a very early age so, all my internships were focused on Human Rights and with a biased on Child rights. I have ensured that my career revolved around child rights.
I hope to continue agitating for child rights to the highest office in the spectrum of human rights as well as undertake my PHD.
