Sit-down with Suhayla Aboud, Founder of GenderHealth Africa and Zuri Award Winner

The inaugural Zuri Awards were held on 8th March (International Women’s Day) in a bid to celebrate women and women-centric organizations doing great work in their communities but remain unknown or uncelebrated. They received 51 nominations which were shortlisted to 15 by a panel of judges. 5 winners emerged out of the 15: Suhayla Aboud (Gender Health Africa), Vivian Gaiko (Empower Her Initiative), Natalie Robi (Msichana Empowerment), The African Centre for Women, Information and Communications Technology (ACWICT) and Dr. Kizzie Shako (Vunja Kimya).

I sat down with Suhayla Aboud to find out what it takes to run GenderHealth Africa and what the future holds for the organization.

1. What inspired you to start GenderHealth Africa?

After many years of interviewing and listening to dozens of women, children and men that have gone through Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), I desperately wanted to do something about it. I wanted these survivors to be treated with dignity, to receive quality health care and to get the perpetrators accountable for what they had done. I also thought of my own children and I felt the need to create as safe a world as possible for them. I had nothing else with me save for my vast experience in caring for survivors of sexual violence and my passion to prevent gender based violence in my society, and I thought that I could begin from there.

I talked about this with a friend and colleague of mine, Maureen Obbayi, who was also working in the GBV field and agreed with me that training of health workers was a great need and wanted to do something bridge the gap. That is how GenderHealth Africa was founded: an organization that comprises of a team of technical experts in Sexual and Gender Based Violence that aims to develop capacity of healthcare professionals on clinical management of rape and expert witness presentation in courts of law. We further strengthen the capacity of GBV actors to effectively implement GBV programs, and help organizations with Gender mainstreaming.

2. What do you love about your job?

I’m so passionate about matters concerning elimination of Sexual and Gender Based Violence. I love everything about my job! From the ten years I served to provide clinical care to survivors of sexual violence, seeing people walk in at their lowest point to improving; to the countless interactions I have had with health workers all over the country while facilitating trainings on clinical management of rape. I love to see health workers feeling empowered and confident to give quality services; I love to see survivors receive quality services with the utmost dignity that they deserve and to see perpetrators brought to justice and made accountable for this human rights violation. Going to court as an expert witness to give medical evidence gives me a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment of my duty as a healthcare provider.

3. What’s an average day at GenderHealth Africa like?

An average day at GenderHealth Africa is great and at the same time hectic. Being largely a training organization, planning for a training is very thorough. We clarify our training objectives, review the training content and delivery to suit different audiences, prepare and print out learning aids, prepare training evaluations and assign tasks among ourselves.

On a typical training day, we (the trainers) arrive at the venue by 7.00 am to set up our training aids and make sure that everything is in place before participants settle in, usually at 8.30 am. We use collaborative and problem based learning approaches; that means we don’t feed health workers with information as is often the case in classroom teaching, but facilitate them to share what they already know or are practicing and then we help clarify, correct or emphasize.

This learning approach has been found to be more effective for knowledge and skills transfer in adults. We also give health workers a special session to share their stories, experiences and feelings; this helps them to deal with their own psychological issues considering they are exposed to trauma on a daily basis and don’t often have avenues to vent this out. A full training on Clinical Management of Rape takes 5 days; this means when training I have to be away from my family for 5 days or longer if am also providing mentorship and follow-up to those we have trained.

When I don’t have a training scheduled, I work as a home-based consultant for UNFPA as a Clinical Management of Rape specialist that supports different countries offices (Somalia, South Sudan, Mali). When I’m not on a mission, I’m usually updating training programs, reviewing documents and handling other administrative work. I’m sometimes invited by organizations to make presentations, then I go and come back home. At the end of my day, I’m a mother and a wife and I still create time whenever I can to be there for my family.

4. What challenges have you faced at GenderHealth Africa?

GenderHealth Africa being a start-up organization still has a long way to go.  We still need to come up with a way to sustain this organization without digging from our personal resources.

It has also been quite a challenge to get our name out there; to get us known so that different people and organizations can seek our services. Getting funding to enable us to expand to all counties in Kenya has also been an issue as donors want to see track records and big organograms, which as a startup organization we don’t have. Currently, we rely on ourselves and the few volunteers that we work with. We would love to reach to that girl in Kwale County, that woman in Kisumu, that man in Nyeri without having to worry so much about the logistics and means to get there.

5. How are you working to overcome these challenges?

Since we have been in the GBV field for a long while now, we have formed a few but great networks and it has been through their support that we have been able to conduct several trainings here in Nairobi. Many times we conduct trainings pro bono and even spend our own resources. I cannot say we have managed to overcome our challenges, but I hope that winning the Zuri Award will open new networks and new doors for us to expand and to grow.

6. What would you say are the achievements so far at GenderHealth Africa?

We still have a long way to go, but so far we have made some strides and I’m proud of that. GenderHealth Africa has trained over 400 HealthCare providers, including doctors, clinical officers, nurses, social workers and counsellors. We have trained both civilians and some military personnel (Kenya Defense Forces through the Walter Reed Project). We have also held a sensitization on medical legal issues of cases of sexual violence for 35 Judges and magistrates in Nyanza province through collaboration with Physicians for Human Rights.

7. Congratulations on winning the Impact Award at the Zuri Awards. What does winning this award mean to you?

Winning Zuri Impact Award means so much to me and to us! It means that our country is recognizing that there is GBV, and that we are refusing to tolerate it in our society. It also means that this work that we do as GenderHealth Africa is being valued, and truly that gives us the drive to do more.

8. This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is ”Be Bold for Change”. Does this resonate with you? How so?

All this time in my life as I worked with survivors of sexual violence I have had to be bold. Even in the worst days of my life when I thought I couldn’t stand to see another woman or child in pain again. I have had to be bold and be there to serve survivors with honor and dignity. I had to be bold to quit my job that came with good benefits and job security to be an independent consultant and do what I think is my purpose in my life – empowering others so that they can provide dignified and quality healthcare to as many as possible.

9. What do you hope GenderHealth Africa will be able to achieve in the next 5 years?

I want so much for GenderHealth Africa. I want it to be a name that everyone in Africa and the rest of the world thinks of whenever they need someone to build the capacity of their healthcare providers and GBV actors on programmatic aspects of GBV and clinical management of rape. I want GenderHealth Africa to spread into all counties and not only provide training on response to sexual violence, but also have programs on GBV prevention and Gender mainstreaming.

10. What advice would you give to women that are looking to start similar organizations that you wish you’d received when starting out?

My advice would be: Don’t wait to be perfect to begin; begin with whatever is within your reach, whether it is resources or capacity. There is a lot of room to learn along the way and to improve. The little that you can offer now, counts. Also, believe in yourself and say that you can; then go for it and work your hardest to achieve your goals.

Bonus Question

11. What is your favourite quote by any woman, past or present, that inspires you to keep going?

My every day inspiration is Maya Angelou; I love this woman! I love so many quotes from her, but let me quote my best two:

‘Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it she stands up for all women. Let us stand up for each other today, this month and always.’

‘My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour and some style.’