Effect of Women Group Membership to Poverty Vulnerability among Female Headed Households in Yathui and Central Division, Machakos District, Kenya

This article examines the effect of group membership to magnitude of poverty among female headed households in Yathui and Central Divisions of Machakos District. The study adopted a descriptive and cross-sectional study design. The study was based on a sample of 80 female headed households, five key informants, four focused group discussions, six case studies and secondary data. Stratified and systematic random sampling was used to select the units of observation. The analysis of data was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings showed the calculated chi square value is less than the table value chi square (x2=3.2, df=1 p-0.04), this indicates that the two attributes are independent and not associated. In general there was no statistical significance between group membership and vulnerability to famine among the female heads

Challenges Facing Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse in Kibera Slum, Nairobi, Kenya

This article examines challenges child sexual abuse victims and their families experience in trying to access healthcare services and justice in Kenya. Child sexual abuse is a vice that shocks and traumatizes the victims and undermines the status of children and women in any society. Yet it is largely suffered in silence. The study was designed to investigate challenges child sexual abuse victims and their families experience in trying to access healthcare services and justice in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Data was collected by use of both qualitative and quantitative research designs with structured interviews and focus group discussions being the main techniques of data collection. A total of 105 respondents between the ages of 12 to 14 years were interviewed. The respondents included: 56 pupils from Olympic Primary school. 17 key informants and 32 Kibera slum community members from four villages namely Laini Saba, Lindi, Mashimoni and Kianda. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. There were various reasons cited by the respondents as being major challenges associated with reporting child sexual abuse. These included: fear of embarrassment and stigmatization, fear of family disintegration, lack of faith with the law enforcers, parents feeling that they were negligent, children fear that no one will believe them and children are too intimidated with threats by the abuser