Keeping the girl-child dream alive

Grace Okong'o   Photo:  The Standard

If you thought Kenya has made progress in women empowerment, think again. This is still a mirage and the journey has just began as GRACE OKONG’O shares with  BRIGID CHEMWENO.

She describes her journey to women empowerment as a long one filled with turns and twists, triumphs, drama and trauma.

But for Dr Grace Okong’o, a lecturer at Kenyatta University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, every corner was worth the turn.

Her passion on gender matters and to empower the girl-child has earned her a place among many other women who have gone through harrowing experience in the fight against women oppression.

TUMULTUOUS JOURNEY

Grace’s quest to give the girl-child a voice started when she was still young. Hailing from a humble family, it has been a tumultuous journey that at some point she almost gave up.

“It has not been an easy escapade, financial constraints was a major challenge but God helped me through,” she says.

Grace grew up at Chindwani Village in Kisii County, and like any rural girl, she was raised up with few basic needs. Her humble background inspired her to make a difference in the lives of poor, vulnerable and marginalised women and girls in the region.

Grace says her chase for emancipation started within her own home where men were more valued than women.  And even though she wasn’t very vocal about it, she felt the need to work hard and excel more than her brothers.

“In Kisii, though things have changed a bit now, women were treated as lesser beings, our work was to fetch water and firewood and if your parents didn’t care much about education, you would never get a chance to go to school,” she recalls.

Grace says her effort to outshine her brothers in school compelled her parents to see her through high school.

 “I didn’t mind helping my parents to sell onions during weekends and holidays to give them all the reasons why I deserved to be in school,” she says.

CHALLENGES

Many challenges notwithstanding, Grace completed high school and got a chance to join Kenyatta University where her career in gender studies took shape.

She says her dreams were almost shattered during her final year in university when she delivered her firstborn.

“I wasn’t prepared to raise a baby, my final exams were approaching but I had to fight on,” she says.

Despite giving birth two days to the exams, grace says that didn’t stand in her way to getting a first class honours, which earned her a scholarship in the United States.

 “Family members at first, opposed the idea but I was determined to pursue my dream,” she says.

Armed with a suit case and a lofty dream to jet back more empowered, Grace left for the US. However, more challenges waited ahead. She says at one point, she was homeless and almost flew back but remembering what her fellow women were going through back at home, she sojourned on until she accomplished what she had gone for.

“I would give up at times but there is no way I was going to abandon my dream halfway,” she says.

Grace is the founder and director of Foundation for African Women (FAW). Apart from empowering women economically, the organisation has been in the forefront in the fight against Female Genital Mutilation and providing counselling services to domestic violence victims.

The organisation also teaches women on their political and civil rights as well as providing channels to raise their grievances.

 “FAW has empowered vulnerable rural women to reach their potential, focus on economic empowerment, increase women’s political participation and encourage them to engage in the restructuring of their own communities,” she says.

EMPOWERMENT

Grace says women empowerment is still a mirage as marginalised regions are yet to feel the impact of such programmes.

“We cannot talk of women empowerment if a woman somewhere in Samburu cannot say no to an early marriage and we cannot do it alone without the Government’s help,” she says.

Grace’s cap has many feathers.  She has won several awards locally and internationally. Her latest is the Angel award from the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community (IDVAAC) for working and promoting safety of women and children from gender based violence.