Admission:
CIC Members - Free
Non-Members - $10.00
Student Non-Members - $5.00

Speaker’s biography:
Flora Terah is an HIV/AIDS counselor and women’s advocate who was one of approximately 200 women that ran for Parliament in the Kenyan elections in 2007. She was one of several women who were abducted, tortured and abused because they dared to run for public office in Kenya . Hospitalized for weeks and unable to canvass properly, lost her bid for election. Worse was still to come for Terah: in March 2008 her only child, a 19 year old footballer, was murdered in Nairobi. Terahs case is one of several case studies highlighted in Amnesty Internationals 2008 report on the state of worlds human rights, released on May 28 2008. Now, more than ever, Ms. Terah is committed to mobilizing an end to gender-based violence, and to this end, Ms Terah is Executive Director of an NGO she started called “Terah against Terror. A civil society organization that campaigns on behalf of victims of gender based violence based in Nairobi. Ultimately, Ms. Terah i s committed to running for office again in the next Parliamentary elections in Kenya in 2012.

Ms Terah has a Diploma in Community Development and Social Work and a Diploma in Business Administration. In addition to her NGO, and being a Parliamentary Candidate, Ms Terah was Director of Community Hope Initiative an organization that focused Reproductive health issues for Women for 10 years in Nairobi. She has been the Director on Womens Education drafting a Constitution for womens rights; she developed partnerships with and coordinated the activities of other womens organizations in Nairobi including United Nations Fund For Women (UNIFEM) Gender and Governance Program, Centre for Collaboration on Human Rights, The Centre for Multi-Party Democracy (CMD-K), Community Initiative for Women, Women Political Alliance, and the Womens Caucus. Ms Terah was also Co-Coordinator for post-election peace building; and a Community Organizer for the National Campaign against Drugs.

She has worked for the Stephen Lewis Foundation in Canada as a Consultant for 9 months, she brought her expertise to the Foundation that supports community based organizations that are working to turn tide of AIDS in Africa by providing care and support to women, orphans and vulnerable children, grandmothers, and networks of people living with HIV/AIDS. Since 2003 the Foundation as supported over 300 grassroots initiatives in 15 countries including Kenya.

Ms Terah is now a board member of Peacock Poverty a Canadian based organization that addresses poverty.

Ms Terah has been keynote speaker many events organized by Amnesty International, Canadian Lawyers Abroad, Jeanne Sauv Foundation in Montral, Carleton University Womens Studies, McGill university and Ontario Institute of Studies and Educations. Ms. Terah has addressed meetings attended by worlds most influential leaders like Prof Wangari Maathai, David Suzuki, the Right Honorable Paul Martin, and President Bill Clinton, and the former Governor General Michaelle Jean respectively. Subjects have included Gender Based Violence, Womens Political Participation, HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Cancer, Womens Courage and Resilience.

She is a published author of They Never Killed My Spirit: But They Murdered My Only Child her autobiography and her next book “Beyond Pain is due out this fall.