Alumni in the Spotlight showcases one of our alumni; their work and their impact in advancing law to fight cancer.
Introducing Caroline, a lecturer at Kenyatta University School of Law and a Member of the Kenya Tobacco Control Board, who recently returned to the McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer to participate in our first Alumni Workshop and shared with us some of her story.
Image: Caroline at the McCabe Centre Workshop in Melbourne, Australia © Erin Jonhson, Room3/McCabe Centre
"My name is Caroline and I'm a lecturer at Kenyatta University School of Law. I was recently appointed board member of the Kenya Tobacco Control Board. I was one of the September 2015 participants and that's how I started my work in this area – and I've not stopped.
After the McCabe Centre Intensive Course, I’ve been supporting WHO [World Health Organization] in their workshops in the Africa region as a trainer. Further, I was part of the team that developed the enforcement and implementation handbook for the Africa region this year. The workshops are usually WHO initiatives, so it is WHO who invite me to go and train as their expert.
It [the Intensive Course] opens up your mind and things are clearer, and when things are clearer you are able to deliver better to the people you are training, so it is more palatable to them. You are also able to contextualise your presentation based on what is happening domestically in the individual countries or in Africa. The [McCabe Centre] training was really beneficial to me as an individual, and also to the region, because the region can now utilise my knowledge to help train government officials in different countries.
What I train is the information that I received from McCabe Centre when I came for the three-week Intensive Course. What I learned at that point is what I actually go and train government officials. I want to learn more so that I can impact more. I am actually getting firsthand information which then I am able to contextualise and share with other people as well as with other government officials in the African region.
Many of our people are dying of cancer, so many it is shocking. I’m hoping that we take this issue of prevention seriously because what we do, we focus on curing, so you become sick, let’s cure you. We don’t focus on prevention, and when you focus on prevention, then our people understand why we are bringing these issues of alcohol control, why are we bringing issues of tobacco control, and why are we focusing on dietary issues. It is really about prevention. When we prevent, we don’t have to deal with cure.”
Caroline was one of 23 alumni who took part in a one-week Alumni Workshop, supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to share significant updates in relation to health, trade, investment, human rights and sustainable development; to discuss lessons learned in relation to NCD legislation development, implementation and enforcement; and to nurture the leadership skills of McCabe Centre Alumni.