Athumani is a Muslim clergy from the coastal county of Mombasa, Kenya.  He is a passionate human rights defender who also qualifies as a Trainer of Trainers. Athumani co-founded an organization dubbed Nuru Pwani, which focuses on the protection and inclusion of SOGIE community members in places of worship.

Athumani is an organizer guided by love, creativity, and passion. His motivation comes from the conviction that members of the clergy have a big role to play in shaping societies through everyday engagements. They realized that the clergy can be the conduits for creating safe spaces for all, especially for the safety of SOGIE community members. Together with others, Athumani responded to this by devoting his life to strategically engaging the clergy on SOGIE rights and by constantly engaging them to define their role in enhancing religious tolerance and community/faith narratives recognizing SOGIE rights. 

This year, Athumani has worked towards increasing the safety among vulnerable GENDER & SEXUAL MINORITIES within faith realms. He has facilitated creation of safe spaces where muslim leaders and clergy convene to empower each other. They also exchange with each on the need and strategies of engaging with  congregants and community members while putting inclusion practices into place. 

The interventions that Athumani  and other clergy offer to SOGIE rights are informed by regular identification of trends and risks affecting LGBTIQ people. They then converge to practically identify impactful solutions to the risks.

Athumani’s advocacy work has not stopped at the local level. He also uses his knowledge at the grassroot to come up with initiatives and policy proposals at the local, national and regional level for inclusion of LGBTIQ persons as well as to increase awareness on the responsibility of protection of LGBTIQ people in places of worship.

As a Muslim clergy who is a Trainer of Trainers on LGBTIQ inclusion, he has had experience in partnering with other faith-based institutions locally and beyond, to advance the cause of LGBTIQ people and well positioned to continue this work. He is committed to advocating for progressive change and also to the provision of platforms for key populations to advocate for their rights and safety. Due to his commitment to partnerships and collaborations, He is well suited to build upon the successes he has realized thus far as a human rights defender, and further the protection of LGBTIQ people and allies.