Rosemary Odinga

Rosemary Odinga
Born (1977-08-13) August 13, 1977
Nairobi, Kenya
Residence Nairobi, Kenya
Nationality Kenyan
Education Bachelor of Arts 2002, MBA 2006
Alma mater Howard University
University of Dallas
Occupation Snail farmer, Entrepreneur
Political party Orange Democratic Movement
Religion Roman Catholic
Parent(s) Raila Amolo Odinga, Ida Odinga

Rosemary Odinga (born August 13, 1977) is a Kenyan of Luo descent, an entrepreneur, an advocate for alternative agriculture and proponent of social equality. She is known for being the only snail[1] farmer in East Africa.

She also promotes alternative farming practices in Kenya and the rest of East Africa with special emphasis on sorghum, cassava and millet farming to reduce the region’s overreliance on maize as a staple food, and production of ethanol as clean fuel for household and transport.

Rosemary is also an advocate for equality to give citizens a sense of parity in accessing public services . Since June 2015 , as the patron of Key Empowerment Foundation Kenya, she has been at the forefront of facilitating youth and women apply and get birth certificates and ID cards to enable them fully access government services. Thousands of Kenyans have successfully applied for ID cards and birth certificates through this initiative.

She is also the Executive Director of Raila Odinga Center (ROC), a foundation that focuses on providing education scholarships in East Africa, training young leaders and developing youth sports talents. She is a Member of the Global Chinese Business Future Leaders Club and Global Peace Foundation. She is also actively involved in boys’ mentorship programs and is currently the Patron of the Upper Hill School Rugby Union Club.

Rosemary has a degree in Sociology (Criminal Justice) from Howard University in Washington D.C, USA and an MBA in Business Marketing from the University of Dallas in Texas, USA.

Early life

Rosemary and her brothers Fidel Castro (now deceased) and Raila Junior were born and brought up in the middle class suburb of Kileleshwa and started school at the private Kilimani Junior Academy. Their lives were turned upside down by the abortive coup in 1982. and the crackdown on political dissent in Kenya which followed. Five days before her 5th birthday in Rosemary was separated from her father when he was arrested and detained without trial by the then President Moi. Her father was freed and detained again three times between 1982 and 1990. While Rosemary's father was in imprisoned, her family’s lifestyle worsened, as her mother Ida (a high school teacher in a government school) was unable earn enough to sustain the lifestyle they were accustomed to.

When her mother decided to transfer Rosemary and her siblings to a public school to economise, no public school principal would accept them for fear of reprisal from the authoritarian Moi regime. But with the help of their grandfather Jaramogi, Rosemary and her brothers secured admission to the Catholic Church run Consolata Primary School in Westlands. At Consolata Rosemary converted from Anglicanism to the Roman Catholic Church.

Rosemary and her siblings spent their childhood and teenage years without the presence of their father who was in and out of detention for the better parts of the 1980s. The family also bore the brunt of the excesses of the Moi regime as the now sole breadwinner, Ida also endured several arrests. Their home was raided and ransacked dozens of times by officers from the dreaded Special Branch.

In school Rosemary and her siblings were unhappy, as some classmates avoided playing with them. Children from their neighbourhood also avoided them, after being warned not to socialise with them by their parents. Rosemary and her brothers spent most of their playing time in an informal settlement within the Kileleshwa Estate where the kids were friendlier and more welcoming.

Relatives

Rosemary (born August 13, 1977) is the second child of Kenyan politician [2] Raila Amolo Odinga (Prime Minister, 17 April 2008 to 9 April 2013) and Ida Odinga. Her siblings are Fidel Castro (deceased), Raila Junior and Winnie. Her paternal grandfather, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, was an internationally renowned independence struggle politician who became independent Kenya’s first Vice President and later a key opposition figure.

Rosemary is named after her grandmothers Rose Ayuya Oyoo and Mary Juma Oginga. Her maternal grandmother Rose was the first indigenous nurse in Kenya, while her paternal grandmother Mary Juma Oginga participated in the struggle for independence in Kenya.

Professional life

While studying in America, Rosemary worked, like other immigrant students . Her jobs included housekeeping, mailroom attendant and she also worked as an intern associate. She later worked for three years at Western Union, Texas as a marketing representative for the African diaspora.

Returning home in 2007 after 10 years of study and work in the US, Rosemary founded and served as the chief executive officer of the Raila Odinga Centre (ROC), a foundation focusing on youth and education in East Africa.

Leadership

Having the fortune or misfortune of being born into a political family, Rosemary naturally engaged in politics from a very tender age. In 1990 and barely in her teens, she wrote an open letter to then President Moi asking him to release her father and other political detainees from prison. The letter was published in the then influential Society Magazine.

When her father first ran for parliament in 1992 in Langata Constituency in Nairobi, the then 14 year old Rosemary would accompany him for door-to-door campaigns in the sprawling Kibera slums. During the same time, she also attended several rallies by the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD Kenya) where her grandfather was the presidential candidate for the 1992 elections.

After returning for studies abroad in 2007 Rosemary joined her father’s presidential campaigns where she played a key role in the communications department. In 2013, Rosemary was also involved in the CORD coalition election campaigns as a member of the ‘Nairobi for Raila’ lobby group. Rosemary is a member of the International Young Leaders Association (IYLA). She attended their conference at the UN Assembly Hall in New York where she also gave a keynote address in August 2015.

She also represented her party, ODM, during the Liberal International Congress in both Belfast 2008 and Mexico in 2015. Odinga also spoke at the World Eminent Chinese Business Association in Beijing in 2015.

References

  1. ↑ Standard Digital, 18 April 2015: ’Rosemary Odinga on the good, the bad and the slimy of snail farming
  2. ↑ Daily Nation, 10 April 2016: ’Rosemary: Being Raila’s daughter
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