I help college students stay safe while dating

Sandra Atieno, 23, seized the three months lecturer’s strike at Egerton University to actualise her long-held dream of tackling gender-based violence.

She established a foundation named Crown with Care which, in its three months of existence, has achieved admirable feats. 

Sandra is a final year student studying a Bachelor of Arts in gender and development studies at Egerton University. She has been the gender representative at the university's student congress. 

"When I joined campus to study gender, my understanding of the course was very scanty. But with time, I've learnt that a lot contributes to this violence and mental stress. That's what I work with the youth to make the world more habitable," she says of her passion for addressing gender violence and mental health issues.

Sandra says that gender-based violence is rampant on campuses, and unfortunately, it is not much talked about. Her friends have had a fair share of it, a factor that jolted her into action she says.

"I have seen my friends and college students suffer in the name of love. This thing called love is messing up people's lives and the world is quiet," she said.

"Recently, for instance, a female friend was beaten by her boyfriend. The boyfriend's friends encouraged him to 'discipline' the girl. I talked to the girl to get out of the relationship but a few days after the fight, the girl went back," she adds.

It is such cases, Sandra believes, that make young people at the university sink into the abyss of stress, and even lead to suicide cases. She says that cases of sexual harassment between lecturers and students are there, albeit hardly noticed.

"I don't know why intelligent young people are afraid of being single. Relationships among the youth are so valued that people choose violence," she said.

To address this issue holistically, she has designed the Crown with Care Foundation to be anchored on mentorship, geared toward the young.

"Through the foundation, I want to help young people to get their crowns, that way they can benefit themselves and society. After that, we help them get through the barriers which might be preventing them from achieving their potential like GBV and stress," she says.

Sandra reveals that cases of gender abuse are very common on campus and her foundation has had to handle a lot of them. However, because of the lack of legal experts within the foundation, she reports the cases to legal offices for further action. 

She says that men and women are victims of gender-based violence and mental stress, though men rarely report abuse as much as women do.

"In my short time of heralding the Foundation, I have received so many cases of women, and only one from a man," she asserts.

She says that sometimes the job’s pressure gets too much, and when she and other members of the foundation can't handle the issues adequately, she turns to her lecturers for help. Dr. Masinde Griphase, a lecturer of gender studies and development, has been the most supportive, she says.

"When she forwards a case to us, we investigate. If they are legal, we forward them to the legal authorities but if they are not too complex, we solve them amicably within ourselves," Dr. Masinde notes.

He added that the university has a department, the Institute of Women, Gender, and Development studies, that deals with gender issues that arise among students and staff.

"We the lecturers also help in following up on the arbitrated GBV issues to make sure that they don't resurface," the lecturer states.

Sandra says that retrogressive cultural practices and a wrong understanding of gender rights are the leading causes of gender violence cases.

"Some communities still practice cultures such as wife inheritance, forced marriages, female genital mutilation, and others, which put young women, at a disadvantage," Sandra says.

"Some women also ride on the wave of gender equality to harass and abuse men," she notes.

Dr. Masinde says that Egerton University recently reviewed its gender policy, which has been in place since 2011, though its implementation has been irregular. He is in charge of the sensitisation program ahead of a fresh implementation of the policy in the university and the surrounding community.

"Our model is geared toward creating a chain of impacts, where we mentor and influence one person and they, in turn, do the same for others. So far this model has worked, and we hope to streamline it as we progress," Sandra says.

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