Kenya: Celebrating Modern Day Heroes

20 October 2014
analysis

For a long time, we have been associating heroes with political personalities. However when you look around, there are a number of people who seek to help the community at large. In their own little ways, they have been able to change people's mindsets on various issues, giving voice to the minorities as well as creating awareness on different issues affecting them. Some of the people who have been changing one space at a time include:

Fanis Lisiagali, also known as Mama J-Card, the executive director and founder of Healthcare Assistance Kenya. With the increased awareness on gender-based violence, she created a hotline- 1195- to provide interactive information as well as counselling services to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) survivors throughout the country. The hotline is run by a group of volunteer tele-counsellors and receives dozens of calls a day. The same can be said of Phyllis Mbeke, who is helping young girls and women in matters of sexual and reproductive health in Dandora. She was concern with the rate at which gang rape is happening in that neighbourhood and the casualness at which the girls and the community at large view this crime. She works with Fortress of Hope Africa, which is based in Dandora, which has introduced sexual and gender based violence into the curriculum to raise awareness on different issues.

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