Before they hit you, they hit near you, Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi quoted the Maid as she described her first abusive relationship.
Speaking during the Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response scientific conference at the Kenya School of Government in Nairobi on Wednesday, Ms Mwangangi recounted a 2015 incident with an ex-boyfriend.
Then, the health CAS was fresh from Australia’s University of Adelaide, where she earned a master’s degree in Health Economics and Policy.
Her then lover might not have hit her but there was violence involved, so bad that it scared her enough to call her lawyer at 3 am.
“That night at 3 am when we had the altercation, I remember thinking, okay so this has happened, whom should I call?”
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“And interestingly the first person I called was my lawyer to see if there was a legal recourse,” she said.
She told the audience that she was a 29-year-old independent woman and did not understand how she was in an abusive relationship.
“I am privileged I am not from a poor background, and I have resources. I am educated.
“I have my own home, an apartment, my own car, and everything I needed to empower myself to be an independent female,” she said, adding that it can happen to anyone.
Now, CAS Mwangangi is in a relationship with a “supportive partner”, she told KTN’s Health Digest.
“I am highly married to my work, but I do have a partner who is very supportive, and he is another cheerleader in my court,” she said.
Statistics from Kenya Health Information System showed that victims of abuse between January and June 2021 rose to 10,997 females and 717 males.
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