At 22, Lenia is impacting the lives of girls and boys in communities

Charity Kevin Lenia is a born leader. At 22 years, she is already a philanthropist, mentor and motivational speaker, who is reaching out to young boys and girls, teaching them life skills aimed at making them better members of society.

She is determined and hardworking and has always networked as much as she could with different people, not letting go of opportunities she comes across. She is excited about learning new things and loves reading for personal growth.

As a student, she earns a living from public speaking gigs. Lenia grew up with her mother in Naguru, Kampala with an absentee father who had another family. Her mother raised her, providing everything she needed, that her father was not able to provide.

Nonetheless, she always felt that her family was less than perfect, a space that not many a child would admire. Lenia’s mother worked in the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF) and often disciplined her when she misbehaved.

Lenia Charity Kevin (middle) with Julie Nagadya an administrator and Nabasirye Massy (right) Head of dept transcripts, certficates and students records. (Courtesy photo)

After the training, she became more concerned about the girl-child and started a community-Based Organisation which she called “Doing it for Her”. She wanted to use it to help girls in schools and rural areas. She later started “Doing it for Him”, which targets boys in school. 

When Lenia turned 18 years and was on vacation, she visited a 16-year-old friend and found her trying to sew pieces of clothes together to make a sanitary pad. Lenia was not only bothered but concerned. She shared the little money she had and went ahead to go on YouTube and learn how one can make sanitary pads.

“To help the girl, I mobilised friends so that we can all learn together. Since we were under the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I used this opportunity to collect some money, which we used to buy pads and distributed them to particular slum areas,’’ she says,

She made a flyer which she posted on her social media handles, beseeching people to donate towards a girl-child outreach activity which was going to be carried out in the slums of Acholi quarters in Mbuya. 

“I was pushing the agenda of menstrual health and hygiene for girls, self-reliance and success for women,” she says. Having invited different personalities to facilitate the programme, including women advocates and enthusiasts like Anna Talia Oze, a media personality and others, they reached out to about 150 girls, training them on how to make reusable sanitary pads for themselves, and also donated some to them.

By 2021, her organisation was up and running doing advocacy work in schools. Using money solicited from well-wishers and friends, she went to different schools like Ringili, Naguru Parents and St Jude Primary School. They also visited St Mary's Namaliga Secondary School in Luwero and Our Lady of Africa School in Mukono.

“We have been to 50 schools so far boosting students’ self-confidence and counselling them,’’ she noted. In November last year, the campaign was changed from ‘Doing it for her’ to ‘Doing it for him’ for gender inclusiveness and a more impactful society that will involve everyone in actively participating in efforts to bring about societal change. “We train young people in entrepreneur skills like weaving baskets, soap-making, and leadership training. We do peer-to-peer counselling engagements,’’ she says.

Charity Kevin Lenia is a born leader. At 22 years, she is already a philanthropist, mentor and motivational speaker, who is reaching out to young boys and girls. (Courtesy photo)

Lenia joined Makerere University Business School (MUBS) in Nakawa in 2021 to study a Bachelor of Procurement and Supply Chain Management (BSPM) and was quickly elected a course leader and a Guild Representative Council (GRC) in her first year of study. While there, she started a programme called Lenia Academia at the beginning of 2023, meant to help students who had difficulty paying tuition through organising car washes and CEO forums where students can explore different opportunities from the CEOs who speak to them. This, she said, is going to be a policy, even after she has left the university.

Vision

Lenia envisions herself as a leader who promotes sustainable goals in her community. She is passionate about gender equity. She desires to see young, resilient and powerful women and girls with the capacity to prove themselves to the world. Even though she is studying business at MUBS, she hopes to enrol for a law course, after she graduates next year, so that she can become a powerful attorney. 

She is gearing herself up to stand as a Member of Parliament for her constituency in the next parliamentary elections. Using her organisation, she hopes to recruit many women and men so that they can work together to improve different sectors like education, and to help People with Disabilities (PWDs) to live better lives.