Professor Michael Ndurumo Named 2025 United Nations in Kenya Person of the Year

PRESS RELEASE

Professor Michael Ndurumo Named 2025 United Nations in Kenya Person of the Year

(Nairobi, 24 October 2025) — The United Nations in Kenya has named Professor Michael Ndurumo, the first deaf Professor in East Africa and founder of the Africa Institute of Deaf Studies and Research, as the 2025 United Nations in Kenya Person of the Year.

The announcement comes as the world marks United Nations Day, commemorating 80 years since the Organization’s founding on 24 October 1945 — eight decades of global cooperation for peace, sustainable development, and human rights.

Professor Ndurumo is being honoured for his extraordinary contributions to disability rights and inclusive education, and for a lifetime of work that has transformed the landscape of communication, education, and equality in Kenya and across the region.

Deaf since the age of eight, Professor Ndurumo’s story is one of determination, intellect, and innovation. Unable to hear or speak, he learned to communicate with his father through writing — filling notebooks upon notebooks with messages that bridged their world of silence. At that time, Kenya had no established sign language.

Years later, after studying in the United States, he returned home with a mission: to create a language for Kenya’s deaf community. What began as a dream became a national and regional transformation. He developed the Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) — a system of communication that has since become the official national sign language of Kenya and a cornerstone of communication in South Sudan and across East Africa.

Often referred to as the Father of Sign Language in Kenya, Professor Ndurumo also drafted the law requiring all television stations in Kenya to include sign language interpretation during news bulletins, ensuring that millions of Kenyans can now access information on equal footing.

His leadership helped shape the Persons with Disabilities Act (2003), which was later amended in 2025, and he was instrumental in championing the inclusion of Kenyan Sign Language in the 2010 Constitution. Over the years, he has trained more than 500 teachers, mentored countless students, and built institutions that continue to advance education, awareness, and opportunity for persons with disabilities.

“Professor Ndurumo’s story is one of courage and conviction — of a man who turned silence into a language, and isolation into inclusion,” said Zainab Hawa Bangura, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON). “He has given voice to millions of Kenyans who were once unheard. As we celebrate the United Nations’ 80th anniversary — and reflect on the ideals of equality and inclusion that unite us — we honour a man who has embodied those ideals with grace, brilliance, and humility.”

“Professor Ndurumo’s life reminds us that inclusion is not charity — it is justice,” said Dr. Stephen Jackson, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Kenya. 

“He took the silence that life imposed on him and transformed it into a language that has given millions the power to learn, to work, and to belong. His legacy — from shaping Kenya’s disability laws to creating a language that unites a region — is a living embodiment of the Sustainable Development Goals in action. The United Nations Country Team is deeply proud to honour him as this year’s UN in Kenya Person of the Year.”

The Hifadhi Farmers’ Cooperative Society Group was recognized as the runner-up for their innovative beekeeping and forest conservation efforts in Kenya’s Eburu Forest. Their use of traditional log hives to restore ecosystems and generate livelihoods demonstrates the harmony between environmental stewardship and community empowerment.

Each year, the UN in Kenya Person of the Year Award recognizes an individual or institution whose achievements advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and embody the spirit and ideals of the United Nations — inspiring others to build a more inclusive, just, and sustainable future.

The 2025 United Nations in Kenya Person of the Year, Professor Ndurumo, stands as a beacon of what can be achieved when determination meets purpose — a man history will always remember with admiration and gratitude.