She would later score 378 marks in the KCPE exam of 2021.
Trouble started when she was about to start join Form 1 in one of the prestigious schools in Bungoma, after the father demanded for sexual favours from her.
“One evening after supper, my father came to my bedroom with a knife. He undressed me and had sex with me. He threatened to kill me if I revealed what transpired to any person,” said Nafula in an interview
After the incident, Nafula was left bleeding profusely but could not tell anyone. "In the evening, my father brought medication for me to stop the bleeding," she said.
“He got me admitted to a boarding school which gave me some relief but whenever schools closed, my father would have sex with me countless times until I got pregnant while in Form 2 first term,” Nafula said.
She added, “When I told him I was pregnant, he took me to Eldoret to terminate the pregnancy at a private clinic and after the procedure, I became critically sick, forcing me to break the news to my mother.”
Nafula said the mother facilitated her escape to Kitale town where she was living and ensured she got treatment.
“Its my father who broke my virginity, got me impregnated and terminated the pregnancy that almost killed me. Worse is, my father infected me with HIV,” said Nafula, adding that when her mother had a HIV test, she turned negative’.
She said they reported the matter to the family and the police, but no step was taken after money exchanged hands.
Nafula’s case is a clear indication that if prevention measures are not taken to protect school girls and women, the situation will get out of hand.
As Kenya celebrates 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence, Bungoma county’s sexual and gender-based violence prevalence stands at 23 per cent, compared to the national average of 13 per cent.
Between 2016 – July 2023, data from the county shows that 9,089 cases of SGBV were recorded for girls aged between 10-17 years, compared to the 18,510 cases that were reported nationally.
Data from the Kenya Demographic Health Systems (KDHS) 2022, shows that 62 per cent of Bungoma women have experienced both physical and sexual violence.
KDHS data also shows that of all teenage pregnancy cases reported in the country, Bungoma has recorded 19 per cent of the cases in the country.
As a mitigation measure, the County government has partnered with humanitarian and community-based Organisations, in creating awareness on SGBV and advocacy against teenage pregnancy, through music, drama and art as the country celebrates 16 days of activism.
This year’s theme is ‘invest to prevent violence against women and girls'. The 16 days run from November 25 to December 10 every year.
Beryl Moraa, a Community Engagement Consultant at IPas Africa Alliance, an organisation that partners for reproductive justice, said through art, the main purpose of the event is to bring together young people especially adolescents, to be able to tell the forms of SGBV they have experienced, witnessed and how to prevent it.
“We decided to involve adolescents because they are the ones who undergo all forms of violence directly, and also to give them a platform to showcase their talents, motivate and make them feel their voice counts,” Moraa said.
However, she said her organisation has embraced the role of art in enhancing awareness on gender-based violence, adding that art brings together young people.
“We have partnered with county governments and organisations operating within those counties to use art to create awareness on gender-based violence,” she said.
The event dubbed ‘Integration of art in creating awareness’ is a therapeutic activity to encourage community members to learn new ways of expressing their emotions and communicate in order to understand the root causes and factors contributing to the high cases of GBV.
She also noted that they are planning to have the same events in other counties citing Kisumu where they will have talent shows, medical camps, legal clinics so that they can be able to provide services and information.
Moraa said they decided to focus on children because they often do not have space to speak out, noting that because they witness different forms of gender violence, it affects them psychological, emotional and their development.
“We have given them space to speak up and show the society and their parents that they get to see these things and it also affects them,” Moraa said.
Mariam Mohammed, Programs manager, Stage Media Arts CBO, lauded Bungoma County government and other organisations for partnering to address gender-based violence.
Mohammed said during the 16 days of activism, her organisation has taken the frontline to lead community dialogues in the county on how to curb teenage pregnancies and gender-based violence cases.
“Our work is to create awareness in the community and support GBV victims when it comes to escalating the issues to the Judiciary so that they get justice,” she said.
She said the forums also give an avenue for victims to come out and share the forms of violence they go through and how they can prevent violence from occurring, adding that they use art because it is well understood among teenagers and can clearly show the forms of violence.
Jesse Wafula, County adolescent Sexual reproductive health coordinator, said there are high numbers of new infections of HIV/AIDS, adding that in the past four months, Bungoma has recorded 1,500 new HIV/AIDS cases.
Wafula said teenage pregnancy puts young girls at risk, noting that so far, Bungoma has lost 18 girls due to teenage pregnancy complications.
“We want this teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence issues to be a thing of the past, let us all be responsible to fight the triple threat,” Wafula said.
Wafula called on organisations advocating against teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence to continue having community engagements as a way of addressing the rising triple threat.
