SAFE Pwani are the longest running S.A.F.E. team, formed in 2002 initially to combat the alarming lack of knowledge and increasing rate of HIV/AIDS at the Kenyan coast. Today, they are the largest team, based at the S.A.F.E. Kenya head office in Mombasa, tackling the problems that are most prevalent to the coastal population: HIV/AIDS, Extremism, access to clean water and the destruction of the Environment.
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SAFE Pwani
Ali Mlatso
Actor/ Mobilisation Officer
David Kalume
Partnerships Officer
Angela Magio (Angie)
Actress
Hamadi Kondo Hamisi
Simbaropa and Actor
Mohammed Said Rashid
Actor
Rama Chongongwe
Actor
Triza Musimbi
Actress
Aisha Mwajumlah
Actress
Regina Lewa
Actress
Willie Mwanda
Actor
Kongo Abdalah
Simbaropa
Musa Ali Shiling
Simbaropa
Ali Jiti Mwadziko
Simbaropa
Said Muhsin
Actor
Mariam Seif
Office AssistantHIV/AIDS
The focus of the SAFE Pwani HIV/AIDS programme is to reinforce the importance of drug adherence and the dangers of the drug resistant strain of HIV. This strain is becoming more and more prevalent in the coastal region as the gap between the community and the health services widens.
On Stage
The Play – Masika, is the story of a young, bright village girl who contracts HIV when she is raped by her school teacher, a man that she trusts. Ostracised by her family and losing her friends Charo and Lulu to drug resistant HIV, she hits rock bottom. However, with the support of her mentor, she comes through, and qualifies as a doctor. The audience never fail to fall in love with Masika, they laugh with her, cry with her and cheer her successes. At the end of the play, a testimony is delivered by SAFE Pwani project manager David Kalume who is HIV positive, his message is simple; it is possible to be HIV positive and lead a healthy, happy life if you stick to your treatment.
Off Stage
The team deliver follow up activities; Condom distribution and demonstrations, VCT services and workshops in partnership with local heath officers. The workshops target hard to reach communities such as sex workers, people living HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), prison communities and men who have sex with men, as well as the general community.
Clean Water
The clean water programme has been in operation in partnership with P&G since 2011 and is providing clean drinking water, delivering sanitation education, and saving lives in hard to reach communities on the south coast of Kenya.
On Stage
The water play tells the story of two men who grew up together and have always had a rivalry, whatever one did, the other would have to do better. The friends grow up, get married and have children. Both families live in areas with bad water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices, and as a result, they often suffer from fits of diarrhoea, incurring large medical expenses, and resulting in their children missing school.
Both of their children receive WASH information at school and plead with their parents to change their ways. One of the families makes the changes and experiences huge improvements to their health, the other refuses to change and has a near death experience as a result.
Off Stage
The team distribute P&G Purifier of Water sachets through a network of distributors, allowing the community to turn dirty water full of germs into clean drinking water. The team also work with community leaders to promote the building of permanent, clean and private toilets with access to handwashing facilities.
Peace
SAFE Pwani’s peace programme is countering violent extremism at the Kenyan Coast. Mombasa youth often feel neglected, and blame high unemployment at the coast on the influx of people from other parts of Kenya. This makes them key targets for extremist recruiters who are offering employment and an outlet for their frustrations.
On Stage
The Watatu film, is the story of three men who lives become intertwined as one of them, Yusuf, a young unemployed Muslim, becomes radicalised by an extremist group in Mombasa. Yusuf’s family and friends feel powerless to help him. His uncle and only father figure Salim cannot find the words to counter the extremist ideology and Salim’s old friend Jack, a local policeman, struggles to gain Yusuf’s trust, and as tensions rise in the port city, Yusuf is eventually driven to a desperate and tragic act.
At this point the film becomes a documentary as the film actors take this story as a theatre play to the real communities of Mombasa. These live audiences are then given a chance to take over the roles of Yusuf’s uncle, mother and sister and see if they can change the outcome of the story. Can the people of Mombasa stop Yusuf before he reaches the point of no return?
The end of the film – written entirely by the citizens of Mombasa themselves – sees an alternative journey for Yusuf, his family, and Kenya’s Indian Ocean city.
Off Stage
SAFE Pwani are engaging with at risk groups and their families at the coast to tackle the problem. The conversation is started by public screenings of the film and follow up workshops targeting the most at risk youth, allowing them the rare opportunity to air grievances and be listened to. They are given an alternative narrative to the one presented by extremists, and the vision to change their situation through legitimate channels. Workshops are also carried out with the youth and security services together to bridge the gap and build trust between the two groups.
Environment
The environment programme seeks to build up resilience to climate change on the south coast of Kenya. Recent flooding and other extreme weather events have uncovered weaknesses which need to be addressed in order to ensure the survival of these isolated villages.
On Stage
Gangavazi, is the story of three old men, who each represent the three different problems affecting communities on the south coast. One, a fisherman who uses dynamite and illegal nets, another who refuses to provide an education for his daughter, only paying for his sons to go to school and the third, using bad farming techniques, that result in deforestation and loss of topsoil.
The three old men blame things such as witch craft for their bad fortunes, rather than recognising the part that they have played in the destruction of their environment. Halfway through the play, the actors stop and ask the audience to tell them what their characters should do in each situation to change the attitudes of the stubborn old men. It is here, that resilience solutions are formulated.
Off Stage
After touring the play, a documentary was created, capturing the solutions the community found to build up their resilience. SAFE Pwani, returned to the community to assess the communities progress in initiating these solutions. These findings were then shared with the University of Exeter who compared them with the resilience strategies employed by communities on the south coast of the U.K. The results were published in the journal Ecology and Society.