When Minnesota state Rep.-elect Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley decided to run for election, she knew it was not just her hopes that she carried, but those of an entire community.
But the new state lawmaker says the days following her electoral success have magnified for her the huge responsibility ahead – that of “turning those dreams into action.”
On Sunday, Minnesota’s Kenyan community, in conjunction with African businesses in the state, organized a gala event and invited Kenya’s ambassador to the United States to celebrate her victory. Wearing a full length African dress designed by Sarah Njoku of Sarbaka Couture based in Brooklyn Park, the Democrat described the evening as one that is of “extraordinary significance,” and that the victory was not just hers alone, but that “it belongs to all of us — the Kenyan community, the immigrant community, and everyone who believed that this historic day could become a reality.”
The evening’s formal program began with a grand entrance by state Rep.-elect Hiltsley, her husband Bart and Ambassador Kerich dancing to Trapee’s “Najivunia” as they entered to attendees seated at white-clothed tables with tall flower centerpieces. Najivunia is Swahili for “I am proud” and the song is about how the singer is proud to be a Kenyan. Guests later dined on Kenyan dishes catered by the only Kenyan restaurant in the Twin Cities, Tamu Grill and Catering. Musicians Mwanakendra, Bandasonn aka Rumba Ambassador and Fanaka Nation provided music in between speeches.
The gala drew at least 200 attendees dressed in African attire, gowns and suits and brought together the community, elected officials, sponsors and notable Africans such as Mr. Nasibu Sareva of the African Development Center and the newly minted president of the Minnesota Medical Association, Dr. Edwin Bogonko. All the leaders of Kenyan organizations in Minnesota graced the occasion and were each given a few minutes to speak. One such speaker was Ms. Veronica Rotich of Gotab Minnesota who did not mince words when she excoriated the Kenyan community for not coming to Hiltsley’s aid during the campaign when requested but instead kept asking “What is in it for me?” but were now among the loudest celebrating her electoral success.
“It is not just financially that you could have supported the campaign, there are many other ways,” Rotich said from the stage. “Huldah and I had just given birth when she started campaigning and we put our babies in strollers and went door knocking – one year from now I will come show you what Huldah has done for you once she takes office.”
The population of Kenyans in the state is estimated to be around 20,500, according to the research nonprofit, Minnesota Compass. More than 90 percent of them are under 55 years of age.
A majority of Kenyans in the United States first arrived here as international students, a tradition that dates back 64 years to a program that started bringing hundreds of African students to America for higher education, including Barack Obama Sr., President Barack Obama’s father. Known as the “John F. Kennedy and the Student Airlift,” and later referred to as “The Kennedy Airlift,” the program started in September 1960 by bringing 295 students to New York City on four separate flights, according to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. In addition to President Obama’s father, other beneficiaries included Wangari Maathai of Kenya, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. By the time of Kenya’s independence from the British in December 12, 1963 – three weeks after President Kennedy’s assassination – the program had brought 750 students from East Africa. That was also the final year of the airlift program.
The Kennedy Airlift no longer exists but it was the beginning of a trend that saw thousands of Kenyan students (including this writer) enroll in American universities in the ensuing years and decades, a majority financing their own way. In any given year, there are close to 4,000 Kenyan international students enrolled in American universities. 3,799 such Kenyan students – on a variety of student visas – were enrolled in the 2021-22 academic year, according to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.
One of those students that found his way to America in 1988 was Mr. Phillip Momanyi, Hiltsley’s father. His wife Tabitha joined him in 1992, and in 1995, their 9-year-old daughter Hiltsley and her two siblings followed.
29 years after her arrival in the United States, Hiltsley in November became the first person born in Kenya to be elected as a state legislator in the country. That in itself is a history-making achievement, but on Sunday as she looked around at the dozens of people that had come for the celebration, she told Mshale what she was still trying to wrap her head around was the fact that she was on the same ballot with Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and first Asian American nominee for president by a major party.
“The history of that one alone still leaves me in awe of this country,” Hiltsley said.
For Hiltsley and the visiting Kenyan ambassador, Sunday night’s party at the La Fontaine Event Center in Ramsey was also about the significance of the moment for Kenya.
Ambassador David Kerich who assumed his role as Kenya’s ambassador to the United States in September, was making his first visit to Minnesota. On Sunday, as he gave his congratulatory message to Hiltsley on behalf of the embassy and the government of Kenya, he pledged to nurture a strong working relationship with the new state representative. Hiltsley is scheduled to meet Kenya’s President William Ruto next week during the country’s Jamhuri Day celebration, held every December 12 to commemorate the country’s independence from British colonial rule.
“Even if you did not support her candidacy, you now have an opportunity to do so,” Kerich told the audience inside the cavernous ballroom. “It is now your win as much as it is Huldah’s,” he said, adding that it was important that everyone supports her while in office, so she can deliver for those who elected her.
As she grew older, Hiltsley developed a strong desire to serve the community that rallied so hard to help when her family had lost hope. She attended Cooper High School in a Minneapolis suburb coincidentally named New Hope, before heading to Bethel University, where she earned three bachelor’s degrees, and later an MBA. Although she went on to build a successful career as data privacy and protection professional, Hiltsley said her true passion was organizing her community to ensure that the needs of every resident were met.
