Storytelling    Challenge & Selection    In my day to day work i use storytelling to enable the people we are targeting in the society to open up  about the situations they are undergoing.  We work with young women who have unwanted pregnancy  especially those who are in school also those who are pregnant through rape. Many of these women  deal with a lot of stress from societal stigma and they need to be counseled and to be assured that there  are still who they were before the pregnancy. To relieve them from the burden of stigma ,loss of self- worth and stigma, I have to find a way for them to open up about how they feel and think about their  situation this helps to relieve them off their stress ,trauma and stigma. Most of them are always excited  to share out their stories once they get comfortable with the environment therein and they find peace  through sharing out their ordeal. Those who are pregnant through rape, I try to share out similar stories  with them, this helps them to appreciate that they are not the only ones with such a situation , and the  stories they share out I use them to come up with ways that  can ensure they are completely relieved off  the stress and trauma .    Application  Through story telling I am able to identify ways on how the unwanted pregnancy can be prevented in  addition how women can stay safe against sexual predators. These findings I share them with policy  makers through our organization and they have been used as a basis for developing different national  policies. Key from the finding is that this  women are vulnerable and need personalized attention from  competent counselors and that the community should be educated on how to address such situation in  the community, I use different stories to stress my proposals on saving women from unwanted  pregnancy , I gave an example of why we need to impart young women with life skills from a story of a  young girl who got pregnant as she was trying to fit into her peer group who had all engaged in  unprotected sex and if she had been trained on life skills then she wouldn’t have succumbed to peer  pressure.    Insight & Approach    The young girl who was in high school had great admiration from her parents and the community as she  was very bright in school in addition she was very disciplined, when she got pregnant she was stressed  and ashamed as she couldn’t imagine how her parents and the community would react once they learnt  of her pregnancy. When she came to our center she was literally panicking and crying as others narrate  their stories of how they ended up being pregnant. I had to call her aside and I tried to calm her by  sharing out a story of a girl same her age who had gotten pregnant trying to secure her love relationship  with her boyfriend and that though she got pregnant were able to counsel her and she was patient  enough to carry the pregnancy to term and delivered a healthy baby after which she continued with her  education to which she performed well and she is now a practicing medical doctor. Through that story  she felt encouraged and motivated; she opened up and shared out her story. Truly she really needed  someone who could assure her that all is not lost and I was glad I played that part in her life as she  gained the confidence to inform her parents about the pregnancy who forgave her and she is looking  forward to going back to school once she gives birth.    From her story, the need to train teenagers on life skill came out strongly and through our organization  the stakeholders in education are developing modalities on how teenagers will be trained on life skills.

Through design thinking I have practically learnt that story telling is a great tool that I never imagined it  would be of great importance in solving the daily society problems and challenges.


Storytelling Challenge & Selection In my day to day work i use storytelling to enable the people we are targeting in the society to open up about the situations they are undergoing . We work with young women who have unwanted pregnancy especially those who are in school also those who are pregnant through rape . Many of these women deal with a lot of stress from societal stigma and they need to be counseled and to be assured that there are still who they were before the pregnancy . To relieve them from the burden of stigma , loss of self- worth and stigma , I have to find a way for them to open up about how they feel and think about their situation this helps to relieve them off their stress , trauma and stigma . Most of them are always excited to share out their stories once they get comfortable with the environment therein and they find peace through sharing out their ordeal . Those who are pregnant through rape , I try to share out similar stories with them , this helps them to appreciate that they are not the only ones with such a situation , and the stories they share out I use them to come up with ways that can ensure they are completely relieved off the stress and trauma . Application Through story telling I am able to identify ways on how the unwanted pregnancy can be prevented in addition how women can stay safe against sexual predators . These findings I share them with policy makers through our organization and they have been used as a basis for developing different national policies . Key from the finding is that this women are vulnerable and need personalized attention from competent counselors and that the community should be educated on how to address such situation in the community , I use different stories to stress my proposals on saving women from unwanted pregnancy , I gave an example of why we need to impart young women with life skills from a story of a young girl who got pregnant as she was trying to fit into her peer group who had all engaged in unprotected sex and if she had been trained on life skills then she would n’t have succumbed to peer pressure . Insight & Approach The young girl who was in high school had great admiration from her parents and the community as she was very bright in school in addition she was very disciplined , when she got pregnant she was stressed and ashamed as she could n’t imagine how her parents and the community would react once they learnt of her pregnancy . When she came to our center she was literally panicking and crying as others narrate their stories of how they ended up being pregnant . I had to call her aside and I tried to calm her by sharing out a story of a girl same her age who had gotten pregnant trying to secure her love relationship with her boyfriend and that though she got pregnant were able to counsel her and she was patient enough to carry the pregnancy to term and delivered a healthy baby after which she continued with her education to which she performed well and she is now a practicing medical doctor . Through that story she felt encouraged and motivated ; she opened up and shared out her story . Truly she really needed someone who could assure her that all is not lost and I was glad I played that part in her life as she gained the confidence to inform her parents about the pregnancy who forgave her and she is looking forward to going back to school once she gives birth . From her story , the need to train teenagers on life skill came out strongly and through our organization the stakeholders in education are developing modalities on how teenagers will be trained on life skills . Through design thinking I have practically learnt that story telling is a great tool that I never imagined it would be of great importance in solving the daily society problems and challenges .