About us
Maisha Girls Safe House (MGSH) is a grassroots Non-Governmental Organization committed to reaching out, receiving, and protecting girls from sexual violence and human trafficking. We provide a continuum of care and support while fostering resiliency for a better quality of life.
Founded in 2016 by Florence, a childhood survivor of sexual abuse, MGSH was established to offer support to other girls who have experienced exploitation. Initially registered as a Community-Based Organization (CBO) in 2019, MGSH upgraded its registration to an NGO in 2020 in response to the increasing number of cases from different parts of the country and beyond.
Our services extend to Kamukunji, Makadara, Starehe and Mathare Sub-Counties, and other areas across Kenya. We run a safe house that temporarily hosts and supports girl survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse under 19 years of age, as well as community-based safe spaces targeting girls and young women vulnerable to human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Since its inception, MGSH has supported more than 700 girl survivors, meeting their essential needs, providing healthcare, and trauma healing, and guiding them through the justice system. Afterward, we carry out family tracing, reconciliation, and reintegration processes. Additionally, MGSH is a strong advocate against Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and collaborates with various stakeholders to promote interventions aimed at addressing SGBV.
Florence is an activist, feminist and a survivor of childhood sexual violence. She has more than 10 years of experience in Trauma counselling and paralegal work with a focus on sexual violence and exploitation issues and the law. She is the founder of Maisha Girls, an initiative that brings together girls and young women who have survived sexual violence from across parts of Kenya. Through this initiative, she has established safe houses that provide immediate care and protection to survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking. The safe houses also support the survivors to access medical services, psychosocial support and access to justice. Florence spearheads community safe spaces that act as platforms for prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence issues. The spaces are also a hub where youth can access information on different issues. She has run campaigns on the effects of sexual violence in different communities and social platforms. She works with Talita Kenya, which is a rehabilitation program that reaches out to girls and women who have been trafficked for sexual exploitation or have been forced into prostitution. Her work as a mentor and counsellor has been quite instrumental in ensuring that healing and dignity are restored in the lives of the ladies she comes in contact with.
She has been a strong member of the National Survivors of Sexual Violence Network Kenya where she coordinates the activities of the network in Nairobi County. Florence, the safe sister, sums herself up as a “walking safe space” for survivors and vulnerable girls and young women in informal settlements in Nairobi.
She advocates for holistic service delivery towards people going through any form of sexual abuse and currently together with other members of the survivors of sexual violence network are lobbying for the National and county annual government budgets to allocate funds towards managing the referral path for survivors of sexual violence.
