- Eric Ambuche was dealt a harsh card since his early life
- His father robbed the ability to school him by a stroke when Eric was very young
- He has since gone through every phase of his life the hard way, but will not give up – not on himself, nor on the chance to empower others and lead them out of debilitating situations such us the twin tragedies of poverty and Covid 19
By Eric Obwogi
By the time Eric Ambuche was counting people in the 1999 Kenya Population census, where he came face to face with the desolation and poverty of Mukuru kwa Njega’s slums, he had already grappled with the dire lack of basic necessities for decent life.
Slum fires – often deadly, disease outbreaks that often tagged along with acute water shortages, and the fear and dread that stalked the soggy, dark capillaries of alleys that one trudged through in the evenings due to reluctant power supply made living in the informal settlement indeed a dark period in his life.
Eric has since got to grips with the reality of poverty in Mukuru Kwa Njenga, one of the sprawling slums in Kenya’s capital.
Having curtailed his education at the O-level which had been a straineos height given his financially challenged background, Ambuche briefly stayed with relatives in Kahawa West and Hazina in South B. This gave him a peek into the social inequalities which characterized society, and shattered his image of a fun life sweetened by the green gardens, paved paths, and starlit nights in the fabled City in the Sun.
The toil and daily struggle for survival jolted him back to reality. But Ambuche is made of sterner material. He has to live, you see. Or give up and die, which is not an option he wanted to take. In addition, he felt the tears, sweat and near-despair had awakened a warrior who would make a difference.
Fight for everyone.
In between menial jobs he pursued short courses, again resignedly dismounting the education chariot due to financial constraints.
Ambuche felt impotent, watching the hand to mouth hopelessness that surrounded him. Painful memories of the time in Secondary School when his name was almost struck off the KCSE candidates register as a defaulter installed a mirror of himself at every nook and cranny his eyes scanned. A passion to enlighten and empower people was stirred in him.
“I started getting involved in initiatives by SMEs that exposed me to a new way of thinking and doing things,” says Ambuche.
He joined self-help groups and opened a barbershop where he formed and headed the Embakasi Barbers Association. The NGO recruited youngsters to whom beauty skills were imparted for possible employment. “Through the self-help groups we ventured into table banking, enabling us to access personal loans from Micro-Finance,” says Ambuche.
Realizing that politics and development went hand in hand and that many politicians were using the slum as a hunting ground for political mileage, Ambuche co-founded a Community Based Organization – Slums Outreach Programme in 2013, a non-political, accredited CBO and national stakeholder and partner to the country’s Independent Electrical and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
SOP’s major objective is to educate the public on Civic/Voter Education to help them make better decisions in all aspects. It is also involved in empowering the youth to participate in the electoral process in a peaceful manner as they comprise 60% of the voting population.
He has been greatly involved with State and Non-State agencies such as Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission(IEBC) National Environmental Management Authority(NEMA) Ministry of Devolution, Special Programmes, National Transport & Safety Authority (NTSA), Communications Authority Of Kenya(CAK), National Construction Authority(NCA), Kenya Economic Youth Network and Slum Child Foundation among others.
Ambuche advocates against voter apathy, encouraging more women to vie for elective positions to be an active part of change. To help reduce the daily death toll on Kenyan roads, he is an ardent Footbridge Ambassador encouraging pedestrians to utilize the myriad footbridges being erected on highways to save more lives.
He has shared and helped implement some initiatives by IEBC, NTSA and NCA that have helped improve and save the lives of millions of Kenyans. Cyber Crime, Gender Based Violence problems that have bedeviled homes in recent years, made worse by Covid – 19 are issues threatening to tear apart the nation’s social fabric and he weighs in, appealing to the government and other Non-State Actors to intervene and come to the rescue of the slum residents of Kwa Njenga by dispatching marriage counselors as well.
Eric Ambuche is among the officials enforcing the Covid-19 Health Regulations in Embakasi and is active in local leadership of the area in matters good governance and service delivery.
The Kazi mtaani band wagon in Mukuru Kwa Njenga did not pass him by as Eric helps clear the drainage along Catherine Ndereba Road and he is the local source of information – Residents here rely on him for any information from “Kwa Chifu.” He has identified 200 vulnerable families in dire need of masks, sanitizers, soap and sanitary pads in Mukuru Kwa Njenga during the covid – 19 period.
Eric Ambuche can be reached on ericambuche.50@gmail.com
