Last week, SSH’s 2014 Safe Public Spaces Mentoring team in Kenya was finally able to hold their event. Originally, they planned to hold an awareness campaign on their ferry in December, a site of much harassment, but it has been too unsafe to do so in their region due to terrorism. Other challenges included their banners were stolen, and the replacement venue was in a less populated area so their turnout was lower than anticipated.
But, they persevered and were able to set up a tent in Mombasa. They had peer educators and youth outreach workers who spoke with 475 community members about street harassment across two days. They had a loudspeaker that attracted people to them, women were fully in support of the campaign and some men said “they will from now on respect women and protect them from harassment.”
Organizer Mr. Cosmus W. Maina, Project-Co-ordinator-TEEN WATCH CENTRE, said that going forward they hope to train community outreach workers about street harassment, hold a sensitization forum for community stakeholders and police officers, and hold community road shows.
