NAIROBI, Kenya - A two-finger poke to the eyes, a punch to the solar plexus, a kick to the groin, then turn and run, the instructor barks. But this is not your typical self-defense class. The trainer is an elderly Kenyan woman who is teaching her peers how to combat a spate of rape attacks targeting elderly women in the slums. One Nairobi hospital treated 437 rape victims older than 60 last year.
In the sludge-covered alleyways of the Korogocho slum, 50 women, many of them grandmothers, have enrolled in twice-a-week self-defense classes at a run-down community center. The women say they must rely on themselves because the police rarely patrol the dark paths that wind through the maze of iron-roofed shanties. When suspected rapists are reported to the police, they often bribe their way to freedom, the women say.
At the Korogocho community hall, elderly women clad in headscarves, long skirts and petticoats pound punching bags with the heels of their bare feet.
No, no, no! screams 70-year-old Mary Wangui as she pounds the heavy hitting pad. Her open-palm blows force a 20-something instructor, Sheila Kariuki, to fall backward. A group of around 30 women between the ages of 50 and 80 cheer on Wangui as they wait their turn.
Full Story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37134218/ns/health-womens_health/
In the sludge-covered alleyways of the Korogocho slum, 50 women, many of them grandmothers, have enrolled in twice-a-week self-defense classes at a run-down community center. The women say they must rely on themselves because the police rarely patrol the dark paths that wind through the maze of iron-roofed shanties. When suspected rapists are reported to the police, they often bribe their way to freedom, the women say.
At the Korogocho community hall, elderly women clad in headscarves, long skirts and petticoats pound punching bags with the heels of their bare feet.
No, no, no! screams 70-year-old Mary Wangui as she pounds the heavy hitting pad. Her open-palm blows force a 20-something instructor, Sheila Kariuki, to fall backward. A group of around 30 women between the ages of 50 and 80 cheer on Wangui as they wait their turn.
Full Story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37134218/ns/health-womens_health/
