Award-winning Kenyan nurse is changing lives in her village

‘This is a win for Kenya, for Africa and the girls in the villages,’ Anna had said at the time.

Even as the second edition of the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award is getting underway in London (the winner will be announced on May 12, 2023) I touch base with Anna virtually, to find out how her life has changed– and how she is changing lives– after she won this major award.

Her large eyes bright and earnest, a smile playing on her lips, Anna is a picture of confidence and composure. In Atlanta, Georgia, on a fellowship sponsored by the US Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention, she is busy with her studies. ‘I miss my home and my family, but otherwise it’s okay,’ she says, cheerfully in a video interview.

Excited to detail the activities that she and her Qabale Duba Foundation have been doing over the years, particularly after winning the Aster Guardians award, the mother-of-two underscores that ‘the Aster award has been a great opportunity for me as a person and for my community work. It’s an award I received for my profession as a nurse… and it has really helped me to turn some of my dreams into reality.’

The dreams Anna is referring to include the work she has been doing to uplift the condition of women and girls in her community in Kenya.

Improving the community

The only graduate from her village, Anna has always wanted to work to improve the community. ‘I’ve had this fire within me to do something, to be somewhere, to be heard and to make a difference to the community and to the world,’ she says.

However, lack of funds was a major challenge. Not one to give up, she participated in a model competition and ploughed the prize money she won into her various projects that she started after she set up the Qabale Duba Foundation in 2014. A community-based initiative that aims to empower local communities through education and access to health services, the Foundation also educates people on harmful practices such as FGM and early marriages, she says. Anna had first-hand experience of the former and narrowly survived the latter. She has often spoken out about her ordeal of undergoing FGM and almost being forced into marriage at the age of 14.

Four years after setting up the foundation, she set up a school where children could study during mornings and adults in the evenings.

‘When I began my school in 2018, I really had no idea how it could progress,’ she says. ‘I just dared to dream.’

Dare to dream, incidentally, is the tagline and vision of her foundation.

Initially she set up a temporary structure with tin sheets that doubled as roof and walls; when more kids and adults enrolled, she set up a second similar one.

While children learn the basics of education at the school, women who joined the evening classes learnt to read and write as well as the importance of antenatal care, skilled deliveries, and sexual reproductive health.

So powerful and far-reaching was Anna’s initiative that it was recognised locally and internationally, and earned her the Waislitz Global Citizen’s Choice award of $50,000 in 2019. The prize money that accompanied the award meant she could expand her school and her initiative into other areas in the community.

With part of the money she initially built three sturdy school rooms, and employed teachers and other staff.

Then in 2022 came the Aster award which Anna says helped her set up a new school building in her remote village of Turbi where today over 235 children and adults can study in relative comfort.

Even as the school is offering education to the people, it is also setting a sustainable example of sorts in that it runs predominantly on solar energy. At the moment, the school offers education from pre-primary to Grade 4, but Anna is hoping to expand it to Grade 6 in few years once she is able to raise more funds.

Anna knows the power of education. ‘Education is what gave me the wings to soar,’ she says. ‘It helped me script my own life story and helped me reach where I am today. I want the children in my village and neighbouring villages as well as the adults to have this kind of power.’

Seeing the change that was happening, Anna set up a nursery school for juniors.

‘Now it’s a great, great school. A very nice school. A modern school. I supervised the construction from the word go. Construction was expensive as materials had to be brought from outside, but I had a dream and I was determined to see it come true,’ says the woman who has a degree in Nursing and a Master’s in Epidemiology. Her school has eight classrooms, an administration block, offices and a staffroom.

Anna’s foundation also ensures that the students and teachers are provided with lunch in the school. ‘There is also some space for teachers to relax in.’

Grabbing opportunities

The going, of course, has not been smooth. ‘My journey started just like any other girl’s– in a village school. But I think from the word go, God has been opening doors for me.’

Her deep desire to bring about change and her hard work too helped.

A topper in her studies she was the first from her family to complete primary school and go on to college– Kenya Methodist University– to pursue nursing. Although girls who excelled in academics were often mocked at in her typical patriarchal community, Anna did not allow that to hinder her passion for studies.

It also helped that she had a strong support system. ‘I was fortunate to have a mother who fought against all odds to ensure I received quality education,’ she says.

