Natha Yare Bashir

Natha Bashir is a professionally trained HIV and AIDS counsellor from Wajir, Kenya. She is currently secretary of the North Eastern Deaf Persons Empowerment Group, and having released the ignorance and strong cultural beliefs of communities in the North Eastern region towards disability (especially the deaf) she is now focused on empowering young girls and women to realize their rights, as entrenched in the constitution and in the UN Convention. She has varied experience in working with different organizations as an advocate for the rights of deaf people in Kenya, including the Kenya National Association of Deaf (KNAD), and Handicap International (a non-government organization). Natha Yare Bashir has seen an increase in awareness of the importance of sign language in her own community, and upon completion of the Washington Fellowship, will create more partnerships to strengthen advocacy and encourage lobby groups so that deaf people in Kenya can enjoy equal rights.