MY DATE WITH SALMA ABDULATIF.
Hello good people. Today we are on a date with Salma Abdulatif.
Who
is Salma Abdulatif?
Salma Abdulatif is a 23 year old lady
fourth year student in Moi University pursuing a major in Marine Business
Management. She is also the founder of the community based organization,
Motivational Talks for Youth (MTY), author of the book “A Painted inspiration
from the palm-fringed beaches”, vice president of Enactus Moi, the team that
has won the Enactus Kenyan National Championship for two years in a row-
represented Kenya for the Enactus World Cup in Toronto, Canada last year and
will be going to London, England come September 2017. Salma is also a Young
Africa Leadership Initiative (YALI) alumnus and a blogger. Check out: www.salummy.co.ke.
How was YALI program experience?
Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI)
is a program that was launched by former president of the United States,
Barrack Obama as a signature effort to invest in the next generation of young
vibrant African leaders.
YALI
promotes three models designed to identify and empower young African leaders:
the YALI Mandela Washington Fellowship, YALI
Network, and the
Regional Leadership Centers (RLC) across Africa i.e. in Kenya, Senegal, Ghana
and South Africa.
I was in YALI RLC, Kenya as a cohort 15 finalist and the
experience is beyond comparison. Please check out: http://salummy.co.ke/the-yali-experience
When and how
did you start writing?
I started writing way back when I was
young. I used to keep a diary which I updated every day and used to read novels
at a tender age. I would keep underlining the vocabulary and check them out in
the dictionary or try to memorize them and use them when writing my diary.
I
remember in High school, I had started compiling a collection of fictional rape
cases and women empowerment that ended up getting lost after circulating around
the class.
For me writing has been my forte and identity all throughout my
life, it has been my voice as the sole child of my parents and it has been my
happiness and satisfaction.
Tell
us about your community based organization, MTY?
MTY stands for Motivational Talks for
Youth. MTY has been able to impact more than 500 youth in Mombasa County
through motivational talks and mentoring. The organization’s other core
objective is to change the mindset of the youth and to instill positivity and
it achieves this by conducting trainings on leadership, innovation,
entrepreneurship and nurturing of talents.
MTY also assists in the welfare of the
larger community by organizing community activities e.g. charity walks, orphan
visits and donations, prison and rehabilitation visits etc.
'A Painted Inspiration from the Palm-fringed Beaches', what pushed you to write the book?
I was and have always been inspired by my
grandfather, Ali Alamin Mazrui. That was the first inspiration, I wanted to do
what he has been doing and I knew that I could not start at 30; I needed to
start right now.
I also wrote this book for the people of Mombasa County as an
inspiration. People have this stereotype that people from the Coastal region
are lazy, which is too general and very much annoying. My book is available
online at: http://mysterypublisherslimited.com/salma-abdulatif/,
https://www.amazon.com/Painted-Inspiration-Palm-Fringed-Beaches-Inspirational/dp/1546363831,
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16794822.Salma_Abdulatif.
To get your hard copy, please contact 0713380936 (Nairobi) or 0705586076
(Mombasa).
What is Enactus all about?
Enactus is an international non-profit
making organization that is committed to using entrepreneurial spirit to create
innovative outreach projects to impact communities. Usually each year, after
the students have done their community projects, they present in the national
expositions in their respective countries and the universities that clinch top
position represent the country as a whole for the Enactus World Cup.
Fortunately, Enactus Moi has won two times in
a row; we were in Toronto, Canada last year with three projects on clean water,
immunization and income generation for reformed illicit brewers. This year, we
are going to London to present our two waste management projects.
The
experience is awesome and I cannot compare it to anything else especially
during the Cultural day where people from different countries showcase their
culture and tradition and we give and receive gifts from friends that we form in
the Enactus family.
You
are very passionate about community service. What is your ideal society?
I dream of a society that is full of
selflessness. Where your problem is my problem, where we all work together to
transform Africa for the better.
What
or who inspires you?
I am first inspired by our beloved prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) who was an example of a responsible and caring
human being. I am also inspired by Mother Teresa because I believe that we
share the same calling, changing lives and people for the better. I am also
inspired by my mother, a hardworking woman who has done her best to raise me up
with upright morals and the zeal to be independent at all times.
How
do you balance all these great activities that you do at the same time?
I balance myself through proper time
management. They did say that, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Please
check out: http://salummy.co.ke/time-and-what-it-really-is/.
What
challenges have you been facing in community service and publishing the book
and how do you overcome them?
Challenges are vitally important in life
because they shape us; they make us stronger and more experienced in handling
issues.
The main challenge in community service is that the people you are
leading might not even be aware of how important change is to them and they
might not be too cooperative or might resist change.
In publication, I can say
that sometimes getting the funds to pay the publisher might not be too easy.
The last time you turned up on CERA KIEHA, was about your classy fashion style.
What influences what you wear?
Everyone that knows me on a very personal
level knows that I am a very simple person in appearance but behind the black
garments, I like staying trendy and I even enjoy designing and interior décor.
I don’t believe in dressing for the occasion, for me dressing up well is a
lifestyle and it cannot be influenced by anything.
How
do you do to unwind?
Feeling awesome and blessed.
What
more can we expect from you?
For now, let me say I am kind of secretive
with my movements unless they go through. But I am not stopping until I get to
see Africa at a better place than it currently is. So yes, a lot is yet to
unveil.
Share
with us one or two quotes from your book that can inspire young people to do
awesome things in their lives and society.
“Women
are not just survivors and hard workers. Their stories should not just be
restricted to empowerment. Their stories should shake up the world, and appear
in every chapter and book that ever talked about life”.
“Some
days will be sunny and some days will be stormy. There are days that you will
never want to look at the sky and there are days when the peace of the stars is
all that you will want. Remember, these days shall come and they shall go. You
should however carry your own weather day in and day out”.
FUN.LEARN.SHARE
1 comments
Inspirational ...all the way up
ReplyDelete@stevenstowel.wordpress.com