Elizabeth Marami: Kenya’s first female marine pilot
Elizabeth Marami is Kenyaโs first female marine pilot. She is only 27 years old. That still doesnโt impress you enough?
How about this, then: Women in the maritime industry account for only one or two per cent of the worldโs 1.25 million seafarers, according to the International Labour Organisation. Elizabeth is one of them.
She goes to the deep sea for 18 months at a go, often being the only woman on board container ships that only have men.
She scored A plain in KCSE exams and was awarded a scholarship to study law at the University of Nairobi, but she found such academic pursuits too ordinary. So she adjusted her mast and drifted off to Egypt to study navigation for five years.
We met at my office. Sheโs a petite ball of dynamite; super smart, confident, eloquent, funny and with a wonderful raspy voice. A sea-whispererโs voice.
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Before we even get into it, allow me to say that you are phenomenal.
Thank you! (Laughs).
First female marine pilot, did the folks at Kenya Maritime Authority at least cut a cake in your honour?
No! (Laughs). I actually, didnโt even know that I had pioneered. I didnโt know! It was only halfway through my course that someone was like, โDo you know youโre the first to do this?โ Thatโs when I was going to get my licence to go to sea. That was big, Kenya Ports Authority has about 7,000 personnel.
Iโm ignorant at what you do, tell me exactly what a marine pilot does.
What happens is when vessels come into Kenyan territorial waters, theyโre not supposed to navigate to the harbour on their own. Itโs a law. So, a Kenyan pilot goes out in small boat about 10 kilometres out into sea to meet these vessels and helps navigate them.
So once you have climbed into this visiting boat, what do you do?
I take command.
โI take command.โ I really like that.
(Laughs hard) Theyโll be expecting me because I will have been in constant communication. Once on board I will tell the captain, โWelcome to the port of Mombasa, Iโm the pilot youโve been waiting for and Iโll be navigating you through the channelโ then you start giving orders to the helmsman.
-businessdailyafrica.com
Elizabeth Marami: Kenya’s first female marine pilot.