By Nyang’au Araka
SEVERAL activities have been lined up in Nairobi, Kisii and Nyamira as Minnesota State Representative elect Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley visits her motherland soon.
The activities include a meeting at Daystar University on 10th December.
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The event has been organized by Breaking the Glass Ceiling Network.
Momayi is expected to deliver a speech in the event, whose theme is ‘breaking barriers, building futures.’
In her home county of Nyamira, there will be celebrations at Nyambaria High School grounds- not far from her ancestral home- on 13th December.
Governor Amos Nyaribo will play host and several residents and visitors are expected to attend the celebrations.
There will also be dinner, organized by women leaders from the larger Gusii region at a Kisii hotel, among many other activities in Momanyi’s itinerary that has only been disclosed in part.
Momanyi admits that when she decided to run for election, she knew it was not just her hopes that she carried, but those of an entire community.
But the new state lawmaker says the days following her electoral success have magnified for her the huge responsibility ahead – that of “turning those dreams into action.
Over the Minnesota’s Kenyan community, in conjunction with African businesses in the state, organized a gala event and invited Kenya’s ambassador to the United States to celebrate her victory.
Wearing a full length African dress designed by Sarah Njoku of Sarbaka Couture based in Brooklyn Park, the Democrat described the evening as one that is of “extraordinary significance.”
She noted that the victory was not just hers alone, but that “it belongs to all of us — the Kenyan community, the immigrant community, and everyone who believed that this historic day could become a reality.”
Mishale, an online news site reported that about 200 people attended the event and a number were given a chance to speak.
Veronica Rotich of Gotab Minnesota who did not mince words when she excoriated the Kenyan community for not coming to Hiltsley’s aid during the campaign when requested but instead kept asking “What is in it for me?” but were now among the loudest celebrating her electoral success.
-Part of this story was first published by mshale.com
