In the alleyways of a Korogocho slum in Kenya, 15 women, many of them grandmothers, have enrolled in twice-a-week taekwondo classes at a run-down community centre.
At the Korogocho community hall, women clad in headscarves and long skirts are punching, with bare knuckles, sacks full of old clothes produced as makeshift punching bags.
One after the other, the women are seen walking slowly past raw sewage and sharp metal roofing to an open space in Korogocho which is a Swahili term meaning “crowded shoulder to shoulder.”
Korogocho is one of the largest slum neighborhoods of Nairobi.
High population and unemployment are rife in the slum.
Lack of prospects and a secure future mean many youths are vulnerable to joining gangs which can lead them to commit crimes including rape.
The aim of the training sessions are to protect women from such attacks.
Every Thursday at 2 pm the fifteen women, aged mainly between 60 and 80, meet for a taekwondo training session.
The oldest woman in the class is Wambui Njoroge, who is believed to be around 110 years old.
It’s a grim reminder that such women are vulnerable to sexual predators.
watch video by clicking the link
