Kenya: People here are coming together to help a Journalist – Nasibo Kabale who ended up on the streets after facing depression. The Journalist came into limelight as she won an award for Health Journalist, but she lost her job, after which she was taken to a rehabilitation center.
Reportedly, a video is going viral, of a former Kenyan journalist Kabale living in squalid conditions that has sparked an outpouring of empathy and sympathy from Kenyans with majority of them offering to help her in regaining her footing.
In an interview, Nasibo said that she found herself in the situation after a 2020 bout of depression triggered with rising fatlities from the Covid-19 pandemic took a toll on her mental health.
Considering her past life, Nasibo Kabale was a former NTV health reporter and said that some of her colleagues were laid off at the height of the global pandemic and in the course of that period, she realised that she couldn’t cope, promting her to be hospitalized and put on anti-depressants.
Journalist Kabale also mentioned, after that she went to work two times then quit on the third attempt. Nasibo, aged 26a, was one of the frontline workers during the pandemic in the media sector and was at the forefront in updating Kenyans daily on the goings over national and global reports.
It was at a time of social distancing, sanitising, washing of hands and the wearing of face masks became a part of humanity. Nasibo explained that this new way of doing things exacerbated her condition and strained her relationship with her daughter who now stays with her father.
“She’s in Grade-II now, she’s very fine but I’m sure she misses motherly love. I would feel the same if I were in her position,” she Nasibo.
Nasibo hasn’t been able to get the help that she desires partly because people don’t understand that depression is a real disease. “They think maybe you are feeling sorry for yourself and you might be feeling bad, but I have learnt that sometimes when you are down, people prefer to abandon you,” she said.
Nasibo said she would like to get back to what she used to do best but not on TV. Her choices have changed and now she would like to try her hands in podcasting and vlogging, only if she gets the equipment.
“I used to be a writer but the media is changing continuously, people don’t even buy newspapers anymore so I would like to do something in the podcast area,” expressed Nasibo.
She said that she’s already has a ring light and all she needs now is a good phone and microphone and she’ll be back into business.