Wanjeri Nderu

Kenya, CAHR, Autumn 2018

I am a 38 year-old human rights defender and social justice crusader based in Nairobi, Kenya. I am a married mother of three children aged 14, 10 and 6. I have a working background in Financial Planning and I am a journalist by profession.

I use mainstream media and social media spaces to fight for the rights of others and to pursue justice on behalf of victims, who are mostly unable to access it. I am also a recipient of the Integrity Award, given during the marking of the International Anti-Corruption day on 9th December 2016.

From a very young age, I was alive to the fact that we lived in an insecure and unjust society. I always had a strong urge to change situations for people around me even when I knew I did not have the power to do so as a child. This urge drove me into the world of volunteering.

I worked as a human rights defender volunteer until 6 years ago when I made a decision to quit my well-paying job in the financial sector, where I got an Association of Kenya Insurers Award for my work, to pursue social justice as a volunteer. This decision, though hard to make, arose from a deep feeling that I needed to contribute towards bringing about societal change and empower the many victims of injustice in my community. The cases I work on from all over Kenya range from sex, gender based violence, medical appeals, government corruption and child abuse among others. Many of these cases reach me through social media and phone calls from referrals all over the country.

Social media has been immensely helpful in getting justice for most of the cases I receive.

I chose to use social and mainstream media as a means to fight these injustices because it was the only way I could reach the relevant authorities concerned and also bring about public outcry that would force duty bearers to act. It was also born out of the fact that I do not have any resources or organizational backup to follow through with all the cases I handle to their logical conclusion without using public pressure from Kenyans online.

Social media has been immensely helpful in getting justice for most of the cases I receive. It has also helped me create a network of volunteers from all over the country, that include civil society players, lawyers and professionals who offer their services pro bono as they understand the voluntary nature of my work.

Unfortunately, my work exposes me to great personal risk. Many of the people I confront know that I do not have organizational support making me an easy target for attacks and arrests. Lack of resources and personal security are the main hindrances I face.

I joined the human rights defenders programme at the University of York with the core aim of researching and learning how to better secure myself and put self-care and mental health related issues arising from exposure to trauma, at the centre of my work. This arose from observing that many activists, especially those who do not have organisational support, are suffering silently with depression and addiction due to work related exposure to trauma, and suffering of the people they set out to advocate for.

I hope to be able to go back home with enough knowhow and support to introduce self-care and mental health as a deliberate programme in organisations, among activists and volunteers , through training workshops on self-care and collaborations with mental health experts, to better protect ourselves from succumbing to the pressures of the work we do.