Modesta Joseph
She empowers girls against sexual harassment
© Ovah Tanzania / PR
Modesta Joseph and her friends were repeatedly harassed on the school bus. She defended herself digitally – and became a role model for many young women worldwide. That makes her our strong woman in January.
It took two questions and a laptop to change Modesta Joseph’s life seven years ago. So today, when a girl sits in front of her to learn how to program apps from her, she asks her exactly the same questions: “What’s the biggest problem in your neighborhood? And how do you plan to solve it?”
Change the world through programming?
Modesta Joseph, 22, is a tech and women’s rights activist from Tanzania’s metropolis Dar es Salaam. Her story shows what digital technology can do in those countries that many people hardly associate with it – although the scene in Tanzania or Nigeria has been booming for a long time. Because those who work on new tools here have one thing in common: if you can program, you have mastered a universal alphabet. What more does it take to change the world?
Joseph grew up in modest circumstances. The father worked in an electronics store, the mother was a housewife, often there was only one meal a day. The parents wanted their daughter to study and have a better life. And sure enough, Joseph was admitted to a city-centre high school. But the 45-minute drive there was a nightmare: in the crowded buses, she and her friends were groped and obscene jokes were whispered to her. “And people looked away.”
When Joseph was 15, the Ugandan NGO “Apps and Girls” introduced a programming club for girls at their school. She registered – and heard the two questions that were to turn her life upside down. “It was like being given a piece of white paper and a pen. And saying: Think about what your passion is and what you can do with it for yourself and others.”
Reported 600 assaults in the first year
On this day she is sitting in the training room of “Apps and Girls”. She now teaches coding courses here herself, but back then HTML was new territory for her. Nevertheless, she soon built a website. This was supposed to solve the problem that bothered her the most: anyone who had been harassed on the way to school could report the incident there. The complaints were forwarded to the city administration and the police, both of whom had been informed in advance by the NGO. A project with far-reaching consequences: sexual violence against children is a particular problem in Tanzania. In addition, Joseph placed boxes in schools where children without Internet access could post complaint slips. She called her project “Our Cries” – our screams. Around 600 assaults were reported in the first year.
However, the reports did not have a really resounding effect. Joseph quickly realized that this requires political support and people who invest in the project. But she was always one who didn’t give up. At a workshop she met the head of a robot workshop, with his help she organized two events in the summer of 2017 with almost 1000 students and representatives of the city, police and bus companies. The whole of Dar es Salaam talked about the subject for a few days, she recalls. Many girls have realized that it is important to defend themselves. Bus drivers and passengers have been sensitized.
Joseph’s life has picked up speed since then. She received awards for her commitment, supported by scholarships, took part in a summer camp at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and attended the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg. For a year she has been studying International Business in Rwanda on a scholarship.
Your own path is reason enough for further change
She has since turned “Our Cries” into an NGO, funded by the US We Are Family Foundation. Two employees will soon be employed on a permanent basis, the others work on a voluntary basis. “OVAH” – the name stands for “Our voices against harassment” – offers seminars and videos in which girls learn what their rights are and how they can report abuse. And when Joseph has time, she still works for “Apps and Girls”, organizes hackathons or tries to convince investors to finance the coding courses. If she needs arguments, it’s enough if she points to her own path.
Modesta Joseph (22 ) …
… is the founder of the NGO “OVAH”, which works against sexual harassment of girls (ovah.ourcries.org). Born in Dar es Salaam, she now lives in Kigali, Rwanda. During the holidays, she regularly returns home and meets with the women who learned to code with her. They are her closest friends.
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