Global Roundup: "Grandma Protect Yourself," Iraq Top Court Suspends "Child Marriage" Bill, Black Queer Activism, Turkish Feminists vs "Year of the Family," Argentine Protests vs Milei's "Sick Wokeism"

Beatrice Nyariara, 81, trains with Esther Njeri, 82, of the Granny Defence "Cucu Jikinge" program, Nairobi, Kenya, November 12, 2024. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi/File Photo

A surge in violence against women in Kenya has spurred many to prepare themselves to fight back. Activists said the recent upward trend is felt across Kenya's impoverished informal settlements, where women's efforts to protect themselves have taken on fresh urgency.

Inside a church in the Korogocho area of the capital Nairobi, Mary Wainaina, 93, thumped a punching bag. "No! No! No!" she shouted, before running away from a classmate pretending to be a male aggressor.

For the dozen members of the class, who refer to themselves as Cucu Jukinge, Swahili for "Grandma protect yourself", the lessons have never been purely theoretical.

The course was started nearly 25 years ago by a couple from the U.S. working with local residents after several women were raped and killed in Korogocho, an impoverished and crime-plagued sprawl of iron shacks along the Nairobi River.

Shining Hope for Communities, a non-profit, said it had supported 307 survivors of gender-based violence in Korogocho between October and December alone.

A few years ago, Wainaina said she used her self-defence skills to fend off a man who tried to rape her.

Esther Njeri Muiruri, 82, said she found the current surge in violence against women just as worrying as the wave of attacks that prompted the class's creation.

It's something that scares us, to see young mothers and young women being killed. -Esther Njeri Muiruri

At least 97 women across Kenya were killed in femicides - intentional killings with a gender-related motivation - between August and October of last year, according to police figures.

The police did not provide statistics for earlier periods, but according to figures compiled by the Africa Data Hub collective based on media reports, there were at least 75 femicides in 2023 and 46 the year before.

Kenyan police routinely fail to respond to complaints of gender-based violence, often considering them private matters, Betty Kabari, an activist with End Femicide Kenya, told Reuters.

We have a lot of cases of domestic violence where it's not that the perpetrator is not known. They are known, but the police have no interest in following up. -Betty Kabari

For now, the Cucu Jukinge said they could only count on themselves. Beatrice Mungai, 81, recalled the time a young man tried to break into her house.

I quickly started kicking him in his private parts three times. He started screaming asking me not to kill him. I told him: I warned you. -Beatrice Mungai