Hellen Obado donates a pair of shoes to an elderly woman in Isebania Ward, Kuria West Sub County

When we were going for elections in 2013, we were electing a new set of leaders into new positions that were created under the new constitution promulgated in 2010.

Different leaders were elected but the impact of some of the positions like that of the governor were not known till the national government started pumping in billions to the counties.

This has drawn many people to contemplate running for governor in the 2017 general election and already we have seen select senators bracing themselves to unseat their respective governors.

Governors are not willing to let go off the ‘big’ seat easily and have resorted to do what it takes to protect their seats at all cost. And this includes their wives taking the initiative of doing various projects to uplift the livelihoods of women and children and county-men at large which they always tag their husbands- governors, along during the launch of these projects.

The first lady of Migori County, Hellen Obado has visibly not been left out as she has initiated a number of projects as well as partnering with various and partnered with various stakeholders to ensure that the welfare of the girl child and the womenfolk at large in improved.

In November 2014, Mrs. Obado led a group of 200 girls in a 12 kilometre race dubbed “I care for her 2014 marathon,” organised with an NGO Nyanza Initiative for Girls Education and Empowerment (NIGEE) in collaboration with county government of Migori.

The funds drive was to collect funds was aimed at ensuring girls’ in Migori, Homabay, Kisumu and Siaya enrol to school and continue their education.

“We should strive very hard and work together to ensure that Migori County and Nyanza region at large registers an impressive admission and completion rate in our schools,” Mrs. Obado said at Migori primary after completing the 12 km race.

Mrs. Obado has also led in speaking against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriages, practices which are prevalent in within the Kuria community.

“FGM among other such retrogressive cultures have weakened the welfare of the girl child. Girls get married of and thereafter lead miserable lives and this should not happen at the watch of our leaders,” Mrs. Obado said in October 2015 in Masaba in Kuria West sub-county.

To further show her support to the girl child in the county with most of them drawn from poor families, Migori governor’s wife has issued sanitary towels to over 300 girls at Nyamage primary school in Uriri sub-county and 600 girls in Kanyasa Ward which is In Nyatike.

Migori County’s first lady also cares for the health and sanitation of the residents within the county. A campaign conducted in Nyatike sub-county in June 2015 saw children and some women in Kanyasa ward get treated against jiggers that had rendered them immobile.

Victims of the jiggers’ infestation received shoes, soap and Vaseline Jelly as the first lady urged them to live in a clean environment.

Maternal health care is another key priority area that Mrs. Obado has directed her efforts towards so as to see to it that maternal deaths in the county reduce.

She has been at the forefront of urging women to deliver at hospitals, go for the required check-ups during pregnancy as well us taking children to be immunised against various diseases as required.

According to Migori county’s department of health records on the county website, the number of births occurring in home environment are 9440 with the under-fives mortality rate standing at 50/1000 as of 2015.

This has seen the county benefit a fully stocked and equipped mobile clinic from Margaret Kenyatta’s beyond zero campaign.

The first lady has also been very keen on ensuring that women get empowered economically by being able to enhance house hold food security by first forming women groups and Sacco’s.

To encourage women to form groups, Mrs. Obado invited her Excellency Rachael Ruto in February 2015 to teach women on table banking in a function that was opened by Migori women representative Dennitah Ghati.

The first lady is also running an 8 million “kuku ni pesa” project that is aimed at enabling women get empowered economically through rearing chicken.

The project is directed at women groups and Sacco’s in all the forty wards in Migori County.

The project that was rolled out in March this year saw North Kanyamkago Ward Women Sacco’s in Uriri sub-county get an incubator which was set and are now counting day before they get their first batch of chicks.

During these functions, the first lady does not fail to mention the efforts and support she receives from the county government and governor Zachary Obado. As such, this is a good strategy that also has let the county’s first family try to deliver jointly their pledges to the people of Migori County.