The hidden struggles and silent battles of activism
by admin on | 2025-08-02 16:06:01 Last Updated by admin on 2025-08-27 00:04:19
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In May 2025, I remember sitting in a quiet room filled with powerful women leaders, activists and survivors at the first-ever Shangazi Network Summit organized by the formidable Maria Sarungi Tsehai. The gathering brought together women from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to speak, listen, network and build a living sisterhood rooted in a shared struggle. It was meant to be a space of safety and solidarity. What came next was beyond anything we had braced ourselves for. One story stood out, reminding me that activism’s greatest sacrifices can also occur in silence. One of the most chilling moments was when Nana Mwafrika shared her story of how the Ugandan police escalated their use of force to an almost surreal level in their efforts to silence her. In April 2019, Uganda was a country gripped by fear as Yoweri Museveni’s regime had tightened its grip on power for decades and the political space was rapidly shrinking. Opposition voices were increasingly silenced through arrests, intimidation and violence. Bobi Wine, the charismatic opposition leader had been placed under house arrest heightening fears over the future of democracy. By 2019, Nana was no stranger to the streets. She had marched alongside opposition voices, called out police brutality and stood boldly for justice in public spaces. Her activism was vocal, visible and disruptive in the best sense of the word. However, the state doesn’t just target you in public. Sometimes, the state’s cruelty is not reserved for the streets, it waits for when you are alone and when no one is watching. Into this tense atmosphere stepped Nana Mwafrika, a mother and a brave citizen. Though heavily pregnant and vulnerable, she chose to engage peacefully with the state’s most feared institution, the police headquarters. As she was narrating her ordeal to us, you could hear her voice shaking. Her words came out between tears interrupted by long pauses as she fought to Read more...
