Kennedy, also known as JJ, is a member of Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC) where he works as the field coordinator and community mobilizer. Inspired by an oppressive past that saw him arrested at the age of 17 and sentenced to death for robbery with violence, a decision that was overturned eight year later on appeal. JJ started his human rights work in 2004, at Kiamaiko, in Nairobi County, addressing cases of Gender Based Violence and early marriages.

His area of focus is children’s rights and is a voluntary children officer at Starehe Constituency. JJ works to save destitute kids by getting them involved in art, drama and poetry to help them rise the different levels of life. After joining MSJC in 2016, Extra Judicial Execution cases were on the rise and he embarked on doing documentation of the same as well as Human rights abuses in Mathare and its environs.

His most outstanding achievement is managing to overcome his tainted past and use his experience to engage with the youth in his areas of operation to ensure that they live a life free of crime and instead involve themselves in income generating activities. He also initiated a program, mazungumzo mtaani (Community Conversations), which are dialogue sessions where the public is sensitized on the role of HRDs to gain community support for HRDs. He is also involved in Rapid disaster response team in Mathare.

He has been faced with numerous challenges including being arrested five times for his advocacy work. However, he has never been charged. He has also received threats from families of girls he has rescued who use the police the police to intimidate him. To overcome these challenges, he works closely with relevant state and non state partners to assist him in responding to cases.

“Killing young Kenyans is not the best way to control crime, involve them in income generating activities and crime rate will reduce,” Kennedy Chindi