Umra: It could have been because of the early years raised by my matriarch of a grandmother in a dusty village off the northern coast of Kenya. Perhaps it was due to inhaling the gentle air of very grounded parents to whom education is a non-negotiable. Or is it the United World College education that erases all human constructed boundaries in the name of social justice. Or simply just being a mother.
To this date, I am not quite sure of where the thirst for change in my world comes from but one thing that I do know with certainty is that “I am because we are”.
Safari Doctors started because while visiting home, after a decade of living overseas, I connected to human suffering juxtaposed to the endless possibilities of hope, and I saw myself as a piece of this puzzle. This initiative started because in every brightly clad mother, I saw the same dreams that I wanted for my two children Bwana and Azza – health and playful happiness. So if we could travel every month to remote corners of my motherland to advance immunisations, get family planning options available to women, build playgrounds for the human balls of energy, host football tournaments for disenfranchised youth, and whatever else that we could – then why not. My purpose finally found me.