In continuation of its forte of profiling change makers on the continent, African Voices ChangeMakers, a magazine programme of the Cable News Network (CNN) sponsored by Globacom is featuring two female children and youth-oriented activists this week.
The activists whose works have led to better quality of life for children in Kenya and Namibia are Wawira Njiru, a Kenyan businesswoman, entrepreneur, human nutritionist, and philanthropist, and Marie-Jeanne Muhoza Ndimbira who co-founded the Physically Active Youth Program (PAY), an after-school non-profit organisation based in Windhoek, Namibia.
Born on 27 January, 1991, Njiru, is  the Executive Director of Food 4 Education, an organization that cooks, prepares and distributes nutritious meals at subsidized rates to poor school children in Ruiru, a suburb of Nairobi. Under the scheme, 10,000 kids get nutritious lunch every day.
Her belief that a prosperous future for the continent begins when no child learns on an empty stomach and that malnutrition and food insecurity cause health problems and impair a student’s ability to focus and learn in the classroom, propelled her to study Nutritional Sciences at the University of South Australia.
Ndimbira, on her part, through PAY which was founded in 2002, has improved pass rates for grade ten and twelve learners in Windhoek. Based on the success of the initiative, Ndimbira proceeded to found Twamanguluka, a profit-focused company that renders capacity building services for youth in 2011.
Her efforts received international recognition when in 2015 she delivered a TEDx talk about her work with young people. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Global Urban Studies at the Rutgers University, New Jersey, the United States of America.
African Voices Changemakers will be on DSTV on Friday at 9.30 a.m. and on Saturday at 12.30 p.m., 5.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. Other repeat broadcasts come up on Sunday at 5.00 a.m., 9.30 a.m. and 8.30 p.m., with more repeats on Monday and Tuesday at 5.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. respectively.
Packaged by Oludotun Ajibola
