Essence USA – August 2019

have used social media to grow

their following. Rono suggests

that the number of people looking

to these avenues to promote and

create revenue for themselves will

continue to rise. “The population

is growing—or at least the people

who require gainful employment

within the country is growing—

faster than they’re able to gener-

ate jobs,” Rono points out. “So a

lot of these people are opting for

self-employment, and they look for

things that they can easily do with

minimal capital and then see where

it leads them. They start with small

pieces, and maybe a few friends

will buy clothes that they design or

sew. And then from there, depend-

ing on whose eye they catch, the

business grows.”

Enterprise creation within Kibera

is booming. But entrepreneurs with

a heart for its people are also sourc-

ing talent from inside the impover-

ished area to grow culturally relevant

brands outside of the Kenyan mar-

ket. California-based designer Yema

Khalif is a product of the slum settle-

ment. He’s chosen to sow into the

community by tapping local artisans

to create handcrafted footwear for

his yemacalif.com retail store.

Twenty percent of the proceeds

from his online sales goes toward

scholarships for orphaned children

in both Kibera and his wife’s coun-

try of Ethiopia. It is this act of giving

that landed Khalif where he is to-

day. Though the burgeoning busi-

nessman was forced to leave high

school due to financial instability,

a scholarship to attend college in

the United States put him on a path

to greater success. Now the San

Francisco Bay Area resident travels

home regularly to participate in the

fashion scene that he continues to

help advance.

“There is an organization that

I’m involved in that puts on fash-

ion shows in Kibera every year,”

Khalif discloses. “It’s just a reason

for the people of Kibera to laugh

and to appreciate the beauty that

is there. It also allows them to see

that they can become models,

that they can become actors, that

they can become whatever they

want to be.”

In spite of the circumstances

surrounding the people of Nairobi’s

neglected neighborhood, hope,

dressed in broad strokes of color,

provides the innovators, the story-

tellers, the culture shifters, an op-

portunity to see the beauty within

the bustle. It moves Otieno to create

masterpieces amid the mud. It gives

Khalif a reason to fight for the chil-

dren of Kibera’s future. It prompts

Ochieng to get out his sewing ma-

chine and continue designing.

“I’m showing the world that we

do this here,” Ochieng says with

conviction. “Despite not having

the expensive things to wear, we

find a way to do what we can to

express ourselves to the world.

Kibera is a home of talent; it’s a

home of art. And, yeah, it’s a cen-

ter for fashion.” º

Sporty styles

fit for royalty

are a specialty

for the Bay

Area–based

brand.

Yema shoes are

handcrafted by

artisans in Kibera.

Yema Khalif

makes

annual

trips to his

hometown

of Kibera.

Yema

draws

inspira-

tion from

Kenyan and

Ethiopian

cultures.

Yema Khalif uses his Yema clothing brand as

a means to raise money for the area’s

disadvantaged youth and provide educational

opportunities for orphaned students.

Fashion for Good

David Ochieng

designs looks

for a grow-

ing number of

global acts.

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ESSENCE.COM I 139 I SEPTEMBER 2019