Students reading Young Talk, a magazine used to engage young people during Comprehensive Sexuality Education sessions in schools
Fòs Feminista’s partner TICAH remains responsive to the priorities of women and adolescent girls in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic by listening to communities
Countries the world over have witnessed how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenges that women, girls, and gender-diverse people face when accessing healthcare. In Kenya, it has been no different, as public resources shifted away from sexual and reproductive health services during nationwide lockdowns. Local sexual and reproductive health organizations, such as Fòs Feminista’s partner Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health (TICAH), have been essential in addressing the urgent needs of women and girls in Kenya since the emergency of the pandemic.
TICAH’s work begins with listening to communities – and particular to women and girls – as the foundation of improving health and wellbeing, and then building around existing local resources and knowledge. Their work is rooted in the premise that the expression of arts and culture is a marker of a community’s health, and that cultural expression and holistic health are intricately connected.
These principles have been key to TICAH’s ability to adapt to the COVID-19 context and respond to the priorities of the communities in which they work.
Through community engagement, TICAH organized an art show – a mobile installation that could tour across different venues – to feature the work of 46 different artists, whose income had been particularly impacted during the pandemic due to the closure of art galleries. The show supported the artists in creating messages of hope related to the COVID-19 pandemic while giving visibility to their artwork.
“It was an opportunity for artists to come together and collaboratively create something that depicts their presence and their continuity through this art,” said Peterson Kamwathi, one of the artists involved in the project. “It was also an opportunity to bring our work, I think, in a very grand way into the public space.”
The work of TICAH, even in the midst of crisis, is an example of the creativity, grounded expertise and resilience that characterizes Fòs Feminista’s partners. Artists, who hold a mirror up to societies and lead cultural shifts within communities, are central to the health of societies, according to TICAH. TICAH notes that, with art spaces shrinking, Kenya is losing a critical tool for combating radicalism, poverty, discrimination, and various health challenges. Enabling freedom of expression allows marginalized voices to be heard, and is key to the healthy development process of any society.
