Pierrette-Joyce Disanka Kengela is from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She joined Sonke in July 2010 and she worked as a Children’s Right and Positive Parenting Senior Trainer.
She has held several other positions at Sonke, including Refugee Health and Right Trainer and MenCare Trainer. Pierrette has also worked for the South African Medical Research council as a field researcher specialist in the HIV migrant women survey project.
She is a member of the South African Institute of Health Care Managers, The American Men’s studies Association, The Public Health Association of South Africa, and the National Congolese Nursing Council.
Prior moving to South Africa, Pierrette has worked as a General Nurse for the government at the OCC medical Clinic in DRC. She volunteered for diverse organisations including Sister4Sisters in Cape Town and the International Red Cross in DRC providing health care support in emergency and war settings. These experiences have enhanced the breadth and depth of her background in public health along with programme development, coordination and implementation. Pierrette holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health from the University of the Western Cape and a Bachelor Degree in Nursing from the Red Cross College of Health Science. She also has a qualification in Health Management, a co-certified qualification from Yale University and FPD South-Africa. Pierrette is currently a Master in Public Health candidate at the University of the Western Cape.
She regards herself as an activist at heart and considers research another source of social activism. She enjoys focusing on community health programmes that lead to broader social change but her key area of interest is reproductive health issues, their links to gender norms, wealth inequalities and their impact on health outcomes.
Pierrette’s passion is to see a society that values and respect human dignity and promote social justice for all.
