BWIRE: When luck becomes the only plan for the African youth

One of the challenges of being born an African youth, especially those in urban slums like Kibera, Mathare among others and rural areas is that opportunity lies in the hands of others.

For many, success depends not on talent, grades in school or hard work alone, but on the randomness of chance encounters, NGO programmes, or external interventions.

In countless rural communities and urban slums, access to opportunity is neither structured nor guaranteed. Life for the majority rural African youth is like a lottery.

Let’s bring this discussion home in Kenya. I have a number of relatives from the village who have risen to succeed, and so are so many other people from very humble backgrounds in Kenya.

In fact, most of our politicians are from very humble backgrounds in as much as some seldom forget. Many have risen through the ranks to where they are, and mostly through chance encounters. Let me elaborate.

Take, for instance, the story of any teenager, those we see so many times on Tv who build radio stations, car parts among other scientific items, from scrap parts in their humble backyards.

Their geniuses might have remained unknown if not for a visiting journalist in the area or even an NGO, or any other chance meet up. Suddenly his or her work gets shared online, and boom success.

That stroke of luck then leads to some kind of invitation for instance to State House, the governor’s office maybe, perhaps by a philanthropist from another country hence opening doors he or she never knew existed.

This and many similar stories, like Bradley Marongos, the ‘Kenyan Goliath’, who has now gone international becomes inspiring for many yet a very a troubling truth that brilliance often lies buried beneath poverty and lack of access, only to be unearthed by luck, local media or even foreign attention.

This unpredictability is basically a failure of development systems. When access to scholarships, mentorship, or even information depends on a young person “being discovered,” it exposes the gap between potential and opportunity.

Many youth never get that chance. Many in rural areas miss out on even tertiary education not because they lack ability, but because they were born in regions where perhaps the university is too far, or fees are unaffordable. Hopefully, something can be done about this disparity soon by the relevant authorities.

How can those who are in charge of development therefore prioritise systemic inclusion? Kenya has a good standing in Africa when it comes to digital access.

Can it be possible to ensure each and every young secondary and tertiary school-going child have digital access? How can we have community-based talent identification that is actually foreseen by county and the national government?

Universities are now found in almost every county, but how can they have more locally run training programmes that reflect the strength of the region they are based in?

I am sure there are many initiatives offering structured pathways into tech, innovation and other vocational trainings for young people, especially in rural areas, but can more be done from a policy level to strengthen the luck and success for those who would otherwise be left behind?

What the Kenyan youth are randomly noticing is the kind of opulence shown on social media like of that of the birthday of the son of one powerful leader in Nairobi this week and the brand of the luxurious car he is driving around town.

Then they blame their ‘luck’ on blessings, after all Ni God Manze, is the common saying for this kind of ‘luck’! But the other kind of luck that we must invest in, is we must build systems that ensure the rural and slum youth randomly notice what is more important, where they can actually find and nurture their talent where it lives, and not wait for the world to randomly notice and have photo ops’.