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Born and raised in Kibra, the largest urban slum in Africa and home to the marginalized Nubian community in Kenya, I have grown up witnessing inter-ethnical war from the age of 11 in addition to experiencing post-election violence after every general election in Kenya, where sadly youth are used as tools for political violence and women and children dealing with the aftermath of violence.

These past experiences and coupling it with Struggling with grief after the death of my father, I founded Nivishe Foundation which is a women and youth led organization whose main objective is to create mental health awareness and break the stigma against mental illnesses, targeting women, youth and children from vulnerable informal settlements and marginalized communities, many of whom are victims of violence. Nivishe focuses on building resilience with community based mental health interventions and trauma informed programs to enhance cohesion with the inter-sectionality of Global health and community health.

This community-based approach has impacted over 4,000 women and over 10,000 youths since 2019 with programs providing training, workshops, counseling services and creating safe spaces. This includes Mental Health clubs that involves forming partnerships with schools to work with teachers, pupils and parents to provide a holistic intervention. This has led to a 40% reduction in violence and increase in those seeking mental health services at grassroots level. As an all-inclusive organization, Nivishe offers psycho-social disability programs including mental health services through sign language, serving 200 individuals with hearing impairments since it launched. In 2019, Nivishe was awarded a grant by the Youth Engagement Society.

Additionally, understanding the power of conversations for social changes and focusing on mental health awareness and advocacy at the grassroots level, through Nivishe Foundation I partnered with PAMOJA FM, a local radio station in Kibra, to educate, inform, and engage community members on mental health  and other societal issues, using simple, understandable local language as part of our community-based mental health approach. The radio program commenced in March 2020 when COVID-19 started, and until now it has garnered a listenership of over 300,000 Kibra residents tuning in weekly, with 40% of our listeners reaching out for further mental health services. Through this, we hope to create more conversation about policy making at the grassroots levels.

In 2021, I had the privilege of being a panelist and a guest speaker at numerous local and global platforms. Being invited as a speaker at a convention by the African Union, UN Women, and Oxfam to talk on Women Peace Builders and Human Rights Defenders on Psycho-social Support and Mental Well-being of Human Rights Defenders was one of my highlights since I was able to articulate how inequality and inequity in socioeconomic aspects were affecting women rights defenders to the extent of affecting their mental health. Speaking as the youngest speaker at the 2021 Africa Business Conference organized by the John Hopkins Carey Business School on empowering the Next Generation of African Leaders to Foster Economic Development under-youth, leadership, employment, entrepreneurship, and development was also a highlight for me.

There is statistical evidence showing how youth from marginalized areas are at risk of being radicalized to join militia groups due to economic deprivation, lack of community role models to look up to, and lack of equal opportunities and resources. Through this rationale, I partnered with the Chief Administrative Officer of Youth and ICT in Kenya to start a fellowship for community leaders on being community-based mental health champions. The first cohort call for applications had 800 submissions, showing the need for such an initiative. After five years of being in the fellowship, I hope to see the initiative grow to the whole of East and Central Africa Region and the African youth will be the frontiers in bridging the inequity gap through mental health. Through my experience in a fellow and running fellowship programs I have learned how to intersect local and global themes which I hope to bring to the program.