By Dayo Yussuf
Juma Masoud can't help but look back wistfully at the small things of life most people would take for granted, but which appeared far out of his reach.
"Even registering your child for school was a far-fetched thought. I lived like a stranger in my own home. I wasn't accepted anywhere. I could not access services," he recalls to TRT Afrika.
Juma's antecedents in Kenya supposedly date back almost two centuries, although he's been officially "stateless" for most of his life.
On July 28 this year, President William Ruto gave Juma, his family and 7,000 other Pemba settlers the one thing that mattered the most to them — recognition as one of Kenya's ethnic communities and citizenship of the East African nation.
"I am just so happy now, and overtaken by emotions at the thought that I can walk around like any other Kenyan," says Juma. "Honestly, it's a win for my grandparents and my people, who moved to Kenya almost two centuries ago."
Juma lives with his two wives and their eight children in a small compound at Mayongu, in Kilifi County of coastal Kenya. Until recently, he would fear for his children's future, especially the prospect of them living the kind of life he did growing up.
"It was like being neither here nor there," he says of the dreary past, echoing the sentiments of other members of the Pemba community.
Island of isolation
In the Swahili language, settlers who trace their ancestry to Pemba, one of the Zanzibar islands that form part of greater Tanzania, are referred to as Wapemba.
While Juma always knew where his roots were, he never considered packing up and moving to the island of his ancestors with his immediate kin.
"I probably have some family there, you never know," he tells TRT Afrika. "Unfortunately, I do not know anyone there. My grandparents moved to Kenya many years ago. My father was born in Kenya. I was born in Kenya, and my family belongs in Kenya. This is all we know."
At the ceremony in which they were formally granted citizenship, President Ruto acknowledged that the Pemba community had suffered for long without an identity.
"For many years, they have been living here without citizenship, and have gone through many difficulties because of that," he said. "From today, Wapemba will officially be known as Kenyan citizens."
Amid cheers and a sense of jubilation, Juma and others struggled to hide their tears.
"This recognition is more than just an ID or a birth certificate," he explains. "This means the Pemba community finally has full access to public services like schools, healthcare, social security, and the right to work, all of which we were long denied."
Hide-and-seek life
Until they received citizenship and the right to live with dignity, Juma and other members of the community would be in constant fear of detention and discrimination despite most of them being born and raised in Kenya.
"In 2007, I was arrested in my house. Police took me in after they found me with a fake ID," he recounts. "I was held at the police station for 15 days. Even after being released, I was required to report there once a week for almost six months. It was humiliating."
Random police raids meant that anyone over the age of 18 had to run and hide when the cops came calling. Numerous arrests and bullying made their lives unbearable.
"Sometimes, we were forced to use someone else's ID to get certain services, although that was illegal and risky. If you were found out, you would be arrested," says Juma.
Some community members resorted to registering their children as members of families with citizenship just so that they would get admission in schools. Thankfully, all that is in the past.
"Now, our kids can proudly carry their IDs and valid birth certificates bearing their names," says Juma.
Plaudits from UN
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is among those to have lauded Kenya for taking the decisive step to grant recognition to the Pemba community.
"I wish I could have been there to thank Kenya for taking yet another important step to reduce statelessness," says a message from the commissioner, Filippo Grandi, on his official Twitter handle. "A good example for other countries,” it adds.
According to the UNHCR, a stateless person is someone who isn't considered a national by any state under its laws. Some people are born stateless, while others lose their nationality due to circumstances. Ironically, the majority of stateless people live in the countries they were born, says the UN.
The UNHCR estimates that at least 10 million people across the world are still stateless, with almost a million of them in Africa.
Kenya, a country of more than 50 million people, had 44 registered communities until Wapemba became the 45th to join the group. UN data shows that the country had 18,000 stateless people since the Makonde community was granted recognition in 2016.
Other communities that were recently accepted as Kenyan citizens include Indian-origin settlers and some Somalis.
