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The inspiring story of how grandmas in Kenya are changing rape culture.

These grandmas aren't letting criminals get the best of them.

In a tiny neighborhood in a small Kenyan city, 20 elderly women meet in a hot room every week.

Surrounded by punching bags and like-minded participants, these women are all there to accomplish one mission:

Instead of letting rape and hyper-masculinity run rampant in their neighborhood, elderly women in Kenya are learning the art of kung fu as a tool to fight back.  


Elderly Kenyan women learn the basics of martial arts to fight rapists in their neighborhood. Photo by Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images.

The plan is simple. Women ages 60-85 gather in a small room in Korogocho, a disadvantaged neighborhood outside Nairobi. With only a plastic cover to protect them from the sun, the woman take turns practicing self-defense on a punching bag, encouraging each other along the way.    

"You don't need to hit hard to be accurate," Sheila Kariuki, the 29-year-old teacher leader of the group, told The Telegraph. "Accuracy is the key to the technique."  

Kariuki spends the class demonstrating the vulnerable points on a male body, such as the collarbone, nose, and genitalia. The women are taught techniques such as yelling instead of screaming to maintain a sense of control and not worrying about how much force a blow to the rapist’s body has, but rather making sure they get a proper punch to the body.      

Photo by Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images.

“Our program does make a difference. We have testimonies of old women now able to defend themselves using verbal or physical techniques," Kariuki told The Telegraph.

Kariuki holds the class on a volunteer basis about once a week. It began in 2007, when young criminals began raping women up to four times their age. Kariuki, trained in self-defense techniques developed by feminists during the 1970s, took it upon herself to teach the seniors that fighting back is an option.        

Roughly 155,000 residents live in Korogocho, which is about 11 kilometers outside Nairobi's city center.

​Photo by Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images​.

As in many other struggling neighborhoods, the women in the area are at higher risk of rape, adding another layer to the ongoing fight against devastating HIV/AIDS statistics in Kenya. HIV/AIDS is the #1 cause of death in the nation. An estimated 1.4 million people are living with HIV, and new infections continue to make the movement against eradicating the spread of the virus from society difficult.

Rape culture only enhances the epidemic in disadvantaged areas such as Korogocho.  

Because so many rapes go unreported, the statistics of rape in Kenya vary widely.    

According to a 2006 report from Kenya’s national commission on human rights, a girl or woman is raped every 30 minutes. Many young orphans are especially vulnerable because of a commonly held belief that sex with a virgin — in a typical rapist's mind, a young child — is a cure for AIDS. This disturbing train of thought also influences these men to target grandmothers, as they assume they aren’t as sexually active as middle-aged women.    

This incorrect and dismal ideology continues to be the thought process for many male criminals in more underdeveloped areas.  

This ideology doesn’t only affect countries like Kenya, though.

We experience its effects in the United States, too, because rape culture isn't a problem that's exclusive to one part of the world.

But the ways we fight back against this culture matter.

In the U.S., we have to put signs up in bars to offer protection for women, rethink how we talk about consent in classrooms, and reprimand a major-party presidential nominee’s views on women to fight sexual assault and rape statistics that plague developed countries, as well. In Kenya, women learn kung fu.

By teaching consent to men and women at an early age, making laws that make it easier for people to feel safe reporting rape and sexual assault and empowering men and women around the globe to protect their bodies, we can help end rape culture.

Women like Kariuki and the women she teaches are empowering themselves in their classes every week.

They want to make sure rape culture isn’t the standard for Kenyan women’s lives, and that's inspiring.

Through discipline and mutual female support, these grandmas are taking back their identity and right to live peacefully, one punch at a time.    

Identity

Celebrate International Women's Day with these stunning photos of female leaders changing the world

The portraits, taken by acclaimed photographer Nigel Barker, are part of CARE's "She Leads the World" campaign.

Images provided by CARE

Kadiatu (left), Zainab (right)

True

Women are breaking down barriers every day. They are transforming the world into a more equitable place with every scientific discovery, athletic feat, social justice reform, artistic endeavor, leadership role, and community outreach project.

