Feb 29 2024 21 mins
Joan Kembabazi is a full time gender equality activist and she actively campaigns for an end to child marriage. Joan is also the founder of Gufasha Girls Foundation.
In this episode, Joan discusses the reasons she campaigns and advocates for girls’ education, for an end to child marriage, for every girl’s right to thrive and to dream… her grief in losing her best friend, Gufasha Moureen, to child marriage at age 13, and Gufasha’s death in childbirth… beginning community work and then, in 2016, founding Gufasha Girls Foundation to honor her friend’s memory by working to end child marriage… how societal norms and traditional mindsets deny girls’ right to education, and how girls’ dreams, hopes, and childhoods are stolen by child marriage… her own father’s and grandmother’s commitment Joan’s education… her grandmother’s love and her role as a “strong pillar” in Joan’s life… the role of teachers in encouraging her to use her voice to advocate for positive change in her community… the importance of supporting girls in realizing that they are powerful, that they must believe in themselves, and that no one has the right to tell them that they cannot become the empowered person they want to be. (Uganda)