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Ushindi Ndogo (A Small Victory)
By Harmony | May 4, 2009 | 7:41 pm
I arrived home from my travels this morning and immediately got back to work. We had seven interviews scheduled for 8:00am this morning; we are hiring two Field Assistants to help with office work and to talk about mangrove conservation in schools. The prerequisite was completion of Form 4 (12th Grade) and a passing grade on the final exam known as KCSE. I learned that only 19 women in my village had this qualification. I left for IST and let my supervisor handle the logistics of the job posting and application process.
The job posting was opened to any interested participants. There were only nine applicants - six men and three women. My supervisor had arranged for a panel of five interviewees, including myself and the village Chief.
I have to tell you – interviews in Kenya are grueling. The applicant sat at one end of the room, with the panel on the other. The interview was conducted in English, even though it is not the first language of the applicant (nor the interviewers, as is turns out). In turn, each of the interviewers asked a series of questions. The applicant was expected to know about the position in advance, and so the questions generally had little to do with the job. Rather, they were designed to see how quick the applicant was on his toes, and how he handled the pressure.
The Chief was exceptionally brutal; he asked questions about the names of specific heads of Ministries that even I didn’t know. He did make me smirk, however, when he asked several applicants who their village Chief was, and they didn’t know. I wonder what they would have done if they knew they were talking to him! He also berated several of the applicants for not being married. He asked them how old they were, and when they told him (most were between 23 and 30), he wanted to know what was wrong with them, since Kenyan culture dictates that one be married at around age 18. Many had the same reply; that they were not financially stable enough to support a family. I am happy that the youth here get it. Family planning rules.
Each interview lasted only five minutes. Two applicants never showed for the interview, including one gentleman who I thought would have been a good fit. Oh, well. When we were done, the panel discussed our “scores” for each applicant.
The Chief immediately said that we would be choosing one man and one woman for the jobs. I piped up and asked why. He mentioned that in the Kenyan context, it is understood that jobs should be split “equitably” between men and women, because men tended to capture the most jobs. I asked why, then, couldn’t we hire two women, if they were best qualified, to balance out that inequity? He scoffed and said that wasn’t the way it was done in Kenya. I stood my ground. After tallying up the scores, it turns out that two of the women interviewed had the best skills and were most qualified. I strongly suggested that we make job offers to the two women; if one of them declined, we could extend the job offer to the third most qualified applicant, who happened to be male. Luckily, my supervisor backed me up, and the Chief was stuck in a panel of four other women. In the end, we agreed to offer the jobs to the two most qualified women.
Just before we left, the Co-Chairlady for the Women Group (one of the panel members) mentioned that young women aren’t the best choice for hire because they usually get married off and leave the village. This was very disheartening to hear, especially from a female. Women, especially young women, are so disadvantaged here. Time and time again, I hear stories about how so-and-so was pulled out of school when she started her period, and was sold off for a dowry to an older man outside of the village. With no chance at an education, and no opportunity for real employment, how will these women ever be anything but slaves in their own homes?
My heart aches for these youths. None of them have a college or university education. Most of the time, it comes down to money. But even if a young student is lucky enough to find a sponsor or otherwise completes his degree, he enters the job market and can’t find employment. So what is the motivation of going to college in the first place? When we asked the youth what their future plans are, most said “go back to college,” yet it was obvious to me that they said it only because it was what we wanted to hear. Many have been idle for years, doing only odd jobs as work presented itself. How does one live without a salary? It still baffles me.
I hope that employment with the project, however modest the salary, will help create hope for two hard-working individuals. I am pleased that the two most qualified applicants will be getting offers, and that they are not chosen by gender. He may try to pull his weight as the village Chief, but I am a real woman with a voice. Hear me roar.
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