Fidelis Wainaina
Fidelis Wainaina was the founder of Maseno Interchristian Child Self Help Group, an organization that strives for self-sustainability through agriculture, for the people of rural western Kenya. She won the Yara Prize in 2006 alongside Celina Cossa of Mozambique.
A former school teacher, Wainaina abandoned her teaching career after growing frustrated with a curriculum that prepared students more for exams than for the realities of life outside the classroom. She worked to eradicate poverty and hunger by assisting impoverished families farm their land sustainably. Popularly known by the Luo people of western Kenya as Nyar Okuyo, Wainaina was a champion of "gender revolution" in advocacy for women empowerment. Her focus groups in development were mainly street children and widows, especially those ravaged by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
She died on 5 March 2008 at the age of 46, after being diagnosed with cancer.
