The conference baby: Suzanne Kahi and the Beijing platform that shaped her future
Suzanne Kahi during an interview at Kasarani, Nairobi on March 1, 2025. Born in the same year as the historic women's conference in Beijing, she is living proof of its impact.
What you need to know:
- Suzanne Imbihilani Kahi, was born in 1995 - the same year as the Beijing Conference on women's rights.
- Despite growing up with strict grandparents, she excelled academically and in sports, eventually pursuing psychology at university while giving back through teaching in Nairobi's informal settlements.
- Suzanne expresses gratitude to the Beijing delegates who created opportunities for her generation, though she was unaware of their impact until recently.
She stands at a national stadium on a Saturday midmorning with a lot of contentment and excitement, embodying the spirit of what women gathered for in Beijing, China in 1995. Not even the harsh March sun that is sending thousands of girls under the temporarily erected tents to seek shades over their heads is changing her bright smile.
Suzanne Imbihilani Kahi, who was born in the same year as the historic Beijing Conference on women's rights, works with marketing agencies with different brands. However, she has no brands on her, not even a tag or a written T-Shirt that would make you spot her. Her personality is her own brand. Today, she is doing something that is so dear to her, continuing the legacy those women in Beijing fought to establish.
"Besides being work, jobs that promote girls and women projects is something that I am very passionate about because I like to see girls being empowered. As much as I am working here today, I also did bring my cousins, they are young girls in high school," she tells The Voice, echoing one of the 12 key recommendations from the Beijing Platform for Action that emphasised education and empowerment of young women.
She believes that allowing young girls like her cousins to be in platforms where they can be themselves, let go, find who they are and know other things about life without any supervision but they can still take responsibility of taking care of themselves is something that most young girls lack due to insecurity that make girls to always remain in confined spaces like homes, schools and religious buildings. This freedom of movement and personal safety was a critical concern raised by women delegates at the 1995 Beijing Conference.
Growing up in Kenya's Western region with her grandparents, the Lugulu Girls' High School alumni says to have had the best mentorship that most girls her age had no privileges of. For instance, her grandmother whom she describes as very strict, straightforward but also a Godly woman, made sure that she focused on her education even during school holidays. That made her miss the other part of her life like hanging out with her peers.
"In the millennial parenting's kind of style, it was very hard for our parents to empower us. Seeing a teenage girls' only platforms today where parents can trust organisations like Sky Girls, take their girls and leave them for a whole day to have fun is something that was not there during my early childhood," she reflects, unknowingly highlighting the progressive implementation of the Beijing Declaration's focus on creating safe spaces for girls.
The fruits of her strict grandparents that demanded that she remained focused on her studies bore fruits when she passed her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations and joined Moi Girls High School Nangina in Busia County. This is one of the national schools in the country that most young girls desire to attain marks that would grant their admission to - a direct benefit of educational reforms that gained momentum after the Beijing Conference's push for equal access to quality education.
"Going to a boarding school in class four was a shift because I started my kindergarten education in Nairobi but I had to adjust to being by myself. The weird story is that I ended up liking boarding school a lot. It taught me independence, how to handle my finances, speak for myself because parents were not there to see my every move, monitor what I am doing, or who I am hanging out with. So, it was up to me to learn through the mistakes, or successes I have and to find my wings there."
Sports activities
Suzanne is not only an excellent academic performer, she equally enjoys arts, music and dance. Her badminton and tennis talents made her an outstanding young school girl and so, she had privileges of participating in sports activities under the guidance of her teachers. She says, such opportunities made her famous and every teacher always had their eyes on her. That offered her protection and motivated her to remain focused in all that she was doing - exemplifying the Beijing Platform's emphasis on holistic development of girls beyond academics.
"I ended up being entertainment prefect, and head of the festivals team. During that time the principal was such a girls' girl for lack of a better word. She told us that we have to be women of substance but being women of substance is not only in the studying bit, you also have to do other co-curriculum activities because you have to bring more to the table as an individual, by doing things you are passionate about and would love."
She also acknowledges the importance of having a mother figure in the life of any young girl, recalling how the Beijing Conference highlighted the role of intergenerational mentorship in advancing gender equality.
"My mom is such an angel; she would come visit me and try to catch up. She was really present as much as I didn't stay with her, she was still there for me and would still ask how I was doing. She is a church girl, and still present in my life."
Suzzane says that while in school, she liked studying. Her favourite subjects were chemistry, mathematics, and languages - fields where the Beijing Conference specifically called for increased female participation. By also being a sports enthusiast, she mastered the art of following her school timetable, something that enabled her to excel in both areas.
"That has translated to who I am as a person today because no matter what task I do, whether studies, work or being with my family, I always give my all. I am always present in the moment to make sure that I am there and deliver."
Participating in sports opened her world not only to the country's diverse culture but also the continent's. Suzzane, the only child to her parents, says besides all the trophies that she left in her school, her stars continued to shine when she joined United States of International University (USIU) Africa where she pursued a career in Psychology, a field that addresses another Beijing priority area: mental health support for women and girls.
"I have awards from the university where I prospered with my community service. I chose to be a teacher of Mathematics, English and Dictation in a school in Mathare, an informal settlement in Nairobi. I chose the school because I love giving back, and going to that school was part of me giving back. I am passionate about children and I love children. I went there and prospered because I made all my hours and even extended beyond and I was awarded for that," she explains, unknowingly implementing the Beijing action point on community service and volunteerism.
The most interesting part about Suzzane is that she was born in 1995, the year when a group of African women gathered in Beijing China to present issues that hindered gender equality. Education that Suzzane has excelled in is one of the 12 recommendations that majority of girls who had been born before the same year were denied. While she was not aware of the Beijing affairs when she celebrated her birthday last month, she has a message.
"I am so green in my 30, I just celebrated my birthday in February. To the women that went to Beijing, thank you that you pushed on, through the limits that you have and through whatever resources that you had back then, and made sure that you are going to benchmark for the rest of us women who did not know better and now we know better. Thank you very much."
As the world marked this year's International Women's Day, Suzzane appreciates the theme, "Accelerate Action" - a call that resonates deeply with the Beijing Declaration's push for concrete implementation rather than just policy. She believes that every woman regardless of their age needs to embrace beyond the day to ensure gender equality especially in accessing quality education.
"On my graduation day, I ended up being very grateful for the opportunity to study, to not have to think about where food or money is coming from. Literally, I was told that it was not my problem to worry about school fees or food. I was never sent away and with that privilege I just hope that in the future, education can always be free and accessible for everyone to better themselves because you get to learn so many other things by being a student. It is like the grounding that you need to be able to prosper in the world," she concludes, embodying the living legacy of the Beijing Platform for Action that envisioned girls like her thriving across Africa and beyond.