NAIROBI, Kenya — Though Faith Syovata had almost lost her voice because of a cold, the students still hung on her every whispered word. With violins tucked under their chins, the 14-year-olds at Kawangware Primary School here had their bows at the ready as she pointed out notes for the song on the blackboard. Read more
MAASAI MARA, KENYA: Ever since Lucy Nabiki Takona was a young girl growing up in a village not far from the Maasai Mara game reserve in Kenya, she knew she wanted to have a career in education. Read more
Diepsloot, South Africa: Sitting in the offices of Lawyers Against Abuse (LvA), Thelma Mwale, 23, said that before she joined the organization’s Sexual Violence Workshop last spring, she did not understand much about abuse. “Before I used to judge people, like if a woman was being beaten up I was like ‘maybe she did something wrong,’” she said from Diepsloot, an area north of Johannesburg, South Africa. “I have a friend who has been abused for almost three years now [so] that is why I was so interested and I want to get her out of that abusive relationship.” Read more
ENOOSAEN, KENYA: When Kakenya Ntaiya was 12 years old, her best friend of the same age got married. Kakenya knew that she — like most of the girls in her community in southwestern Kenya — faced the same future. She was already engaged to her neighbor’s son, and it was planned that they would marry after Kakenya had finished undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM). Read more
