ADVOCATE AGAINST CRIME THROUGH FOOTBALL

She leads me to a raised rocky plainfield adjacent to the football pitch at Fort Jesus, prominent as Makadara grounds. 

On the pitch, tension is rife and the competition even higher as young boys tussle across the stony pitch to win duels and score goals on either halves of the football pitch. This is her joy as she smiles delightfully upon seeing young boys of Mombasa's Old Town engage in athletics, especially football.

Naima Twahir, at 29 years was born and raised from Old town. She did not get a decent education while growing up, owing to unaffordable school and tuition fees at that time. Her struggle saw her attain D+ in Kenya Certificate of Secondary education (K.C.S.E), a factor she didn't allow to thwart  her belief. She had a supportive father who always believed in charity, who was philanthropic and didn't seem disturbed at all with her daughter nurturing young boys while keeping them safe  through football. Mark you, women were in the recent past not allowed to step foot on the Fort Jesus' Makadara football ground, a societal norm Naima has since defied.

"My name is Naima Twahir, a resident by birth of Old Town, Mombasa county. Currently, I sign off as the founder and executive director of Shakirina Youth for Development. On matters education, I have reached diploma level with a specialty in community development and I'm currently pursuing diploma in psycho-social studies," said Naima, all smiles.

As her father, Naima is a charitable figure in her own right who often assist youths to gain intellectually out of civic education forums organized by pressure groups, CBO's, NGO's and the county government. 

Privy, she has assisted many with procedures and advice on matters bridging courses which were manifest in the previous educational curriculum and on career choice and options that exist for youths who fail to meet the required grades for college or university admission.

"With my educational background somehow, things were not like I intended. 

After completing my primary school academics, there were challenges at home which didn't allow me to join secondary school. At that time I was very humble and modest, so I figured out how best I could benefit my local community by utilizing resources nearby. I started making sartorial garments which I would then sell at a throw-away price of about 100-250 shillings. I would make and sell around 10 pieces everyday," said Naima.

Little did she know that this business would open doors for her enthusiasm in community development that currently sees her spend the better part of her evenings watching young kids play football at Makadara grounds, something she uses hitherto as a tool to debugging crime and drug abuse within Old Town and the Coastal region at large.

"I have engaged in community work since I was a child. My mentor is my dad who is ever a cordial giver. Even though he is only a fisherman, most often he loves displaying gestures of charity to people around Old Town and beyond. 

Furthermore, he teaches young men from our locale how to fish and time and again, he would gift young fishermen with fishing equipments to act as a source of livelihood to their families," said Naima.

"I remember very well that I was among the best students at Mbaraki girls primary school. Missing out on a slot for high school really rubbed awfully on my confidence; and from where I come from, no one would come to correct you whenever something went wrong. To this end, it looked normal that being a girl, it was okay being confined at home since society thought I would get married off anyway,"  explained Naima, with an incoherent voice.

Her mother enrolled her to a 'madrassa'-an Islamic religious school wherefrom she had to endure more than 6 years since she could not join high school yet. After her classes, she would go to a vocational school where they taught her tailoring. This felt satisfying because she was able to grow spiritually and learn more about Islam. But whenever madrassa was closed, Naima would feel that a void existed in her life. This chasm made her feel that as a girl, she just needed to go to school and get empowered.

Most of the money she got from selling clothes, she used to buy sartorial materials. This because she was too young by then. When she got the materials, she would make clothes for people who were disadvantaged in the community.

"When I was 18 years old, I yearned to learn so much and this was with anguish. But my parents assumed I could not go back to school. At 19, I really struggled and opted to get married so that I could go back to school. So I got married off in an Islamic culture. From my marriage, I sired my first baby at the age of 21 years. At 22, I realized that I still had the potential to go back to school. In 2011, I started going round searching for schools which could accommodate me but at that time, it was expensive. Secondly, I had dumped my tailoring career because I was then a mum and my husband had no stable job. I was the sole bread winner and everything in the house," said Naima.

In 2012, she would trek round in search for people who could fund her education. But her community was against that because they thought she was mature, a mother and was also married and old enough to take care of her own affairs. To this end, nobody would have thought of supporting her.

"After I managed to source an institution that could accommodate me, I was yet faced with another challenge. I was a private learner at the time, a factor which made me cough more fees. I would pay 5,000 shillings per month whereas other students paid merely 2,000 shillings. In 2013, I sat for my K.C.S.E and recorded a result of D+. To me, It was unexpected I would get the grade after sitting as a private candidate for my papers at Chandaria hall," said Naima with contentment.

Naima then had to go back to the education department which advised her to pursue her career option. This time round, she was to register as an ordinary and not private candidate. However, she would begin at certificate level.

She went to Technical University of Mombasa, formerly prominent as Mombasa Polytechnic College where her efforts hit a snag because they were only taking students with C+ and above. This nonetheless did not make her despair and so she moved to former Mombasa Technical Training Institute (M.T.T.I), currently known as Kenya  Coastal Polygechnic which accepted her at certificate level.

My education was incoherent at this point because of my social responsibilities. I was also divorced since my husband envisaged my further education as a threat. That I would get empowered and go above him. To this end, we parted and I had to raise 2 kids on my own as a single mother. I also went back to my parents' home," said Naima.

In 2015, Naima did her certificate examinations and managed a pass mark. In 2016, she started her diploma course in psycho-social studies but this was short-lived; since she had to stop the following year.

"Right from whence I cleared my certificate course, I loved hanging out with kids, both boys and girls because from my life experience, I felt like these kids needed us more than we needed them. Most of them come from single parent set ups and go through a lot," explained Naima.

In 2016, Naima initiated a project in Mombasa's Old Town after a group of juvenile gangs started orchestrating crime ranging from petty theft, mugging and violent robberies. These kids were young boys who came from single families and who thought nobody was caring for them and who used crime to seek for community attention, love and affection. 

With these kids, some of them never saw their dads again after divorces and they would launch constant mayhem to show they also belonged to the Old Town community.

" We gave the project the title 'PREVENTING VIOLENT EXTREMISM THROUGH SPORTS' -at that time, we had more than 120 boys aboard our project. In the beginning, everything was okay but as days whiled by, men in the society saw it a threat. Like why is she into sports? Why is she with our boys? So instead of supporting me, they were against what I was doing.Threats started coming in that we would get clobbered for being at Makadara grounds. Still, I did not give up," cringed Naima.

The numbers went down at that time. The boys wouldn't show for training sessions anymore and the impact they thought they were creating didn't materialize. She had to lobby for different approaches to hold the boys down. She found men who supported her course to validate her presence at Makadara grounds.

"We used to do group discussions with the boys which really worked. Most of them began to open up and spoke of their challenges and as moderators, we would try to find viable solutions," said Naima with ecstasy.