Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi open up on her toxic relationship
Mercy Mwangangi, Secretary General of the Health Administration (CAS), said she was in a toxic relationship.
The young government official says she once had a bad relationship with a man with whom she hoped to start a family.
She had just finished her studies at the University of Adelaide in Australia, where she earned a master’s degree in health economics and policy, while the partner almost got her physically.
It was a quiet and cold night in 2015. The couple disagreed about the unknown and everything went wrong later.
The 36-year-old remembers the angry boyfriend starting to hit the walls and didn’t know what to do to save her own life. She was only 29 years old.
“That day at 3 in the morning we had an argument, I remember thinking, well, it happened, who should I call?” Mwangangi said.
“Surprisingly, the first person I called was my lawyer to see if there was any legal way. He was hitting the walls around me. He was very angry and fighting,” she said.
Mwangangi spoke on Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at the Scientific Conference on Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Response at the Kenya Government School in Nairobi.
CAS said it shared the story to encourage women or anyone fighting violence to speak out. He noted that sexual harassment can happen to anyone in the community, even empowered women.
“I remember thinking I was a 29-year-old woman. How could this happen to me?” I am lucky to be in a poor environment and I have the resources. I am educated. I have my house, apartment, my car and everything I needed to be an independent woman, ”she said.
“So it can happen to any of us, whether male, female, young or old.”
According to her, violence is not necessarily physical aggression.
“Before he bites, he bark. Before he hits you, he hits what next to you ” quoted American author Stephanie Landon.
Mwangangi talks about her supportive partner
In 2020, when it was discovered that Covid-19 was at its peak, Mwangangi told an internal post that she was seeing someone.
She praised the man who described him as “very supportive”.
“I’m very dedicated to my job, but I have a partner who helps me a lot, and is another cheerleader in my backyard.”
