Audacity of Hope: Lessons for Kenyan Youth

Depending on where you are, you either heard a lot about Africa Youth Day or nothing at all.

The day which passed with little fanfare had the theme of "Peace, Solidarity and Positive Values promoted by the African Youth" which is ironic because in Kenya, this year has been marked by youth unrest. Starting off with the post-election violence where the youth were mobilised to forment chaos upto the school unrest where secondary schools were torched.

In the aftermath of the student crisis, a sense of frustration and hopelessness emerged amongst the youth. Frustration because their opinions were neither sought nor heard in matters that concern them, and hopelessness in an education system that drums in information but does not guarantee a job at the end.

But there is hope and today marks a great day where youth power to be the engines of change has resulted in a candidate, Barack Obama as a presidential contender. His campaign has shown what when they put their mind to it, and form a united front, the youth can indeed dictate who will lead them.

Kenyan youth can now stand up and be counted. Like the youth campaigners for Obama, they can refuse to be passive and be instrumental in moving their own agenda. The Waki Report in graphic detail talks about how these same young Kenyans were used in settling political and ethnic scores of others. For the ones that lost their lives, or the ones who murdered, raped or looted all in the name of politics, where are their politicians now? What were they fighting for?

The Obama campaign has shown that the youth have taken matters into their own hands. Obama is their candidate and reflects their ideals and understands their needs. To make sure he is elected they have volunteered their time, efforts and resources to make sure that there is true change in America.

The word “audacity” means to be daring, bold, courageous and brave. From the moment he declared his candidacy, the Obama campaign has reflected these values.

The lesson we can learn here is that true change can only come if we believe that we are the drivers of change and are bold enough to step up to the starting line, and the run. It is now in the hands of the youth to be proponents of a new political system, the system as written in the book Audacity of Hope (2006) that “we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done”.