Saida Swaleh is an award winning journalist who has been part of the KTN team since 2011. She gained much of her trade while working with Internews in Kenya.
She attained her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and media studies Broadcast degree at the University of Nairobi where she graduated in 2010.
Swaleh is among the eighteen journalists from 16 countries whom Internews brought to Costa Rica for UNESCO’s annual conference for World Press Freedom Day. The theme was ‘Safe to Speak that is Securing Freedom of Expression in All Media.’ The conference took four days where the focus was on digital and physical security for the global media sector. She spoke with Julie Moore of Internews about her experience as a journalist while in Costa Rica.
Age
Her age’s information is not yet in public domain but will be updated as soon as it is available.
Career
Saida Swaleh is popularly known for her soft spot for human interest stories and features and Joined KTN Kenya in 2011. In 2013, she won the Gender Reporting Award with her closest friend, Angel Katusia. Flesh of My Flesh was the name given to the winning story which was about the sex trade. The story also included interviews with women who were sex workers and drug dealers in Mombasa, Malindi, Ukunda and Nairobi. She was honored as first runner-up for the Media Council of Kenya’s Young Journalist of the Year Awards in 2012 and she produced an in-depth story for KTN known as ‘Prisoner of My Skin’ on the brutal trade in the body parts of people living with albinism in June 2013. Particularly in Tanzania was where the body parts of people living with albinism are demanded.
Husband
She is a loving wife to Abdul Jaleel Komen and the two got married in 2013. They have been blessed with adorable daughter. Abdul Jaleel Komen is a researcher officer at the Kenya Tourist Board KTB in Mombasa.
Wedding
In 2010, they were just strangers but a chance meeting at a mutual friend’s house started a friendship that led to a beautiful coastal wedding at the Nyali Beach Hotel, Mombasa and spent their honeymoon in Seychelles.
Daughter
Together with Abdul Jaleel Komen, her husband, have a beautiful daughter.
