Samaawi Kikoi

For close to half a century, Phoebe Muga Asiyo’s name has been synonymous with women’s empowerment, leadership and social movement in Kenya. Asiyo has been a trail blazer right from the day she graduated from high school at Kamagambo, in Migori County, and Kangaru Teachers’ College in Embu County. Her childhood dream was to become a nurse but her Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church leaders and parents thought otherwise and preferred the teaching profession. In her memoirs, Phoebe Asiyo – It Is Possible, An African Woman Speaks, her decision to plunge into politics in 1979 was boosted by a nod from the influential Luo Council of Elders who deliberated on the matter for two days; and with the tacit backing of the doyen of the opposition, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who was a former Vice-President and a force to reckon with in Nyanza region politics. She married Richard Asiyo 61 years ago and was blessed with five children, two sons and three daughters. He passed away a year ago. "This is the story of my life, a journey replete with experiences that have left an indelible mark in the lives of women of this country. My experiences have been a source of immense and near devastating despair, as I encountered human triumph over different forms of diversity, or their caving into bases instincts that led to unnecessary human suffering,” says Asiyo, who is the only female member of the Luo Council of Elders.