STATEMENTS BY PAST FELLOWS
Annah Sidigu

My name is Annah Sidigu. I am an 18-year-old Kenyan student at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Although I have lived in the United States for most of my life, my African roots have always been a significant part of my identity. I credit this fact partly to experiences I had as a child: instances where members of my family were insulted or attacked because of our dark skin, our short, natural hair, and other predetermined and essentially African features. These experiences led me to commit myself to a life of social justice work and activism.

While I participate in a wide range of extracurricular activities, I have always felt that my foremost calling is as an activist. Beginning in August of 2002, I will be one of three facilitators for Activists United, the umbrella group for activist organizations at Kenyon. As a facilitator, my goal is not to teach people about the critical issues of our time, but rather to engage them in dialogue and conversation about these same issues. Activism is learned on many levels. As a vegan, I employ activism on a very personal level. My vegan lifestyle requires my external activism to be projected inward and vice-versa. In other to affect change, I must first be changed. My experience at SpiritHouse: The Jonathan Daniels and Samuel Younge Forum for Social Justice has been an ongoing process of transformation.

SpiritHouse is changing with the world and changing with the times. I have had the wonderful opportunity of being a part of these changes. My work on the USA Patriot Act and, more recently, the Homeland Security Act has given me a much clearer view of the world. We live in a time of great turmoil and disconnection – a time in which racism is running rampant and fascism is quick at its heels. As a young person, I worry that we are allowing the wrong people to make the changes that most affect our lives. I also worry that out of these changes will come only violence, fear, and persecution.

SpiritHouse has opened my eyes to a new vision of my world and my future as an activist and writer. Asking questions, sharing ideas, "interrogating our deepest assumptions," as Ruby Sales says, "to uncover the lies of systemic injustice,"– all of these factors are integral to the work of SpiritHouse. Now, I better understand the roots of the prejudice and hostility I experienced as an immigrant child in the United States. I will take the knowledge and skills I have learned from my experience as a Daniels and Younge Fellow to improve life not only for myself, but also for all types of people everywhere.