As a first-year student, Winfred paid little attention to expectant students in her university. It is not until a baby suffered severe burns after an accident having been left alone in a campus room with a stove, that was on, that Buya took notice. She later came to learn that the university policy in relation to pregnant students demanded they leave the campus accommodation facilities as soon as the pregnancy began to show. Private hostels are expensive and after birth, the students found that hiring a nanny to babysit for them as they attended their lectures was equally expensive. Many opted to defer their studies or drop out altogether. Those who stayed on often left their babies unattended in their rooms and checked on them during breaks.
In response to this problem, Buya started to Empower HER Initiative – a rotational peer-to-peer babysitting service by students to offer daycare facilities for each other while their colleagues attend classes. She also trains student mums with income-generating skills so that they can earn some income to fend for their babies, provides counseling and psychosocial support, and has engaged the university administration on policy review.
Buya was a 2017 #MyLittleBigThing winner and is currently working at Shell Kenya following the successful completion of her internship courtesy of the #MyLittleBigThing competition.
CATEGORY:- SDG 5
DATE:- September 12,2017
BY:- Winfred Buya
UNIVERSITY:- Maseno University