And while these breakthroughs are happening all the time, International Women’s Day (Mar 8) is when we can all take time to acknowledge the collective progress, and celebrate how “She Leads the World.

This year, CARE, a leading global humanitarian organization dedicated to empowering women and girls, is celebrating International Women’s Day through the power of portraiture. CARE partnered with high-profile photographer Nigel Barker, best known for his work on “America’s Next Top Model,” to capture breathtaking images of seven remarkable women who have prevailed over countless obstacles to become leaders within their communities.

“Mabinty, Isatu, Adama, and Kadiatu represent so many women around the world overcoming incredible obstacles to lead their communities,” said Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of CARE USA.

Barker’s bold portraits, as part of CARE’s “She Leads The World” campaign, not only elevate each woman’s story, but also shine a spotlight on how CARE programs helped them get to where they are today.

About the women:

Mabinty

international womens day, care.org

Mabinty is a businesswoman and a member of a CARE savings circle along with a group of other women. She buys and sells groundnuts, rice, and fuel. She and her husband have created such a successful enterprise that Mabinty volunteers her time as a teacher in the local school. She was the first woman to teach there, prompting a second woman to do so. Her fellow teachers and students look up to Mabinty as the leader and educator she is.

Kadiatu

international womens day, care.org

Kadiatu supports herself through a small business selling food. She also volunteers at a health clinic in the neighboring village where she is a nursing student. She tests for malaria, works with infants, and joins her fellow staff in dancing and singing with the women who visit the clinic. She aspires to become a full-time nurse so she can treat and cure people. Today, she leads by example and with ambition.

Isatu

international womens day, care.org

When Isatu was three months pregnant, her husband left her, seeking his fortune in the gold mines. Now Isatu makes her own way, buying and selling food to support her four children. It is a struggle, but Isatu is determined to be a part of her community and a provider for her kids. A single mother of four is nothing if not a leader.

Zainab

international womens day, care.org

Zainab is the Nurse in Charge at the Maternal Child Health Outpost in her community. She is the only nurse in the surrounding area, and so she is responsible for the pre-natal health of the community’s mothers-to-be and for the safe delivery of their babies. In a country with one of the world’s worst maternal death rates, Zainab has not lost a single mother. The community rallies around Zainab and the work she does. She describes the women who visit the clinic as sisters. That feeling is clearly mutual.

Adama

international womens day, care.org

Adama is something few women are - a kehkeh driver. A kehkeh is a three-wheeled motorcycle taxi, known elsewhere as a tuktuk. Working in the Kissy neighborhood of Freetown, Adama is the primary breadwinner for her family, including her son. She keeps her riders safe in other ways, too, by selling condoms. With HIV threatening to increase its spread, this is a vital service to the community.

Ya Yaebo

international womens day, care.org

“Ya” is a term of respect for older, accomplished women. Ya Yaebo has earned that title as head of her local farmers group. But there is much more than that. She started as a Village Savings and Loan Association member and began putting money into her business. There is the groundnut farm, her team buys and sells rice, and own their own oil processing machine. They even supply seeds to the Ministry of Agriculture. She has used her success to the benefit of people in need in her community and is a vocal advocate for educating girls, not having gone beyond grade seven herself.

On Monday, March 4, CARE will host an exhibition of photography in New York City featuring these portraits, kicking off the multi-day “She Leads the World Campaign.

Learn more, view the portraits, and join CARE’s International Women's Day "She Leads the World" celebration at CARE.org/sheleads.


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Over or under? Surprisingly, there actually is a 'correct' way to hang a toilet paper roll.

Let's settle this silly-but-surprisingly-heated debate once and for all.

Elya/Wikimedia Commons

Should you hang the toilet paper roll over or under?



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But their long lifespan isn't the reason people can't get enough of these birds as pets. Just like children, these birds learn to mimic what you say and how you say it, which allows them to engage in endearing moments. In a video compilation uploaded to social media by @themothergothel, you get to see their adorable behavior play out in front of you. A blue ringneck parrot is captured loving on some brand new baby birds and it's the sweetest thing.

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