By Mary Mwendwa
Known to many as a high crime area in the sprawling Eastlands of Nairobi, youth in Dandora have embarked on a noble mission of composing music with themes of addressing poverty and hunger.
The narrow crowded streets of Dandora phase 6, is no ordinary place, adjacent to the famous Dandora dump site, a structure decorated with art and music booming from sound monitors dot the ambiance. Youth swinging their heads and reciting lyrics in Swahili give an indication that something serious is happening. A sound technician sited on a wooden seat with a sound monitor and headphones is ready to do the recording. This is Dandora Hip Hop City project that is helping talented youth with a passion for music to further their dreams.
According to Juliani ( Julius Owino ) , a renowned Kenyan artist born and raised in Dandora who established Hip Hop City , “Food shortage is common in our community here and it is because of this problem that we are partnering with the Route to Food Initiative to deliver a message about food insecurity and systemic hunger, through music.
Richmond Atunga , an upcoming artist from Dandora started rapping music while he was a campus in 2009 at Nairobi,” I discovered my talent while in Campus and when I heard about Hip Hop City here in Dandora I thought it was a good place to nurture my talent.Here we are mentored by Juliani and we feel at home.”
Veril Akinyi , 22 a Nakuru based rapper says that she feels happy to be part of the Route to Food Project and through her music, she is able to pass a message of food security.”I know for sure many Kenyans face poverty and hunger and it is high time we addressed this issue through various platforms like music.”
Layla Liebetrau from the Route to Food Alliance says the reason the route to food has partnered with Dandora Hip Hop city, is because this is a free space where young people can share their ideas on what they think is a solution to poverty and hunger.
“ Right to food and nutrition security is depicted in Kenya,s constitution and for the longest time, the problem has not been solved. We want to ask why this problem is persistent for more than 50 years. Is it benefiting some people to have chronic hunger.”
“Food rights need to be a priority to the policy because we cannot continue blaming things like climate change for this.”
On moving forward, the route to food is in other counties to help them development programmes which will help counties see the need to be serious about food security.
“There is no silver bullet on fixing chronic food and nutrition security and solving poverty and hunger.”Liebetrau concludes.
