Boniface Mwangi

"We had a president, Moi, who was a dictator. He ruled the country with an iron fist, and anyone who dared question his authority was arrested, tortured, jailed or even killed. That meant that people were taught to be smart cowards, stay out of trouble. Being a coward was not an insult. Being a coward was a compliment. We used to be told that a coward goes home to his mother. What that meant: that if you stayed out of trouble youre going to stay alive. I used to question this advice, and eight years ago we had an election in Kenya, and the results were violently disputed. What followed that election was terrible violence, rape, and the killing of over 1,000 people. My work was to document the violence. As a photographer, I took thousands of images, and after two months, the two politicians came together, had a cup of tea, signed a peace agreement, and the country moved on. I was a very disturbed man because I saw the violence firsthand. I saw the killings. I saw the displacement. I met women who had been raped, and it disturbed me, but the country never spoke about it. We pretended. We all became smart cowards. We decided to stay out of trouble and not talk about it."

"And so I decided to actually start a street to show the images of the violence across the country and get people talking about it. We traveled the country and showed the images, and this was a journey that has started me to the activist path, where I decided to become silent no more, to talk about those things. ... And what is most powerful is that the images have been picked by the media and amplified across the country, across the continent."

"In spite of being arrested, beaten up, threatened, the moment I discovered my voice, that I could actually stand up for what I really believed in, Im no longer afraid. I used to be called softy, but Im no longer softy, because I discovered who I really am, as in, thats what I want to do, and theres such beauty in doing that. Theres nothing as powerful as that, knowing that Im meant to do this, because you dont get scared, you just continue living your life."

"There are two most powerful days in your life: the day youre born, and the day you discover why. That day standing up in that stadium shouting at the President, I discovered why I was truly born, that I would no longer be silent in the face of injustice."

"People back home call me a heckler, a troublemaker, an irritant, a rebel, an activist, the voice of the people. But that wasnt always me. Growing up, I had a nickname. They used to call me Softy, meaning the soft, harmless boy. Like every other human being, I avoided trouble. In my childhood, they taught me silence. Dont argue, do as youre told. In Sunday school, they taught me dont confront, dont argue, even if youre right, turn the other cheek. This was reinforced by the of the time. Kenya is a country where you are guilty until proven rich. Kenyas poor are five times more likely to be shot dead by the police who are meant to protect them than by criminals. This was reinforced by the political climate of the day."

"Where I used to stand up alone seven years ago, now I belong to a community of many people who stand up with me. I am no longer alone when I stand up to speak about these things. I belong to a group of young people who are passionate about the country, who want to bring about change, and theyre no longer afraid, and theyre no longer smart cowards. So that was my story."