The Moth’s Nairobi roundtable explored personal storytelling, health and stigma.
Adelle Onyango will host five storytellers and a guest musician at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa on November 7.
The Moth Mainstage Nairobi show will bring personal accounts of health, survival and family responsibility to audiences on November 7. Broadcaster and storyteller Adelle Onyango will host the event at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa’s LRC Auditorium.
The one-night performance will feature five storytellers and a guest musician under the theme ‘Now or Never’. Doors open at 6.15pm, while performances begin at 8pm.
Ahead of the show, The Moth held a roundtable at The Tamarind Hotel. Storytellers, health experts and media professionals discussed how personal experiences can make complex social and public health issues easier to understand.
Moth Mainstage Nairobi puts personal experiences first
The discussion covered HIV, tuberculosis, crime, survival and family responsibility. Participants also examined how personal narratives and health data can work together to challenge stigma and encourage empathy.
Alongside Onyango, participants included medical doctor and former Moth storyteller Dr Michael Maina and storytelling trainer Maureen Amakabane. The organisation’s chief executive, Gina Duncan, and executive producer, Sarah Austin Jenness, also joined the roundtable.
Duncan said personal storytelling connects people across different backgrounds by helping them feel heard, understood and valued. For Jenness, that connection has sustained the organisation through nearly three decades. She also described storytelling as potentially healing, helping listeners relate to experiences beyond their own.
Meanwhile, Onyango placed storytelling within Kenyan and African traditions of sharing experiences and passing down values. She said personal accounts remain important for building empathy and confronting stigma around HIV and tuberculosis.
A global platform for true stories
Novelist George Dawes Green founded The Moth in 1997. Its name recalls evenings in Georgia when friends exchanged stories on a porch as moths gathered around a light.
Since then, the nonprofit has presented more than 70,000 true stories across 11 countries and four continents. Storytellers deliver their accounts live without notes. It also produces more than 600 live events annually, including open-mic StorySLAMs and curated Mainstage shows.
Beyond performances, The Moth helps students, educators, professionals and community organisations shape and share personal experiences. Its Community Programme addresses health, criminal justice and gender equality, emphasising voices often absent from mainstream discussions.
The flagship Mainstage format brings ordinary people with remarkable experiences together with established writers, performers and public figures.
