Irene Renee Okech: 'Nurtured to lead'

Growing up in middle class Westlands area in Nairobi, Irene Renee Okech was always a brilliant, all-rounded student. She attended Westlands Priymary School and Moi Girls High School, Eldoret. “I was blessed to grow up in a home with loving, nurturing parents. I did everything, basically. I swam, I ran, I was active in drama, dance and choir, and I represented my schools in several competitions across the country,” says Irene.

But the one thing that impacted Irene, in the midst of her comfortable upbringing, were the sad and tragic stories their mother often told them about poor women and children she treated at her place of work. “In her earlier days, my mother worked as for Government hospitals and humanitarian organisations as a midwife and a registered nurse. Every time she came home, she would tell us stories about the suffering of women who could not access healthcare...the challenges expectant mothers in refugee camps faced.”