In April 2021, I had the privilege to visit the Shalom Center for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation and was honored to interview Judith Akedi, the program officer in charge of the Nairobi project at Shalom Center. Akedi joined Shalom Center nine years ago after graduating from Hekima University. She has been working in urban slums such as Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, Kariobangi, and Mathare and now she is working on a new project in Riruta Nairobi.
Shalom has been at the forefront of promoting peace and conflict resolution in Kenya and the neighboring countries in the horn of Africa.
The new project in Riruta aims at designing peace models to prevent and resolve conflicts. It is also going to address the human rights protection of women and children.
This is going to be achieved through social empowerment by people on the ground who act as contact persons through sensitization programs that do not just target women but men as well.
The program at Mary and Joseph Life Center located at St. Josphat house on the outskirts of Nairobi will focus on dealing with crisis pregnancies, in slums where there is a high level of violence against women ranging from physical to emotional violence. The project also aims to capacity build the caregivers and the police among others.
Women living in Nairobi slums continue to suffer domestic violence the most. According to the survey by Trends and Insights for Africa (Tifa) released in 2020, women are the majority victims of domestic violence at 52 % followed by men at 37% and children at 36 %.
The survey covered Huruma, Kibra, Mathare, Korogocho, Mukuru kwa Njenga, and Kawangware slums and found that about 46 % of children were found to have suffered both physical and verbal violence, followed by physical violence at 28 % and verbal violence at 21 %.
Plan International Kenya a child rights agency, also released some statistics, in April 2020 on GBV during this Covid-19 period that indicated at least 45 % of women and 44 % of men aged 15 to 49 had been physically assaulted while 14 % of women have experienced sexual violence.
Shalom-SCCRR was founded in 2009 by Rev. Dr. Patrick Devine, SMA, presently the International Chairman, a social entrepreneur, and missionary with over 30 years of experience working to transform conflict and poverty in Africa. It is strictly a non-sectarian and inter-religious organization, registered in Kenya and closely aligned with civil society organizations. There is a highly qualified board from peace, development, religious, finance, and economic backgrounds, who oversee with exemplary professionalism, project implementation, and financial administration. Fr. Oliver Noonan, MA (Ph.D. Candidate), assists as an executive director on the board.
By Dominic Wabwireh, SMA
