Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person by sending them intimidating or threatening messages. The growing popularity of social media has made cyberbullying that much worse.
As of now, cyberbullying happens in 85% of social media interactions. 37% of those incidences go unreported. Sadly some of these cyberbullying cases push the victims to depression or even worse suicide.
The Hisiah Campaign aims to create awareness on cyberbullying and the negative effects it has on its victims. There is a lot of talk about it on social media but there is little done to solve the problem. The objective of the campaign is to create a behavioural shift amongst different members of society by encouraging every Kenyan to be cautious of what they share in the cyberspace. The logo for the campaign is ‘Kabla Uclick, Fikiria’.
Public figures are among the people who experience a lot of cyberbullying. Jimmy Gait, who came up with the Hisiah campaign shared his story and ultimately what led to the birth of the campaign during its launch. It began with the release of a cover he had done of the song ‘Hello’ by Adelle. He was attacked so much so he locked himself up in the house for 2 weeks. He struggled to eat and fell into depression.
Things only got worse when he released the song ‘Yesu ni Sponsor’. He was attacked for what people termed as an act of disrespect to God. That is when things escalated. He lost sponsorship deals, friends and most of his events were cancelled. Due to his dented public image, he quit performing which was his main source of income.
Over time he incurred a lot of debt and eventually lost everything including his house. However, due to the support of friends and family, he has been able to bounce back and with a purpose to fight cyberbullying.
Watch his full interview here: