By Viviane Faver 

The new coronavirus is spreading into African rural areas, where the public health system creaks:  ICU units are full and turning patients away. After governments eased lockdowns, the continent registered 10,000-12,000 cases daily.

After measures were softened, Kenya recorded nearly 90,000 infections and 1,500 fatalities only in November, though experts say the real tally would be much higher due to inadequate testing and counting only in-hospital mortality. 

 In an exclusive interview, the founder of Rebirth of a Queen (a non-profit organization in Kenya that houses girls that flee forced marriages, domestic violence, and sexual harassment), Pauline Juma, says the community’s most vulnerable groups are children and women.

 

“Since the virus’s outbreak and affecting most people’s economic status, poverty is increasing, which exposes more women to violence, and teenage pregnancy is on a rapid rise. We now have children disappearing from their homes.”

According to Pauline Juma, this second phase of the virus has been more complicated. “At the beginning of the pandemic, there was fear because the virus was unknown, and the population followed the rules of care and hygiene more. However, now citizens are breaking the guidelines established by the World Health Organization (WHO). Now that schools are open, we are receiving more cases of contaminated children and teachers.”

To meet the demand of women and children asking for help, the Rebirth of a Queen increases sensitization on Gender-Based Violence, affecting the communities using social media to pass a message of hope to survivors and raise awareness on the violence against women and children.

“We run a shelter that rescues teenagers, children, and survivors of Gender-Based Violence. The shelter has 14 girls at the moment, and our purpose is to give them security from their perpetrators and provide basic needs, mental health, and economic empowerment”, explains. 

Besides, she also runs a mentoring project for teenagers, creating a platform to combat violence in the community; empowering them through education.

 

The organization does not receive government assistance. However, they are working closely with the children’s department office to ensure the safety of girls at the shelter, according to Pauline Juma.

 In violent relationships, with “providers” as the main perpetrators, the most serious difficulties for these women are financial.

“If we can create a system to support women economically, we can solve half the problems that they and these children are facing. It is one thing to be poor, and another to be vulnerable.”

Rebirth of a Queen’s future projects is to get a permanent space to build a shelter that will accommodate more than 50 girls and a school for the vulnerable in society.

Pauline Juma has a ten-year plan consisting of 47 sustainable shelters in Kenya’s 47 counties, starting in 2021. “We will be focusing on sustainable projects like agriculture, content creation, and fashion to make the running cost of the shelter and our programs sustainable”, said the founder of Rebirth of a Queen.

At the moment, the foundation is in crisis and needs to move to a larger space to accommodate all incoming refugee women and children.

For those interested in donating, the link is https://changa.page.link/d14ar