'I couldn’t find a safe house when I needed it, now I run one'
Florence Keya, the founder of Maisha Girls Safe House in Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- 'Being a bright student, I could not just sit back and watch my fears turning into my reality. Instead, I resolved to do something about it.'
- 'That day when I walked into that office trying to get a bursary to pay my school fees was the day my life changed forever.'
Florence Keya is the founder of Maisha Girls Safe House. She has a big heart for girls and knows all too well the expense of poverty and the agony of being a sexual and gender Based Violence (SGBV) survivor. She told Nation.Africa her story:
"Many years have passed since I was sexually abused, but the events are still fresh in my mind. Whenever I watch television and see stories of young girls who have been sexually assaulted, my wounds reopen.
"I was a girl, and, like my age mates who had completed class eight, I yearned to further my studies. However, coming from a humble background, my dreams were beginning to fade right in front of me. Being a bright student, I could not just sit back and watch my fears turning into my reality. Instead, I resolved to do something about it. That day when I walked into that office trying to get a bursary to pay my school fees was the day my life changed forever.
"I entered the office a young, bubbly 16-year-old but left shattered. What was more devastating was the search for justice. Even before I had decided to report the assault, many people discouraged me that the perpetrator, being a person in power, would easily get away with it. And sadly, they were right. They also said that by choosing to report, I was putting my life and theirs in danger.
"Despite all that, with my foster mother in tow, we walked to a police station. This was a few days after the traumatic ordeal. I had been feeling stressed out and my mother, noticing my state, compelled me to reveal to her the truth behind what had happened. She then took me to seek medication and later on to report.
Threats
"When we got to the police station, hell broke loose. Many people had come to the station to just see what would happen. My mother and I were terrified and were forced to sleep at the station because home was no longer safe. Afterwards, we moved around in fear because of the threats. The case did not go anywhere.
"Life was never the same again. I lived in fear, hatred and a lot of anger. I started my healing journey on my own but felt like everyone had let me down at that moment.
"Miraculously, I managed to go through secondary school, and got a scholarship for higher education. I pursued a course in psychology. Armed with the knowledge in 2014, I decided to advocate the rights and safety of abused girls.
"I turned my house into a shelter and that is how I began doing what I am doing – rescuing girls who have gone through sexual abuse and making sure they get an education as a weapon to face life and give them a voice.
"Walking this journey has been difficult. Every day, I get calls from various referral agencies looking for spaces for girls and it is extremely heartbreaking. In the corridors of various law courts, I have become well known as the SGBV woman but it is a road I choose to take for each of these girls because I understand how lonely the quest for justice can get.
"The man who violated me may be long dead after getting involved in a car crash, but the scars remain with me. And even though these painful memories may remain with me for the rest of my life, I refuse to be a victim. Instead, I am a survivor taking charge of my life and making a difference for one girl at a time. Sexual abuse is the worst crime that can happen to a human being. The survivors may look healthy and happy outside, but inside, they carry a scar that never heals.
"Currently, I mother 50 girls and their 10 children born as a result of defilement.
"My prayer, however, is that one day we can completely slay this demon of sexual and gender-based violence."
