Aisha Mohamed (not her real name), a 38-year-old mother of four and a resident of Kisauni, Mombasa County, represent hundreds of women who have suffered from the threats of radicalization and violent extremism in Coastal Kenya.
Aisha is a survivor of violent extremism herself. She narrates that since her husband Mohamed whom they lived together for 20 years joined Al Shabaab, a terrorist group based in Somalia, her life took a drastic turn.
For the last six years, life has not been easy for the family. With dwindling income from the family’s shop and constant enquiries of the whereabouts of her husband from the children, Aisha went into depression which affected her ability to provide for the family. The children were forced to drop out of school for lack of school fees and other educational needs.
An initiative by Coast Education Centre (COEC), dubbed “Nani Kama Mama” was the only relief that Aisha needed to overcome her life tribulations. The Women against Violent Extremism (WAVE) Project, has been offering therapy sessions for women like Aisha to overcome trauma posed by violent extremism and terrorism. Aisha says that at first she had difficulties speaking about her tribulations or even revealing that her husband had since joined the terror group for fear of ridicule or arrest from police.
“I am grateful to COEC for coming to my rescue. The therapy sessions have made me see how detrimental violent extremism is to a family like mine. I am now vigilant to ensure that my children are not lured into acts of violence or radicalization”, says the mother of four.
According to Penuel Nyagaka, who works for the Mombasa based organization- COEC, the sessions have helped most women who have been affected by radicalization and violent extremism restore their lives to near normalcy.
Through COEC and other civil society organizations under the Strengthening Community Resilience against Extremism (SCORE) activity, funded by USAID Kenya & East Africa through Act!, the program has analyzed ways in which communities including the government can be involved effectively and structurally in the overall struggle against violent extremism in Kenya. The COEC initiative is one of the many initiatives that SCORE partner organizations are working to help communities deepen their knowledge and build their resilience against violent extremism.
