On the 27^th of Apr 2019 at Soko Huru, a group of peer educators working for PEMA Kenya under an ongoing Red Cross Project, were resting and engaged in discussion at the Learning Site. As peer educators their main role is to reach out to their peers with information and refer them to facilities to enable access to health services. Geographically, the area has two levels of reef. The Upper side is bushy and the lower level that is directly on the shoreline. On the upper side there were around 6 peers and on the lower side there were about three.

A verbal confrontation ensued between Philip Okoth, a peer educator and Washington Mike, a homeless goon. During the confrontation, Washington threatened to inform the police that the group was in possession of illegal weapons and departed from the scene.

At about 6pm on the same day, Philip Okoth and Jaffar saw two plain clothes policemen approaching them from the lower side. On the upper side, the peers were also ambushed by Plain clothes Police firing shots in the air. In a flurry of anxiety, Philip Okoth jumped into the sea in a bid to escape the raid. The policemen fired into the water and stayed around to confirm if he has surfaced. After 30 minutes, the police left the scene with peers they captured and questioned. Some were released immediately and others were detained for later release. The raid was conducted by the police in search of the alleged illegal weapons.

A couple of days later, Philip Okoth still had not resurfaced. A small search was conducted to ascertain his whereabouts through family and friends but all was in vain. To date, the whereabouts of Philip Okoth is still unknown. Consequently, a report has been made at Likoni Police Station OB No. 50/29/4/2019 on 29^th APR 2019 as a missing person case.

For any information on Philip Okoth’s disappearance, contact us on;

PEMA Kenya Office Phone number: +254 (0) 713 681 341
FACEBOOK PAGE: PEMA-Kenya,FACEBOOK ACCOUNT: Pema Ke Nya

TWITTER:@pemakenya  INSTAGRAM:@pemakenya

Palladium and PEMA-K are seeking the services of an external consultant to lead the evaluation exercise, using sound methodologies to determine the extent to which the outputs and intended outcomes of the project were achieved.

For more information and to apply click here;

In partnership with

For more information follow us on;

FACEBOOK PAGE: PEMA-Kenya,FACEBOOK ACCOUNT: Pema Ke Nya

TWITTER:@pemakenya  INSTAGRAM:@pemakenya

PEMA Kenya invites tenders from reputable consulting firms for the provision of external audit services for the financial year 2018/2019.

• The Need, Objectives and Scope of The Audit
• The required service of external audit will be rendered at PEMA Kenya’s offices as situated in Nyali.

The objective is to audit the Financial report for the period 1^st June 2018- 31st May 2019 and to express an audit opinion according to ISA 800/805 on whether the financial report represent a true and fair view.

For more information and to apply click here;

Contact us on;

FACEBOOK PAGE: PEMA-Kenya,FACEBOOK ACCOUNT: Pema Ke Nya

TWITTER:@pemakenya  INSTAGRAM:@pemakenya

Dear PEMA members,

On 11-15 March 2019, Positive Vibes in collaboration with PEMA and Nyarwek was successful in training a team of 15 community members on Looking In Looking Out Counseling (LILO counseling). The participants comprised of Nyarwek and PEMA LGBTI individuals. This was after an intensive interview process that emerged 8 successful candidates for the counseling workshop.

I urge all of us to congratulate and to make good use of the 7 successful LILO counselors that we currently have within our membership. They include:

1. Faith Blessings
2. Recheal Okello
3. Cici Chikololo
4. Lydia Atemba
5. Melvin Ogaga
6. Nelly Samz
7. Jacqueline Wanyonyi

Please feel free to approach any of the individuals mentioned above for basic counselling services free of charge.

It is worth noting that in this trying era that comes with societal challenges facing our communities, building our resilience is important but having someone to talk to heals our hidden wounds.

PEMA Kenya congratulates the newly graduands of LILO counselors.

For more information contact us on:

email: Info@pemakenya.org
FACEBOOK PAGE: PEMA-Kenya,FACEBOOK ACCOUNT: Pema Ke Nya

TWITTER:@pemakenya  INSTAGRAM:@pemakenya
Office Number +254713 68 4341

Vincent Ksavery

Program Officer , Policy & Advocacy

By Henry Ominde.

