Five former and current Kisumu Girls High School students have jointly won a top continental award after developing a mobile application meant to help fight and end female genital mutilation (FGM).
The girls are the winners of the 2018 African of the Year Award, after developing the I-cut mobile application that connects girls at risk of circumcision with rescue centres.
This was after a selection committee of the Daily Trust’s African of the Year Award, headed by former President of Botswana Festus Mogae settled on the five as the award winners, as reported by Daily Nation.
The five are Stacy Adhiambo Owino, Purity Achieng’, Ivy Akinyi, Cynthia Otieno and Macrine Atieno, aged between 17 and 18 years.
They are known as the ‘Restorers’.
The five girls will be recognized and awarded in a ceremony to be held in Abuja, Nigeria on Wednesday next week.
Their efforts have put them in line to receive Sh2.5 million prize.
18-year-old Stacy Adhiambo says that the journey of developing the app started two years ago at Kisumu Girls.
“When we got the chance, we established the app after we realised that the efforts of activists against FGM were not being complimented. We wanted to offer our help to the targeted girls so that they are helped and not run away their entire lives,” Ms Adhiambo told the Nation.
Ms Adhiambo is currently a first-year student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology studying computer science.