In Crime-Ridden Nairobi Grandmothers become Karate Kids
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0:03 - 0:06These are the voices of grandmothers ranging from their sixties to nineties in the
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0:06 - 0:09Korogocho slums of Nairobi.
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0:09 - 0:14This is their version of a war cry. As they fight to
defend their human rights and -
0:14 - 0:16especially their sexual rights.
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0:16 - 0:21I joined this karate training group because of the kind of lives we live here. I wanted to
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0:21 - 0:26learn the skills to defend myself against
attackers. Many grannies have lost -
0:26 - 0:35their lives and some were even raped and hung dead outside of their windows at night.
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0:35 - 0:38Today they are in class to learn how to fight
potential violators. -
0:38 - 0:43Sheila Wairimu, was so concerned with the grannies from Korogocho,
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0:43 - 0:45that she started karate classes for them.
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0:45 - 0:49Way back in the year 2005
when we experienced rape, -
0:49 - 0:54especially on grannies who used to be raped and brutally murdered.
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0:54 - 1:00I encountered three cases of old women,
who were raped and later brutally -
1:00 - 1:06murdered. So along with my friends we
were able to start a self defense team. -
1:06 - 1:12The single mother of one spends two days in a week training the elderly women in karate.
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1:12 - 1:18Her classes are free. Despite the fact she herself
struggles for money by selling coffee. -
1:18 - 1:24On average she makes about two dollars a day. Hardly enough to sustain her family.
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1:24 - 1:28I sell black coffee very early in the morning at the
apartment where I live. -
1:28 - 1:36Sometimes I go to school and ask for paid classes whose proceeds
-
1:36 - 1:43we buy flour for the grannies and also
pay for the hall in which we train. -
1:43 - 1:48No .. your hand can not protect your face. Always
have it at guard -
1:48 - 1:53The self defense training sessions are a home grown response to violent attacks on
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1:53 - 2:00grandmothers in slum. Young bandits here often rape elderly women before or after
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2:00 - 2:05committing a crime. They believe that this will prevent them from being caught.
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2:05 - 2:11Sheila was taught martial arts in 2005
from a volunteer. Now it is Sheila's -
2:11 - 2:12we had an 80 year-old woman who had been gang raped
by ten men. -
2:12 - 2:19turn to volunteer. In three years she trained
over 60 elderly women in Korogocho. -
2:19 - 2:26I joined this self defense training group
because previously, men attacked old women's -
2:26 - 2:34homes and did all sorts of things to us.
Many grannies lost their lives. -
2:34 - 2:47I needed to learn how to defend
myself instead of always making calls -
2:47 - 2:51for help from neighbours every
time my home was attacked. -
2:51 - 2:56Statistics from the largest gender based violence
recovery centre in Nairobi indicate -
2:56 - 3:02they treated 4,815 people who were raped between 2008 and 2010.
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3:02 - 3:084,093 were women. But this is just a fraction of
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3:08 - 3:12the total cases reported nationally
as many cases go unreported. -
3:12 - 3:19Since inception in 2001 we treated over 15,300
cases of gender violence survivors. -
3:19 - 3:27Which includes both sexual violence
and domestic violence, -
3:27 - 3:30with sexual violence being the highest. 90 percent of these cases are of sexual violence.
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3:30 - 3:3949 percent are women, 45 percent children
and around 6 percent are men. -
3:39 - 3:47We do have cases of elderly women.
Our oldest client was a 105 year old woman. -
3:47 - 3:52Just last week we had an 80 year old woman who had been gang raped by ten men.
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3:52 - 3:56Fact is women's rights remain a
sensitive subject in Kenya. -
3:56 - 4:01Making rape a hard crime to convict.
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4:01 - 4:09Sexual violence is one of those private offenses.
Firstly its un-African for people -
4:09 - 4:17to discuss sexual or reproductive organs.
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4:17 - 4:19There is still a lot to be done.
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4:19 - 4:27The kind of questions rape
survivors are asked de-motivates. -
4:27 - 4:31Despite this, Sheila continues unrelentingly with
her endeavor to arm this women with -
4:31 - 4:37the valuable self defense skills and at least restore their self esteem. But why?
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4:37 - 4:43My heart goes out to the grannies because of
what they were going through and seeing that -
4:43 - 4:51because of age, they are old and frail, nobody
is able to stand up and fight for them. -
4:51 - 5:00Sheila however envisages a future free of
rape cases not only here in Korogocho, -
5:00 - 5:05but in other parts of the country where she intends to start similar classes and continue
-
5:05 -with her efforts, to empower more elderly women
to defend themselves against violators.
- Title:
- In Crime-Ridden Nairobi Grandmothers become Karate Kids
- Description:
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In Nairobi's Korogocho slum many women, especially the elderly, fall victim to rape. One single mother decided enough was enough and began to train herself in martial arts. Three years she now teaches elderly women in Korogocho the art of Karate and inspires them to learn how to defend themselves.
- Duration:
- 05:13
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