By Mary Wangare Kigo
Peter Kariuki co-founder Glidde enterprise
Kenya is a country on the move, moving towards implementing the Building Bridges Initiative , preparation for the 2022 general elections, on the move to combat the swarms of locust that are eating up the vegetation in more than 18 counties and also to reclaim the devastated Mau forest its pivotal water catchment among other issues facing our nation.
while the political class is busy with the above mentioned issued, there are also individual young Kenyans taking bold steps to contribute to the process of nation building in simple ways applicable to their communities.
Peter Kariuki Mbuthia ,35, from Nakuru county is such a youths taking action to help transform the nation. Kariuki a Young African leadership Initiative (YALI) fellowship recipient in 2018 says his desire to give back to community was sparked in a more proactive way after completing the one month leadership course.
” i have always wanted to give back to the community but always wonder on how and what to do, but during the YALI fellowship my desire was more amplified and i knew the time had come for me to stop wishing and actually take action” he said.
Courtesy Photo: Kariuki addressing pupils at a school in Nakuru during a mentor-ship event
After YALI Kariuki energized and motivated to the maximum partnered with Violet Kamau,22, to establish Glidde Enterprise with the vision of becoming one of the leading leadership consultancy firms in Africa.
The father of one now dedicates his time in helping the youth in his county to live purposefully by mentoring them through trainings, team building events and holding holiday boot camps to impact the youth with positive information that will help mold them into responsible Kenyans as well as global citizens.
Through his organization Kariuki says that he is happy to be contributing to the growth and development of Nakuru county and Kenya at large.
” after holding events like boot camps for the youth , mentoring and also participating in tree planting or clean up campaigns i get so much joy and satisfaction that cannot be explained” he added.
Since starting Glidde enterprise in 2018, Kariuki says he has so far organized three events that he says have given him the impetus to keep moving forward.
The events include purposeful parenting, a six lessons parenting program helping young parents on responsible parenthood amidst influence from social media and other external forces facing parents today.
Another event under his belt is a purpose boot Camp, a three days camp for teens training them on purposeful living and being principled leaders.
He has also organized the KENYA NI MIMI campaign aimed at sensitizing the citizenry on their role and duties as citizens towards making Kenya a better place.
Kariuki says he has received positive response from the community encouraging him to continue with the journey he started.
” people really like the idea of living deliberately , such that everything you do is towards a purpose. I have seen young people change and become so serious about life to the point that i am currently working with two youths i mentored” Kariuki explained.
Courtesy Photo: Violet Kamau and Peter Kariuki co-founders of Glidde enterprise during a school event in Nakuru
Environment conservation.
Other than mentoring the youth Kariuki is also keen in matters environment conservation, he is championing the cause by involving primary and secondary school going children.
In a recent environment conservation activity in the area, Kariuki planted over 500 trees with the help of pupils from flamingo primary school.
” In the exercise i tasked the kids to plant a tree and take care of it by watering regularly and ensure it was not eaten by animals or uprooted by children. we later returned to the area to access the work the pupils were doing and we loved the result. we rewarded those who had taken good care of trees.
Courtesy Photo: Violet Kamau posing with girls after donating sanitary pads to school going girls in Nakuru.
counsel to Kenyan youths
The kenyan youth continue to face a lot of challenges ranging from drug abuse, unemployment and high cost of living others among others.
Amidst all these Kariuki says the youth can rise above the current status quo and offer something to the communities.
He says ” There are no enough white collar jobs, even technical jobs will soon be overcrowded, not everyone will be a farmer neither can everybody be an entrepreneur But everyone has something inside of them that the rest of us need. while there are no opportunities to get in there are plenty of opportunities to serve”.
Challenges
Kariuki says since he started pursuing social change the main challenge he has faced is lack of resource to organize the events to the standard he needs. He however says he will continue using the meager resource at his disposal until organizations like county government, funding agents and other well wishers join him in his pursuit of seeing the Kenya he desires to live in where youths are purposeful and citizens are responsible for giving back to their country.
Courtesy photo Glidde Enterprise
Future plans
In the near future we are looking at partnering with Nakuru Rehabilitation home, we intend to be visiting the centre every last saturday of the month to inspire and give hope to the children incarcerated there. we will also be launching a leadership clubs for secondary schools, through the forum we will teach students about leadership qualities and problem solving skills. The pilot club will be launched at Khalsa Secondary school in Nakuru.
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