At just 19 years old, Tina Miruka from Suna East Sub-County is already rewriting her story and inspiring others to do the same.
Tina first heard about the A360 program through a friend who was a peer mobilizer. At the time, life in her village was limiting, young girls were discouraged from learning about family planning, financial independence, or their rights. Cultural myths and deeply held misconceptions shaped the lives of adolescent girls, silencing their voices and shrinking their futures.
“Life before the program was hard, in our village, girls were not allowed to access information on family planning or economic empowerment. It was considered a taboo,” Tina recalls.
That began to change when Tina joined a girl-led program designed to place her needs at the center. Through Binti Shupavu, she stepped into a safe space that combined honest conversations, practical skills, and goal-setting to help girls take control of their futures.
“We were taught about different family planning methods and how they could help us achieve our dreams,” Tina explains. “I chose a method that suited me and started planning my life with intention.”
She also learned vital life and vocational skills, everything from budgeting, saving, and effective communication to making soap, fabrics, doormats, and decorative flowers. To help her launch her own venture, Tina received a startup kit containing soap-making chemicals. That first step turned into a small business, which allowed her to start saving consistently.
Her savings and the confidence she built helped Tina take another bold step: enrolling at Cambridge Universal College in Eldoret, where she is currently pursuing a Diploma in Nutrition and Dietetics. She now dreams of progressing to a degree, and one day a master’s, in the same field.
“My future plan is to give back. I want to empower other adolescent girls the way I was empowered,” she says. “The program lit a fire in me and now I want to be the light for others.”
Tina’s story is just one among thousands, but together, these stories are changing lives at scale. Through efforts like Binti Shupavu:
- Close to 40,000 survivors of gender-based violence have been supported.
- Nearly 2 million unintended pregnancies have been averted.
- Close to 6,000 maternal deaths have been prevented.
These numbers are more than statistics they are lives saved, futures protected, and generations empowered. She is a living proof that when we invest in girls, we don’t just transform individuals we transform communities, nations, and the course of history.
