We are hearing from activists worldwide as our movement meets this moment. We will be posting their stories frequently, as we draw inspiration, ideas, hope and love from one another.

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The rapid spread of Covid-19 across the globe has led artists, activists, survivors, and youth around the world to rise to assist their impacted communities, frontline workers, and survivors. At the V-Day Safe House for the Girls in Kenya, it is no different.

Founder Agnes Pareyio and her team immediately took action to support the young girls escaping Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and the surrounding community. As Covid-19 hit and Kenya went on lockdown, girls studying at boarding schools took unexpected but necessary refuge at the safe house. Responding to the needs of the community, the safe house team is also supporting elders with food relief and other types of help.  

“The situation in Kenya at the moment is that all the schools, social places, and marketplaces, have closed to avoid crowds. The girls are back at the safe house and keeping busy with their personal studies while observing social distancing measures, since we don’t know when the schools are reopening,” says Agnes. 

The Safe House for the Girls in Kenya was established to provide a safe haven for young women and girls fleeing Female Genital Mutilation and early childhood marriage – in the town of Narok. Run by Agnes Pareyio, an internationally recognized leader (the founder of Tasaru Ntomonok, Chair of the Anti-FGM Board of Kenya, and UN Person of the Year for Kenya) who works to reduce the rates of female genital mutilation, it provides hundreds of girls a year – and their families – with  transformational programming.

These are unprecedented times for the Narok community. “We have received great testimonies and appreciation from the beneficiaries, who before the project, their families had gone without food once or twice. This kind of situation at times can force some parents to marry off their daughters silently to make ends meet,” says Agnes Pareyio.

In response to these increasing needs, V-Day’s has created the RISING IN THE TIME OF CORONA EMERGENCY FUND to provide critical support grassroots activists leading their communities’ response to Covid-19.

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