My name is Fred Gori
and I am walking
the length of Kenya.
I have walked this road many times in my mind. On August 18, I begin walking it on foot. 450 kilometres, from Migori to Nairobi, to start conversations that are long overdue, to listen, to share, and to invite everyone who cares about Kenya’s wellbeing to walk alongside me.
KILOMETRES WALKED SO FAR
RAISED TOWARD THE GOAL
PEOPLE WHO HAVE SIGNED
COUNTIES ENGAGED
1 in 4
4 daily
40%
of university students are quietly carrying anxiety or depression.
0.01%
of Kenya’s health budget reaches mental health. The rest of us fill that gap.
Source: HealthRight Kenya / Civil Society Report to the UN, 2025.
Behind every statistic is someone you know.
I grew up watching people I love carry weight they were never taught to name. A cousin who stopped leaving the house. A neighbour who lost his business quietly, then his family, then himself. We called it stress. We called it life. We never called it what it was, and we never knew where to send them even if we had.
Kenya has fewer than 100 psychiatrists for 55 million people, most of them in Nairobi. If you are a young woman in Migori running a small business, or a young man in Bomet who has not slept in three weeks, the system as it stands was not built with you in mind. That is not an accusation. It is an invitation to build something better together.
Kenya took a brave step in 2025, choosing compassion over criminalisation for people in crisis. Now we need to build the infrastructure that makes that compassion real at the community level, where people actually live. That is what this walk is about.
“I have met too many people who were one conversation away from a different outcome. This walk is about making sure that conversation is always within reach.”
Fred Gori, Lead Walker
Four practical steps. Each one already within reach.
None of what follows requires starting from scratch. Kenya already has the people, the platforms, and the policy will. What we need is for the right doors to open, and for the right people to walk through them together.
Equip Community Health Promoters as First Responders.
Our Community Health Promoters already visit homes and know families by name. With Psychological First Aid training and a simple screening tool in the eCHIS app they already carry, they become the first compassionate response Kenya has always needed. Over 70% of them are young women.
A dedicated professional at every Level 4 hospital.
Right now, someone arrives at a Level 4 hospital in distress and already overburdened staff must manage them alongside other medical emergencies. A resident Counselling Psychologist, employed through the County Public Service Board, changes that. It also opens a real, salaried career path for Kenya’s many young psychology graduates.
Mental health included in what SHA covers.
No Kenyan should have to choose between seeking help and paying rent. Because SHA is restructuring its benefit package right now, this walk offers a timely window to help carry that conversation to the finish line: mental health embedded in the foundation of primary care.
Reach people where they are, including online.
A phone-based counselling and peer-support network would let trained young professionals reach people who cannot easily travel to a facility. It extends care into every county and creates dignified, flexible work for a generation of graduates who are ready and waiting.
The pilot: We are starting with a Community Mental Health First Response Corner at Migori Level IV Hospital. Not a new building. A designated, welcoming space within what already exists, staffed by a resident psychologist on the county payroll. A model that any county can adopt and make their own.
24 days. 450km. And an open invitation at every stop.
From August 18 to September 10, 2026, Fred and a small team will walk from Migori to Nairobi. A support caravan travels alongside them. At every stop, the doors are open: to community conversations, to local health workers, to anyone who wants to be part of what comes next.
Day 1
Migori Town
Day 2
Homa Bay
~35km
Day 3
Asumbi
~55km
Day 4-5
Kisii
~90km
Day 6
Nyamira
~115km
Day 9-10
Bomet
~175km
Day 13-14
Narok
~250km
Day 19
Suswa Jct
~340km
Day 21
Kimuka
~390km
Day 23
Ngong
~420km
Sep 10
Nairobi
450km
A letter to your governor. From all of us.
Governors respond to what their communities care about. This letter is a respectful, specific request asking county leaders to make four practical commitments on mental health. When it arrives with thousands of names from the people they serve, it carries real weight. And it opens a door to a conversation about what is possible.
Add your name to the letter.
1. Migori County
Commit a dedicated mental health budget line and support the First Response Corner pilot at Migori Level IV.
Kenya Mental Health Awareness Walk Lead Walker, Fredrick Gori (left) presents a mental health petition to Mr. Clement Ayungo, the Director of Public Health at the Migori County Government. Mr. Gori is walking from Migori to Nairobi to push mental health conversations to the national agenda.
