On Matheraka Day in June 2024, we gathered at Karura Forest to honour women whose courage and hard-won wisdom have informed. Their challenges and choices created what our generation was building that would still matter sixty years later.
Explore the journey ↓
At Matheraka Day 2024: Women gathering in a new chapterConvened through a collaboration between Lapid Leaders Africa and Tropical Earth, the visits connected personal day struggles with the people and movements that had expanded what was possible.
Leadership under pressure
Recovering the stories of a future
Honour becomes a challenge
At Matheraka Day 2024: Women in conversationThe women of Mathare showed the responsibility of acting where systems might fail: more resilience and more pressure.
At Matheraka Day 2024: Shared experiencePoetry, song and personal stories brought younger generations into conversation with Kenya’s history of courage and resistance.
At Karura Forest, 2024We were not honoured for what had come before, but for what our generation could build from the lessons they made possible.
The encounters brought generations into conversation—sharing experience, questioning inherited narratives and asking what each of us would carry forward.
The recognition journeys connected the vital legacies represented in their lives. Each offered a different account of what it means to build something that endures.
At Matheraka Day · People who shaped usNjeri brought the continuing legacy of Wangari Maathai into the gathering. We recognised a conviction that connected environmental protection, women’s participation and public accountability.
Read Njeri’s story →
At Matheraka Day · People who shaped usWe honoured Brigadier Ann Njoki for her contribution to Kenya’s liberation struggle and the experience she carried on behalf of women veterans.
Read Ann’s story →At Matheraka Day · People who shaped usFrom education to civic organising and economic justice, Mama Wahu’s work has connected people’s everyday lives with the systems shaping them.
Read Mama Wahu’s story →At Matheraka Day · People who shaped usJael challenged barriers to women’s participation through education, politics and community. Women and older institutional service kept open the conditions of a woman’s future.
Read Jael’s story →The women at Karura asked us to look beyond the celebration and consider the contribution our generation would leave.
For Esther and the Lapid community, this became a continuing inquiry: what do we leave behind that people will recognise they need, and what might become possible if the future can work for them?
Gratitude for what we inherited.
Responsibility for what comes next.
Women came together and a question was asked: what our generation could build that would last.
Held at Sarova Panafric, the awards became an evening where purpose and progress in communities were celebrated.
The dialogue continues for women to recognise their collective influence, learn across experience and build what still matters.
Under the Baobab, the conversations continue around building what will stand and last.
My mindset shifted from ‘Why was I not taught this’ to ‘How can I learn and teach them’
I hope that this will encourage many young women to step into their power as they navigate through their hopes and dreams.
I feel like I was released into a new identity, entering a space of boldness and owning who I am fully.
Women of Purpose carries this founding challenge forward: bringing women together to develop new frameworks, strengthen institutions and shape opportunities for the next generation.
Explore Women of Purpose →Moments of celebration, conversation and connection from the gathering on 1 June 2024.
Celebrating together · Karura · 1 June 2024
Convened by Lapid Leaders Africa and Tropical Earth, with community and cultural hosts, elders, organisers and participants.
Collaboration for Grassroots Human Rights Defenders
Umande Library
Mageuzi Hub
Ngara Women
Team at The Tote 2, our senior women
With thanks to Mary Wangari Kiruka, who hosted the 2024 gathering in Kenya on 2 June 2024.
