Njau Ndung’u is just an ordinary 22 year old guy with an extraordinary affinity/love for Africa, life and music. In his own words “It also occurs that I consider myself blessed and burdened in equal measure by the realization that WHO IAM is intrinsically related to WHO WE ARE and therefore my reason for being holds no meaning if its not for the benefit of the people around me.” Says Njau . After finishing his studies he worked for a brief period (3 months) at a government office. He felt the work wasn’t fulfilling nor challenging enough. What did he do? He decided to volunteer at a children’s home in a rural area far away from the capital city. The children’s home had a school on the side so he taught in the high school section and also helped out in managing the accounts of the home.
Where do you stay?
My home town is Kitengela, a small town around 12 – 15km from the capital city Nairobi, Kenya but I currently stay at a town known as Naivasha; it’s close to where I volunteer.
Who do you look up to for inspiration?
A myriad of people, but most of all my parents, they have sacrificed a lot to ensure that my siblings and I always get the best in life. It is through their story and sacrifice that I am motivated to go on despite the obstacles that life may bring. I also admire a lot of writers and artist like Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ayi Kwei Armah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, K’naan, Lupe Fiasco, Nneka, Kanye and some historical figures like Akhenaten, Mensah KanKan Musa, Idia , and freedom fighters…just to name a few.
Former president Thabo Mbeki said “The youth of the African continent should prepare themselves for a rebellion against their older generation and claim their leadership role,” At a conference in Kenya. How do you interpret this statement?
Yes! I read about it too and I took a lot of interest in it, since He is part of that older generation that he speaks of. But I don’t think he means that as young people we should result to violence against anyone. To my understanding I think he means that for too long there has been a lot of redundancy in the way affairs are managed on this continent. At the turn of half a century when most African countries were gaining their independence the older generation took up the mantle from the colonialists and continued to govern the continent in pretty much the same way as the white man did; that is to the benefit of others and the detriment of you. So I think President Mbeki was imploring to the young people to break away from this old way of doing things that serves no useful purpose and to rethink, redefine and rebuild our systems and structures into something greater that will provide a much brighter future for our people and for generations to come.
Do you think young people are involved in the building and decision making process in Africa at community and national level?
Yes, I think they are, only that they are exceptions. Considering that a majority of the population on this continent is made up of young people their representation in decision making bodies is not fairly inco-operated. They are too few and looking at it critically I think that both the young and older generations are to blame for this. For the older generation is rarely ready or willing to give that opportunity to the young people to take up responsibility in decision making and on the other end the young generation is also rarely willing to stand up and offer themselves for leadership positions. But then again if you look at the system that brought up this young person you will find that it gave him/her little training on leadership or capacity building but only gave him/her a good education to serve for the betterment of themselves, so I guess we are back to President Mbeki’s advice again
If you were a President for one day what would you change? Why?
The constitution, to allow for me to serve for a longer period of time because I don’t think I would affect any meaningful change in just one day.
What do you think are the challenges facing African youth? And how can these challenges be addressed?
There a lot of challenges that face the African youth today but the ones that top the list for me have to be a lack of opportunity to better ourselves and a general misdirection in most of us. A lack of opportunity is in various fields such as education, training, employment e.t.c. and I think the best way to address this challenge is by government and communities synchronizing and working together to provide more information and open up more avenues for opportunity creation. It is high time that we place a higher value on our people, ideas, products and industries and learn to nurture and protect them I believe this can go a long way in addressing this challenge.
It is rarely stated or maybe often overlooked that there is a huge problem of misdirection among us young people today. We have been brought up on borrowed books, tools and ideas not to mention foreign funded media outlets that constantly propagate certain notions that we eventually come to believe as-truth- and to our detriment forget our -own truths-. There needs to be a thorough redressing of our education system, we should have a system that teaches us to know our own, to believe in our own, to value and cherish our own and to give our all so as to take our own to greater heights.
Volunteering is not largely celebrated among the youth any advice you would want to give the youth?
I recently came across a quote scribbled on the desk of one of the students that I teach.
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others” – Mahatma Gandhi
Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
Hopefully I hope to be doing something that I love to do and being the best at it.
What do you do for fun?
I am an avid reader and quite the film buff. I love to travel too.
Any book you have read which has shaped your line of thought at any point?
The African Genius by Basil Davidson, I have also ravenously consumed extensive African literature by writers that I have indicated above, and in a lot of ways I have become an interpretation of their thoughts and ideas. I also happen to read the New African magazine almost in the same fashion as a good Christian reads the bible.
What music are you listening to?
My three favourite hip hop artist (k’naan, lupe fiasco, Kanye West) are almost always constantly on my playlist. I love the latest Nneka album –Soul Is Heavy-. There is an album that I will never tire of replaying – Distant Relatives- Nas and Damien Marley, and also an artist friend of mine Pepe Haze. The world will know him soon enough.
What is your advice to young people?
Find that one thing worth dying for and stick to it despite the circumstances. You will leave the world a much better place.
