March 2025 – GLEPHA Fellow, Melissa Jardine PhD, and GLEPHA SIG Co-Convenor, Nicole Gurd worked with the Amuka Foundation on the ground in Karare, Kenya, to support their programs.
Melissa and Nicole helped provide school books and clothes to teenagers and sort donations for the Amuka Foundation. One in five infants under three die from pneumonia. The Amuka Foundation provides baby clothes so if their clothing gets wet, they have a clean change of clothes, especially knitted hats to keep warm. Local health services in Karare report that infant mortality has decreased as a result of Amuka’s activities.
Amuka’s local founders and hosts, Ellie Bird Lenawurungu and Steven Lenawurungu welcomed Melissa and Nicole into their family and local community, alongside Amuka Board Chair, Liz Owsley, and Helen Rawlings.
Amuka in Kiswahili means; ‘To Rise Up’. The Amuka Foundation is dedicated to equipping, empowering and enabling the most vulnerable communities in Kenya, in order to transform their lives.
Amuka also assists adolescents in Kenya’s urban townships who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation, physical abuse and poverty to develop academic, vocational and critical life skills.
Through Amuka’s focus on enhancing life skills and teaching vocational skills; women are able to earn money to care for their families, support access to education for their daughters and strengthen their ability to make decisions.
Six years ago, GLEPHA and the Amuka Foundation collaborated for the first time at the LEPH2019 pre-conference workshop in Edinburgh.
This year, the Amuka Foundation will be our beneficiary for the Masterclass on Women, Police and Security: Global Perspectives and Challenges, a LEPH2025 conference event by GLEPHA.