Can anyone help me with advice RE securing someone's safety in Kenya- Mombasa?

[missslc]

Okay so I am trying to help a former student of mine who seems to have got into some sort of trouble whilst volunteering at an orphanage during her break from University over december.She sent me a long message from which it was difficult to grasp exactly what is going on but I am concerned that if her concerns are well founded she may be at risk.
It is difficult to work out what is going on, but it is possible she may have uncovered something going on that should not be going on at the orphanage, where she has been volunteering, and she has messaged me reporting she has fears over her safety after disclosing it and now the police and 'officials' are involved.A kind of whistleblowing situation.
I have suggested she get in touch with the British Embassy immediately but just wondered if anyone out there had any other advice on who she might contact in Mombasa, to just ensure she is safe whilst this transpires.I have suggested Amnesty and Save the Children also as points of contact.

She needs to contact the British Embassy and fast. Or just get on a plane out of there, that's what I'd be doing.

Well I have kind of suggested as much to her as I know it works differently in Africa and we do not really appreciate this as foreigners.
Thanks for the response.

Does she realise how serious this is? I'm guessing she's quite young and maybe isn't that aware of how badly this could end for her.

Well she is young and yes a little naive as we tend to be at 21 and it sounds pretty serious from what she has communicated.I am worried about her as she has not responded to my communication and she made some pretty distressing claims in her message- anyway I have given the advice you have given and have got in touch with a family member to make sure they know she is in a situation where she may need help.I can only wait till I hear back from her now but yes the embassy is what I have advised- she went to the official child protection agency only to find that the guy they sent out to follow up on the claims is freinds with the person who runs the orphanage and organises children being sent there, where the allegations are being made to her.It sounds like she is in to something that is over her depth to be honest.

Yes, at 21, I probably wouldn't have thought too far ahead in that sort of situation either. Any way you can contact the embassy for her?

Okay so she seems to have had the good sense to have moved to a different location and is not on her own.I will urge her to contact the embassy again-she has not given her exact address of contact details to me so for now I cannot do so on her behalf.

As you probably know, there is massive corruption in Kenya (I've lived there in the past). This is an EXTREMELY sensitive situation, and she should avoid speaking to any local Mombassa-based authorities, including the police, who could well be bribed by the people at the orphanage to 'make the complaint go away'. Your friend should contact the UK High Commission (it's not called an Embassy in Kenya because it's a Commonwealth country) in Nairobi and take their advice. While the UK cannot intervene in a potentially criminal situation in Kenya involving criminal acts not directly affecting a British person, they may be able to advise her on which Kenyan authorities she could safely report the situation to.

As a foreigner living overseas she should already be registered with the UK High Commission. If she has not, that is potentially damaging her own security. Eg. when the tsunami happened in Thailand, lots of British people (often young, backpackers, casual workers) were living there who hadn't registered with the British Embassy in Bangkok. Those Brits went missing or died, and their parents were desperately calling the Foreign Office and UK Embassy for information on where their children were, or Brits weren't able to be expatriated on emergency flights because nobody knew they were in the country in the first place.

She can register with the UK High Commission in Nairobi by simply texting a special number from her mobile phone - details here ukinkenya.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-kenya/registering-with-us

SMS text number for registering is here - ukinkenya.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/word/12424943/sms-consular-registration

If something happened in Kenya, either a national disaster, or even a war (Kenyan troops are currently deployed to neighbouring Somalia not far up the coast from where your friend is, there have been kidnappings from Mombassa by Somali pirates, etc etc etc) and British people had to be evacuated or accounted for then the Foreign Office would have no record of your friend.

Support for British nationals living overseas: www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/2855621/support-for-british-nationals-abroad.pdf

Hope I don't sound too alarmist, and this is useful for your friend!