Boniface Mwangi Biography
Boniface Mwangi is a Kenyan politician, activist, and Award-winning Kenyan Photojournalist. He is involved in social-political activism through his initiative Team Courage.
Boniface Mwangi Early life
Mwangi was born in Taitataveta on the Kenyan-Tanzanian border. His mother traded across the border.When he was six, he moved in with his grandparents in Nyeri Central Kenya.Having learned Kiswahili from birth he would encounter linguistic challenges.
Mwangi later moved with his mother to live in Nairobi’s low-income suburb of Ngara, then a highrise in Majengo, Githurai 45, before finally settling in Pangani. Mwangi dropped in and out of school during this period and helped his mother vend books.
Boniface Mwangi Education
Mwangi attended Bible school with the intention of becoming a pastor, and secured a diploma in Bible Stiudies. While at school he became interested in photography.
Despite not having high school education, Mwangi managed to gain a place at a private journalist school. To fund his studies, had to continue selling books on the street, but soon began to gain experience as a photojournalist.
Boniface Mwangi Journalist Career
When his mother died in 2000, Mwangi, then 17, decided he had to change if he was to survive. He joined a Bible school with the intention of becoming a pastor, and secured a diploma in Bible Studies. Whilst at school he became interested in photography. He was influenced by the Kenyan photographer Mohamed Amin.
Despite not having a high school education, Mwangi managed to gain a place at a private journalism school. To fund his studies he had to continue selling books on the street, but soon began to gain experience as a photojournalist. He published photographs in the national newspaper The Standard, and in 2005 won his first photography prizes.
Within three years he received international recognition as one of Africa’s most promising photographers. He was awarded the 2008 and 2010 CNN Africa Photojournalist of the Year Award. However, he put his photography career on hold, to work on Kenyan social justice.
Boniface Mwangi Activist Career
Mwangi quit journalism after witnessing and documenting post-election violence in Kenya in 2007 as a newspaper photographer. He experienced posttraumatic stress and depression (and he was also directly affected having to move temporarily after people of his community were being threatened). More importantly, he was frustrated he had to cover the same politicians that had incited the violence, but remained unpunished.
His first initiative was the project Picha Mtaani, Swahili for street exhibition, showing photographs of the violence in 2007 after the national elections, between the different tribes.
This travelling street exhibition was shown around the country for people to discuss reconciliation and promote national healing. Over 600.000 people saw the exhibition. This was later complemented by the documentary Heal the Nation, which was shown mostly in slum areas.
Following these initiatives Mwangi started to develop a stronger human rights stance in his work on fighting (political and corporate) impunity, speaking out against bad and corrupt political leadership and promoting a message of peace for the elections planned for 2013 with initiatives called MaVulture and Team Courage.
Team Courage is a Nairobi-based lobby that strives to enable a patriotic citizens’ movement to take bold and effective actions in building a new Kenya. His latest initiative is Pawa 254, a hub and space for artists and activists to work together towards social change and advancing Human rights in Kenya.
Boniface Mwangi Age
Born on 10th July 1983 he is 36 years of age s of 2019. He celebrates his birthday on 10th July every year.
Boniface Mwangi Family
Mwangi’s mother traded across the border. He moved in with his grandparents in Nyeri Central Kenya.
Boniface Mwangi Wife
Boniface is married to Hellen Njeri Mwangi.
Boniface Mwangi Image
Boniface Mwangi
Boniface Mwangi Networth
Boniface has an estimated Networth of 3 Million Ksh.
Frequently Asked Questions About Boniface Mwangi
Who is Mwangi?
Mwangi is a Kenyan Photojournalist.
How old is Mwangi?
Mwangi is 36 as of 2019. He was born in 1983.
Is Mwangi married?
Mwangi is married to his lovely wife Hellen Njeri Mwangi.
Mwangi Salary?
Not known.
How much is Mwangi net worth?
He has an accomplished journalist with an estimated net worth of Ksh.3 Million.
