Executive Director, Forgotten Voices Foundation

My name is Ruth Akoth, a passionate human rights defender and an inspired woman who seek to make diverse changes on my fellow women's story by getting empowered. Being a founder of Forgotten Voices Foundation, a charity organization initiated to support teenage girls and young women identify their rights and get empowered by maintaining their dignity. I am aligned on improving SDG 1, 3, 5, 7 and 15 as I initiate to adopt the culture of being an empowered woman who can fit in the space of competitive society.

My journey as a woman right defender begun as a survivor of GBV at home my upbringing was a hard one by being raised in a polygamous family where my father did not value girl child as my mother gave birth to only girls. Girls were refered to as "ogwang'" meaning wild cat in my community so I was referred to as one of the wild cats so having me educated was not necessary from my family. I was fortunate to have a sponsorship from Alliance One Tobacco company as my mother was a tobacco farmer and I had scored good marks which rendered me the scholarship. This brought a smile to my face with a hope to get my right to education. I went to Asumbi girls high school and scored good grade which led me to Kenyatta university to pursue bachelor's degree in Economics. My hope was cut short when the company collapsed and had the scholarship terminated just as I did my KCSE. This led me into early marriage at the age of 17 years, since home was unbearable for me from extreme poverty to violence from drunkerd father. Lucky enough my husband accepted to take me through university education as I was going through JAB direct entry, but faced challenges being a wife and student at the same time.

My advocacy story begun when I felt touched by a girl who was sexually abused by her father and got her pregnant and she could not defend herself since her mother wanted her to have the case hidden not to turnish the father's name. This really touched me and was inspired to become a human right defender especially women and girls. If by this time I was a human right defender I could have defended this girl and thus formed the Forgotten Voices Foundation in 2022 September.