Why Give a Buck?

Semerian, a Maasai woman, remembers her grandmother’s stories of a time when Maasai pastoralists roamed freely, before the post-colonial era brought sweeping changes to their ancient lifestyle. In this episode, Semerian shares some of the painful shifts Maasai have faced over the past few decades, and how they are working to preserve their rich and vibrant cultural heritage. Beyond these existential challenges, Semerian also ...

Grace Ongong'a grew up in a typical polygamous family in rural Kenya, with one father, six mothers, and 24 siblings. In Grace's community, girls are expected to leave school as soon as they find a husband, marry young, and start families. But fortunately for Grace, her parents believed in her right to education and independence. After becoming a teacher and spending eight transformative years abroad, Grace returned home on a missio...

Bright Shitemi experienced depression and suicidal ideation as a young man following the traumatic aftermath of a family member's attempted suicide when he was a child. He learned firsthand how mental health is treated by Kenyan society and how people suffering are stigmatised, marginalised and even criminalised. In this episode, Bright shares how he came back from the brink and began working to bring mental illness out of the shad...

Lea Kilenga has sickle cell disease, which causes daily pain and difficulties. But that didn't stop her from harassing Kenya's Head of Non-communicable Diseases via daily WhatsApp messages, until he started listening to her! In this episode, Lea shares with us how a girl from a small coastal village in Kenya, where 24% of the local population carries sickle cell, is persuading global health institutions, as well as her own governme...

Florence Namaganda, Ugandan founder of Mukisa Foundation, shares her journey as a neuro-pediatric therapist and physiotherapist who first encountered children with disabilities on her first day at medical school, a moment that left a profound impact on her.

Christey and Johanna chat with Florence about her need to comprehend why these children with disabilities were segregated from mainstream society and how her investigati...

Jean Michel Habineza grew up in the wake of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, one of the gravest atrocities in recent human history, where almost overnight friends and neighbours became deadly enemies. Jean Michel is part of the movement to bring Rwanda back to a state of genuine, lasting peace. In this episode Jean Michel details the steps that can lead normal people to become capable of genocide, and how to reconcile former enemies wh...

Johanna and Christey speak with Mercy Kafotokoza, the midwife and nurse tackling Malawi's alarming maternal and infant mortality rate head-on! Mercy discusses how she trains nurses and midwives to ride off-road motorbikes so they can ride over rugged terrain to treat the furthest away patients. She also provides an overview of the complex cultural context she works in where consulting witch doctors is the norm, and how lack of educ...