PHILO (Gacheri) Ikonya - Kenya

PHILO (Gacheri) IKONYA - KENYA

Philo is a well-known writer in Kenya. She is building her own leadership capacity to run for and hold a political office where she could legislate to support the capacity building of women and communities of peace.

Vision:
My project is to create a network of "capacity building" centers for women throughout Kenya. I refer to these as "Museums." These centers will provide education and skill building for all the interrelated factors that would dramatically improve the quality of life of women, their families and their communities. At the same time, women would be taught skills and connected to resources for all aspects of their life from managing health and initiating self employment, to building wells for clean, accessible water. My focus is to "root them in their history," (in a way that we might describe as building self confidence) by recording their stories. Writing skills remain elusive for most women here. I want to give the women a printing press as one way of providing them with self-employment. The education of women will provide a way to end all forms of violence from domestic violence to the ongoing ethnic
tension to bring peace to their lives and the country.