Where does Mwangi live?
Mwangi lives in Nairobi Kenya.
Where is Mwangi now?
Mwangi is currently working as Photojournalist.
Boniface Mwangi News
On Sunday, activist Boniface Mwangi saved a man from being arrested by police for allegedly wearing a military uniform.
According to Mwangi, he was at The Hub Mall in Karen, Nairobi when the man came running to him with police in pursuit.
“We were at The Hub when this man came running to me that the police want to arrest him for wearing “military uniform.” He was with this his two children,” stated Mwangi.
In a video shared by the activist, he is heard reprimanding the three officers for harassing the innocent man instead of apprehending criminals.
READ ALSO: Boniface Mwangi: I had intercourse once, and was kicked out of church!
“Arrest criminals instead. He is a parent accompanied by the children doing shopping yet you want to arrest him, don’t you have anything else to do?
“Why are you following him yet he has children with him? Wewe kwanza angalia unakula miraa” said Mwangi, pointing at one of the police officers.
“I told the police that what he was wearing was not military fatigue. We stood our ground and escorted the man out of the mall, away from those two officers who were obviously abusing their authority,” he stated.
I just finished photographing and interviewing 70 people between the ages of 18-70 from across Kenya. I posed two questions to them: how did you learn about sex, and what’s your family planning method?
Growing up, sex was a taboo subject and it was amazing to learn that people born 70 years ago had the same experience.
When I turned 14, I got circumcised. Culturally, I was now a man. I assume my mother told my elder brother to talk to me about sex, but all he mumbled was that women are dangerous, and that was the end of my sex education!
When I was serving in the church ministry, we were taught about abstinence and that it was a cool thing to be a virgin. The church told us sex was a beautiful cake, but if you eat it at the wrong time, it has a rotten rat inside. What a metaphor.
I remember listening to a pastor who taught us how to pray “dangerous prayers”. The prayers went like this: Lord, if l look at a woman and desire her, strike me with blindness and if I sleep with her, infect me with HIV/Aids.
Those “dangerous prayers” were to discourage us from engaging in premarital sex. But you see, my parent (I was brought up by a single mum) and my eldest brother didn’t bother telling me what sex was and its context. The church told me you will discover what it is when it happens.
Unfortunately, the church didn’t see it fit to tell us that in case you found yourself tempted, you could use a condom.
My girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, also grew up in church. She sang in the choir and wore a chastity ring until the day two young Christians, burning with passion, had sex without understanding its consequences.
Njeri got pregnant and was subsequently fired from the Christian organisation she had been working for, while I got kicked out from serving as a youth deacon. My church pastors didn’t even attend my wedding and my wife’s church presided over the service. Yet if we had received better sex education, we might have had sex with a condom.
Sadly, we aren’t talking about it. Scheaffer Okore tells me she was taught that sex was for wayward people. It was a dirty word, for sinners and prostitutes. If you talked about sex, or engaged in it, you would contract HIV and die.
What I find stupid about this approach is that sex education isn’t about children having sex. It is about understanding sex because left in the dark, it is curiosity that ends up killing the young cats.
Personally, It I don’t think anyone should have sex in their teenage years. It doesn’t add value to their lives and in any case they lack the emotional and monetary ability to deal with its consequences. But we are not helping kids by pretending that sex does not exist.
In 1962, Kenya had 8 million people and we are at 50 million people today. We have been having sex, lots of sex and it shows because our population has exploded. We need to talk about family planning.
Men in particular must be more responsible. We cannot continue leaving family planning to women. I am part of this campaign, #FormNiGani which is getting young adults to talk about sex and family planning freely.
As writer Kingwa Kamenchu once told me, family planning is about pleasure, and if you have too many kids it will affect your pleasure calendar. Let us all take charge of our sex lives because those three seconds of passion can alter our lives for better, or for us. And let’s bring children on board.
If our kids can watch politicians behaving badly on national television, then they are old enough to learn about sex.
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