CECILIA MWANGI HONOURED

By Brenda Okoth

Four years ago when Miss World Kenya 2005, Cecilia Mwangi announced that her mission as a beauty queen was to fight jiggers, many of us thought her crazy.
However she didn’t let the snide remarks deter her from devoting her limelight-life to fighting a somewhat disregarded health menace that has afflicted Kenya’s poor families leaving them helpless and unproductive.
Anti-jigger campaign led by Cecilia Mwangi has once again been awarded with a Humanitarian Of The Year Award by Laico Regency. This makes it a total of Four awards received by the group in Four months.
The Cocktail was attended by the Public Health Minister Hon. Beth Mugo whose ministry was awarded with a Certificate of recognition for supporting the Campaign.
The Minister said that the Ministry has set aside 10 Million for fighting jiggers this year. She also asked members of Parliament to stop feeling embarrased and get involved as well channel some of the CDF cash towards the fifght.
Francis Atwoli sent his personal contribution of Ksh. 100,000 and urged Cecilia to continue with the campaign without fear.

Cecila Mwangi Awarded Young Achiever Prize

Cecilia Mwangi- Miss World Kenya 2005 was yesterday honoured with Young Achievers award by Women Students Welfare Association.( WOSWA) an initiative of University of Nairobi. This was in recognition of her fight against jiggers. Young achievers award is the third award Cecilia has received within two months this year alone. The first was Global leadership&management award from USAID, Service Award from JKUAT and finally Young Achiever 2009. The award ceremony which was held at Intercontinental hotel was attended by among others Prime minister's wife Madam Ida Odinga and Maendeleo ya Wanawake Chairperson Mrs Rukia Subwo. The two were also awarded for mentoring the youth especially young girls in Kenya.

Meanwhile several celebrities led by top media personalities have confirmed they will attend the coming Saturday's jigger awareness campaign. Cecilia has appealed to more Kenyan celebrities to come on board

Ahadi Trust wins USAID award

For the humble task of fighting to eradicate jiggers, Ahadi Trust were announced winners of the third annual Leadership & Management Award, supported by the US Agency for International Development. The news was released officially on Wednesday by the Management Sciences for Health, an American NGO.
Ahadi Trust was lauded for its exemplary leadership and management skills to overcome challenges and achieve measurable results in the areas of HIV/AIDS, infectious disease, and maternal/child health. The Kenyan NGO is run by Stanley Kamau and Miss World Kenya 2005 Cecilia Mwangi.
The Leadership and Management Award is an annual award it was created to recognize teams of health care professionals. The Kenyan team beat 13 other teams from around the world, including countries like Peru, Burkina Faso and Afghanistan.
Ahadi Trust which was founded in 2007 will receive a Sh120,000 grant to further its work.