You can connect with him on; Facebook Page: @WholenessEffect, Twitter: @wholenesseffect and Instagram: @h.ominde

THE WHOLENESS EFFECT

A commonly stated goal among LGBTQ+  movements is social equality for queer people, but there is still denial of full LGBTQ+ rights – Human rights. Combating homophobia, transphobia and biphobia hasn’t been an easy responsibility for activists but in my opinion I can gladly say that the endeavours are yielding great results with 9 countries having decriminalized homosexuality since the 90’s.

Driven by culture, tradition and religion , Africa is affected by patriarchy and gender inequality. From birth we are taught the social and cultural norms expected from the base of our anatomy. Boys being told not to play with dolls, that pink is a girlish colour and that boys had to be masculine. Girls are told to always be neat and organised,  that they should not play with boys. Even chores and duties were segregated, having girls do the house chores and boys assigned outdoor responsibilities. Masculine girls are praised while feminine boys are shamed.

Gender inequality doesn’t magically appear, it grows up with us from childhood  and matures into harmful disparities. Basically our cultures teaches us that biological sex and gender is binary when in reality it is a spectrum.

The effect of this unjust paradigm has affected the LGBTQ+ community in many ways. For instance in the gay community, some believe that a gay man has got to be ‘girly’ , dramatic and fashionable.  Bottoms are being shamed and their masculinity is undermined. Infact in some instances a muscular gay is assumed to be top while slim gays are assumed to be bottoms.

In lesbian relationships,  the common question of “Who is the man?” , is asked. And no, not only from heterosexuals but also by members of the queer community. In most cases, a masculine lesbian is viewed as authoritative and respected while a feminine gay is dimmed to be weak and likely to be a dependant of a muscular gay. The thought of two bottoms being in a relationship is said to be impossible just as two masculine lesbians are said to have non-progressive relationships.

In some extremes, this way of thinking has led to conflict within the LGBTQ+ spectrum.  With some feeling superior to the other leaving others feeling more vulnerable and as misfits. The issue of proper usage of terminologies has also worsened the situation with some not understanding what certain words mean ultimately using them incorrectly and offending others.

The Nomenclature War – A featured article  covered on the HuffPost by Dana Beyer, a contributor and Executive Director, Gender Rights Maryland covers this. This article shares an incident whereby a term turned out to be offensive to a community member.

Well, the reality of Gender Inequalities is that they are real and harmful.  They are experienced by all of us. It is our responsibility to fight gender inequality and thankfully we have a tool that not only empowers the LGBTQI community in Africa but helps advocate for social equality within the community as well as outside.

The LILO Identity workshop is a personalised approach to exploring identity and sexual orientation. It responds to high levels of self-stigma in KPs, working therapeutically with individuals to raise awareness of the self, to reclaim and reframe personal narrative, and promote self-acceptance of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. The workshop aims to move individuals towards a positive identity, a strong self-concept, and a high regard for themselves as individuals. Participants are encouraged to integrate their identity with their other qualities and roles – and to see themselves as complex, multifaceted human beings with many strengths and skills. Topics cover language, the emergent development process of exploring sexual orientation and gender identity, relationship skills, creating a circle of positive support, skills for coming out and understanding the impact of prejudice and discrimination. The process allows for individuals to start addressing discrimination and also combat the harsh and biased paradigms.

Looking forward, I believe that this methodology will unite the LGBTQ+ community and impact us with positivity allowing us to push for our agenda in one voice and understand.  I believe that social equality is achievable not just for the queer community but the general population.

For more information contact us on:

FACEBOOK PAGE: PEMA-Kenya, FACEBOOK ACCOUNT: Pema Ke Nya

TWITTER:@pemakenya  INSTAGRAM:@pemakenya

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5962c740e4b08f5c97d06aec/amp

#THEWHOLENESSEFFECT

Decriminalization: a new dawn for human rights in Kenya

Palladium and PEMA-K are seeking the services of an external consultant to lead the evaluation exercise, using sound methodologies to determine the extent to which the outputs and intended outcomes of the project were achieved. The overall objective of the evaluation is to assess project performance against its intended objectives.

For more information and to apply click here;

In partnership with

For more information follow us on;

FACEBOOK PAGE: PEMA-Kenya, FACEBOOK ACCOUNT: Pema Ke Nya

TWITTER:@pemakenya  INSTAGRAM:@pemakenya