Apart from her core subjects, Anna also enrolled in several leadership and mentoring programmes before beginning to offer mentoring programmes herself. ‘I’m very passionate about my mentorship programmes,’ she say. ‘I’d gather my friends from university, especially those in leadership roles, and we’d visit nearby schools and give career and motivational talks.’

Anna would go with students pursuing different careers to encourage high school students to explore the various career options.

In the midst of it all, Anna did not miss grabbing all opportunities that came her way to ensure her voice for change could be heard louder and clearer. ‘I think it is important to make use of all the opportunities one gets,’ she believes.

And one that did come up was the Miss Marsabit County model competition. Anna participated, won the title and went on to represent her county in the nationals where she was runner up.

‘I’d never modelled before and I never really wanted to be a model,’ says the nurse-in-charge of the Emergency centre at Marsabit County hospital. ‘But at the time I realised that having a platform like that would be useful in getting my message across to people more forcefully and with greater impact.’

The wins helped; Anna spoke up on the national stage on the importance of education for women and raising awareness about unhealthy practices in the community.

‘I did not continue in that field [modelling] because my passion was leadership and community work rather than modelling,’ she says with a smile. ‘So I went back home after studies and continued with mentorship and education programs as part of my foundation.’

PAPA project

One of her more recent projects is called PAPA, short for, pads and panties. ‘A major issue in the community was that many girls lacked basic necessities like sanitary pads or proper inner wear, preventing them from attending school regularly,’ says Anna. Many students also have very poor knowledge of their bodies and its functions with the result that they are unaware of the changes that happen during puberty.

Anna has said that her experience with period shaming was what inspired her to set up PAPA. Not having received education on menstrual cycle or bodily changes herself, she was shocked when she experienced her first period and ended up staining her skirt while in school. Frustrated and embarrassed after she was shamed, she stayed away from school for a week. This incident, she says, inspired her to educate girls about their body and its functions.

Using part of the funds she received from her awards, her Foundation produces reusable period innerwear that is supplied to girls and women in the community. ‘Pads are as important to school girls as pens,’ she has said. ‘In my village, few women have access to such necessities. We try our best to provide as many hygiene products as we can to them every month. ‘The pads that we arrange to give away ensure the girls not have to miss school.’

The project benefits over 3,000 girls. ‘We also donate sanitary pads to schools, encourage menstrual hygiene management, and advocate safe motherhood,’ she says.

Anna, who was also crowned Miss Tourism Marsabit County and Miss Tourism Kenya Peace Investment, takes these roles, too, seriously. As an ambassador of peace, Anna organizes several activities to bring together the various members of the community who may be having differnces, particularly on International Peace Day in September every year. ‘I also look for opportunities where I can attract investment to my part of the world [so it can help improve the lives of people].’

No shortcut to success

Anna makes it clear that there are no shortcuts to success. ‘You have to put in a lot of hardwork to realise your dream,’ she says. ‘And you have to have dreams. And you have to wake up every day and chase those dreams. The thing is, we can have dreams but if you don’t do anything about them, they will not come true. Things will not come easily for anyone.’

Anna also believes it is important to ‘do all you can to stand out.

‘Any project you take on you need to look at how you can take it to the next level.’ She recalls how when preparing to participate for the Aster Guardians Award she was asked to submit a short video of her daily activities.

‘I did not just do an amateur video but enlisted the services of a professional videographer and photographer so I could create a video that would be the best and would make an impact.’

Support system

How does she balance the various roles of a nurse, an advocate of change, a community leader, student, mother and wife? ‘It’s not easy, but my husband is a big support. So whenever whenever I am on a mission, like going maybe for the advocacy work and stuff, he’s there ready to help me. Having a supportive family and supportive husband really helped me.’

One of her next dreams is to build a hospital.

While Anna is happy with the changes she has been able to bring about in her community what gives her greater joy is the fact that she has been able to inspire several young women to replicate the kind of work she is doing in different parts of the country.

‘Of late, I have been receiving so many messages from girls who say that they have set up a mentoring initiative in their school or are working towards educating women on hygiene and health issues. I’m so proud of them. They ask me what is your mantra and I tell them it is what is on our school logo: ‘Dare to dream’.