In December 2020, African Women in Media (AWiM), in partnership with the African Union (AU), International Labour Migration (ILO) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) held the Labour Migration Media Awards ceremony.

Judie Kaberia’s story titled, “New human trafficking routes identified in Kenya ” won the the top spot in the health and migration category.

In this interview with AWiMNews, Kaberia discusses her experiences as a journalist and the story that won the prize.

1. Please introduce yourself

I am Judie Kaberia, a multiple-award-winning journalist and media trainer currently working for Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) in its Kenyan project – Canada World: Voice for Women and Girls’ Rights. I am also a fellow in the Resilience Fellowship of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime – researching and reporting on human trafficking and harvesting of human organs in East Africa. I am a mentor of the U.S Embassy – Kenya mentorship programme for upcoming female journalists. I currently chair the Woman’s Newsroom Foundation and the Africa Check Foundation board in Kenya, a subsidiary of Africa Check Trust. I hold a Master’s Degree in New Media, Governance and Democracy from the University of Leicester, U.K.

2. What was your first career choice and what inspired you to go into journalism?

My first career choice was journalism. I grew up in a community where Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) was a culturally accepted practice that all girls were required to undergo. Growing up in a village tucked in remote Meru County, I wanted to undergo the cut so that I could be like my peers. Fortunately, my mother talked me out of it. Two years later she took me to a seminar on FGM. That is when I knew FGM was dangerous and not necessary and for the first time, I accepted living without undergoing it.

But I was bothered because I knew the rest of my village mates didn’t have the kind of information that I had. I didn’t know how I would make them access this information. Fortunately, at the end of that seminar, a man who introduced himself to me as a journalist told me that he wanted to interview me. I didn’t know what he meant. But I obliged. The following day I saw my photo and my story on a newspaper. That’s when I knew exactly what I wanted to be in life – to be a journalist so that I can give people important information, especially reporting on FGM.

After completing my high school I enrolled into a journalism school and that’s how my career in journalism begun. I have since fervently reported on women’s and girls’ rights for over a decade.

3. Please tell us a little about the story that won the award and what was your inspiration going into it?

The first cases of coronavirus in Kenya were reported in March. By April the usually busy Nairobi – the Capital of Kenya – had been reduced to almost a ghost town. We were scared of contracting the virus. But whenever I went to the Central Business District, I observed that it was business as usual for beggars – living with different disabilities.

I was disturbed that they neither had masks nor hand sanitizers, and were extremely exposed to the virus because they were handling cash. Some of them were crawling on the streets on their bare hands. I interacted with them and expressed my concerns about the looming risk of contracting coronavirus. They told me they had no choice since they had to make money to pay their ‘masters’. I decided to follow the story.

As I was working on this piece, I also realised that lack of shelters for victims of human trafficking was a huge crisis. Most of them were filled beyond capacity and unfortunately, some of the victims had to go back to live with their perpetrators including victims of gender based violence. Most of them were girls who had been violated by their close relatives.

As this was happening, Kenya took a while to classify children’s services as essential services which made it difficult to rescue children and prosecute perpetrators. But with the alarming number of sexual exploitation cases, matters affecting children were later prioritised. The upsurge of victims of trafficking and survivors of rape (girls and women), became a crisis along with the risk of contracting the coronavirus. The lack of shelters to accommodate them was double tragedy!

4. What is the best thing about the story and what is the most difficult thing?

After I did these two stories – they were a series – I received responses from Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and government agencies. We distributed masks, hand sanitizers, food and cash relief to distribute to vulnerable groups of women and girls. We also organised outreach activities with some CSOs and government agencies to create awareness about human trafficking, high level online grooming and recruitment of young girls during the containment measures.

I was happy with the sort of impact the story had. However, I was emotionally drained. The stories of the victims I interacted with were heart-wrenching. I didn’t understand why people want to hurt the innocent just because of their vulnerability.

It is fine to have rescue centres but no woman or girl should suffer in the first place. I just hope there is a way of ensuring we prevent such atrocities from happening. I hope the focus can be prevention.

5. What do you think is the one main form of support women journalists in your region need in order to produce similar stories?

I was able to do the stories because I got a resilience fellowship from the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime to work on investigative and in-depth stories based on select issues and on finding solutions and positive criticism of the system. This requires specialisation.

For the whole year, I have been working on human trafficking and harvesting of body organs. In this way, I have learnt a lot on the subject. I understand the laws, I know where the gaps are and I know what has worked. This sort of reporting requires funding and ample time. Unfortunately, media organisations are grappling with a tough economy making it difficult to accomodate journalists doing this kind of reporting. Training and mentorship are also important. I had a mentor throughout the fellowship.

6. What advice would you give to journalists looking to explore the themes you are looking at in their own work?

Journalism is a calling. It requires the passion and commitment of a journalist determined to make impact in the society. It requires hard work and confidence. Reporting on such subjects is difficult, exhausting and risky. Without perseverance it is easy to give up. I was almost attacked in one of Nairobi’s major slums as I was working, but I still had to think of how to maneuver for me to get the information I needed by minimizing the risks and being tactical. For example, working with security officers and developing a partnership with likeminded organisations including the government. That is the best decision I made when I started working on human trafficking. Avoiding sensational reporting and replacing it with journalism anchored on objectivity and commitment to create impact are my guiding principles in every single report I produce.