2. Homa Bay County.
Kenya Mental Health Awareness Walk Lead Walker, Fredrick Gori (left) presents a mental health petition to the Minister of Health in Homa Bay, Grace Osewe. Present was the KMTC CEO, Kelly Oluoch.
3. Narok County.
Notes from my meeting with Dr. Francis Kioo, County Director of Health, County Government of Narok: Mental health in Narok remains under-addressed, with limited specialist capacity despite growing awareness. The Referral Hospital runs a weekly clinic with a visiting psychiatrist, while a new hospital will create space for dedicated mental health services. Immediate priorities include staff learning sessions and exploring tele-counselling.
4. Bomet County.
Today afternoon, I met with Dr. Sowek Bernard, the County Director of Health, Bomet County, and presented our petition on mental health. Bomet County is strengthening mental health services through CHP capacity building, specialist outreach and expanded infrastructure. The county has three psychiatrists, plans to rotate them across Level IV hospitals, is developing a dedicated mental health wing, and is exploring expansion of an existing digital platform to support broader mental health needs.
5. Nairobi County.
At City Hall, Nairobi. The final stop of the Kenya Mental Health Awareness Walk. Met with the CECM for Health, Wellness and Nutrition, Silantoi Lengewa and her Chief Officer, Maria Bashir. Thank you God for making things happen. Thanks to all who believed in the cause. I appreciate you.
The story wall
What does mental wellness mean to you?
This wall belongs to everyone who has something to say. Share your story on X, Instagram, or Facebook using #WalkingTheMind or #SecureOurHumanCapital and it will find its place here. No story is too small. No experience is ordinary.
Fred Gori
MIGORI LEAD WALKER
#WalkingTheMind via Instagram
Akinyi W.
KISUMU NURSE
#WalkingTheMind via X
Sheila
Morley
“Fred, your courage, sacrifice and commitment are giving a voice to millions who need psychological support and reminding us that every Level 4 hospital should have a psychologist as an essential part of healthcare.”
#WalkingTheMind via story
Michael O
Clinical Officer, Mental Health & Psychiatry.
“Mental health stigma remains a major barrier to treatment and recovery. Mental health matters as much as physical health, and reducing stigma requires action across society so people do not suffer in silence.”
#WalkingTheMind via story
Share on social with #WalkingTheMind
or write it here, for yourself and for others.
Tell us your story
Anonymous is perfectly fine. One sentence from the heart is more than enough.
Join the movement
There is a place for you with Fred.
Whether you walk ten steps or ten kilometres, whether you carry a camera or a first aid kit, whether you sign a cheque or simply share a post, you belong in this movement. Choose how you would like to be part of it.
Tell us where you plan to join.
I would like to help behind the scenes
Become a partner in this work
Add your name to the letter
1. Commit a protected mental health allocation in the county budget.
2. Support the training of Community Health Promoters as mental health first responders.
3. Create a permanent Counselling Psychologist post at every Level 4 hospital.
4. Advocate for mental health to be fully included in the SHA benefit package.
Fred Gori
In Fred's words
Why I am walking.
I lost a friend. Not to something dramatic. To something quiet. Something that had been building for years while all of us looked the other way and told him to just be strong. He was strong. He was also suffering, and none of us knew how to help, or where to take him, or what to say. That loss has never left me.
Join the "YPP Walking the Mind 2026" group on StepUp!
Help carry this forward
Every step Fred takes is sustained by people who believe this matters.
The walk needs KES 4,000,000 to cover logistics, safety, community gatherings, media, and the Migori First Response Corner pilot. Whether you can contribute KES 500 or KES 500,000, you are making it possible for Fred to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and for the work to outlast the walk.
KES 180,500 raised
of KES 4,000,000
Kenya Mental Health Awareness Walk
891300
#WalkingTheMind | #SecureOurHumanCapital | #NoHealthWithoutMentalHealth | #TalkToSomeoneKE | #BreakTheStigma
Migori → Homa Bay → Kisii → Bomet → Narok → Nairobi · Aug 18 to Sep 10, 2026
MCHanga Paybill: 891300 · Acc: 133520