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While growing up in Meru county, Brenda Karimi (pictured) experienced a lot of injustices and sexual abuse even from her close relative which affected her self-esteem in life.

But thanks to her determination, Brenda is now a champion of child protection campaigns aimed at fighting against sexual abuse of girls as well as empowering front line children’s workers on creating a safe learning environment for girls.

She has founded Smart Girl Mentorship Programme, which advocates the creation of a safer world for young girls which has seen the empowerment of more than 10,000 girls across the country with life skills to break the poverty cycle, make informed decisions, and take charge of their lives.

“I was sexually abused by my close relative for a while growing up between the age of eight and 13 because I did not know it was wrong. First, because I wasn’t told, I wasn’t informed as I thought every child goes through the same. It was only after I attended a training on child rights which became an eye opener to me,” Brenda told People Daily in an interview.

Training teachers

Her initiative also includes training young girls on sexual abuse, child protection campaigns, training for care givers, training teachers on gender based teaching methodologies and reaching out to churches on how they can incorporate comprehensive sexual education in their Sunday schools.

“I’m passionate about child support because children, especially girls are suffering in silence. There are many sexual abuses which go unreported. Statistics show that in every five girls who have been sexually abused, three cases have not been reported. These are the stories I get on the ground,” said Brenda who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and certification from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.

Her tireless efforts have brought about significant changes in her community, including increased awareness of the importance of protecting young girls and the establishment of safe spaces for them to seek help. 

“My vision is to expand my organization’s reach to more regions in Africa, develop partnerships with like-minded organizations worldwide, and advance policies and legislation that support girl child education and empowerment at the national and international levels,” said Brenda.

Smart Girl Mentorship Programme is a mentorship program that reaches out to adolescent girls aged between 13-19 years to help them overcome challenges like: low self-esteem, handling sexual abuse from people closely related to them, early pregnancies among others.