The 24-year-old breaking gender taboos in Migori's mining pits

Lilian Kagai Mugalla, 24, works in the mining pits with the men. The Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering student at JKUAT says she feels most at home underground.

“I have found myself a visitor in a town where I was born and raised due to my brave move of getting inside the gold mining pit which does not only shock the men I work with but the women working at the mining site as well.

Most people going underground in the shafts to get the ore are men. That is their work according to the society which has made women find themselves being the majority of those at the processing stage.

This is because a long time ago, there was a taboo that women are not supposed to go to the shaft. This taboo is gradually ending and I am happy that I am part of those women proving that women do not make gold disappear as previously assumed.

However, the work here is not for the faint-hearted. It requires a lot of energy and physical protection because it is a risky affair. That is why dressing in a reflective overall suit to protect my body from shoulders to legs is not enough.

I have to be in safety boots to protect my feet, a helmet to protect my head and still have an LED headlamp tightened over a helmet that lights my way inside the dark deep gold mining shaft of Osiri Matanda mining in Migori County.

This is not an ordinary scene for most women here. Ironically, for me, this is going to be part of my lifestyle because that is what I enjoy doing.

It is a childhood dream that is gradually becoming real as I continue climbing my academic ladder. I feel lucky to be one of the few women who join a team of men in their search for gold instead of waiting for it outside.

As I study my bachelor’s degree in Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering, it is a requirement by our institution, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) that I get hands-on skills before I can graduate.

That is why, I searched for an opportunity to work at a gold mining site. For the period that I have been working with miners at the mining sites, I do find working at an artisanal gold mine more interesting.

I have met a number of mentors who are focused on artisanal gold mining and these are the professionals I look forward to working with after my graduation. As the saying goes, 'your network is your net worth.'

Interestingly, it is one of the photos that I took while working at the artisanal mining sites that won me the 2024 online photo campaign by the International Day of Women in Mining.

It was a unique photo because it had me with an ordinary battery torch which is not a professional equipment in such a working environment. Normally, we are supposed to be using headlamps but most people in the artisanal small-scale mining sector do not have it.

So by uploading that photo, I was showing the reality and the hardship that artisanal gold miners go through, contrary to how people would expect that they have gold, a valuable mineral that should make them rich and have all the professional protective gears.

I had to rally online users to vote for me but the journey did not lack obstacles as I faced cyberbullying from some people. I responded like bravely and that made me stay in the campaign till the end when the world was celebrating the International Day of Women in Mining in June, 2024.

I was excited and I lacked words when my name was mentioned in the top three of all the contestants in the photo campaign. It came with a very big surprise even though I had worked hard for it, especially by the fact that I was awarded an intermediate online course at Edumine in Canada, an award which was not stated in the call when I enrolled for the photo campaign.

 This is my first international competition award and it is a great achievement for me because knowledge is something that cannot be taken away from anyone. The photo campaign also offered me a good platform to network with other women in the mining industry.

I am usually hopeful and enthusiastic about life and my expectation after graduating is that I practice this career so that my parents will believe that I made the correct career choice.

I was a top performer in physics, Mathematics, and Geography subjects during high school and I wanted to do an engineering course. Passing the three subjects in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams helped me in choosing a mining course since I had met the cluster points.

My parents on the other hand had a problem with the course because they knew of the common engineering courses like mechanical, and electrical but not the Mining Engineering that I chose to pursue.

I had to convince them. Being good in Geography, I knew various minerals that are mined in Kenya and I mentioned a number of them.

I knew Mining Engineering was the course for me because even after high school I had volunteered to teach Physics and Mathematics in one of the schools that was still developing in my home village at the time when they didn’t have enough trained teachers. I enjoyed teaching but it was also not a career I wanted to do my entire life.

I am a go-getter and that is why besides attending my classes, I am currently a volunteer at the Centre for Sustainable Mining, Environment and Climate Change.

I applied for the opportunity.  If there were many women in the mining industry, I would not be pushing myself too much like I am doing now. I am, however, hopeful that the industry will change with time.

This is a male-dominated career, my dreams are to transform the mining sector to make it environment-friendly and conducive for artisanal gold miners.

I look forward to a future where we will have more women in the mining sector, and we will contribute positively to the industry.”

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