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00:00A surge in violence against women in Kenya has spurred many to learn to fight back.
00:06At least 97 women across Kenya were killed in femicides between August and October of
00:11last year, according to police figures.
00:14Members of this class in the Korogocho neighborhood of Nairobi refer to themselves as Kuku Jukinge,
00:20meaning Grandma Protect Yourself in Swahili.
00:24This is 81-year-old Beatrice Mungai.
00:28They were capturing old women here in Korogocho.
00:32They raped them, killed them and threw them in the river.
00:37Let us say God is great because we got a helper called Jake from America with his wife.
00:46When he heard this story he told us to come together and that he would teach us how to
00:49defend ourselves.
00:53So we brought together many women and he used to train us at the chief's office.
00:59He trained us for six months.
01:10The course was started nearly 25 years ago by an American couple working with local residents
01:15after the rapes in Korogocho, which is poor and plagued by crime.
01:19Activists said the growing number of femicides is felt across Kenya's impoverished informal
01:24settlements.
01:26Insider church Mary Wainaina practices punches with other women.
01:30She used her self-defense skills to fend off a man who tried to rape her a few years ago.
01:37He told me to lie down.
01:38I did not refuse.
01:39I lay down.
01:41He then knew I was ready and he started undressing.
01:44I was still lying down.
01:47When he attempted to rape me, I grabbed his private parts with all my strength and twisted
01:52it and he started screaming.
01:55Those who were close heard the screams and asked what was going on as they had seen me
01:59going in that direction.
02:03They asked why that man had followed me.
02:06I wasn't even the one screaming.
02:10When people came, they caught him as he was and started beating him up.
02:14And that's how I was saved.
02:22Gender-based violence has long been a major problem because of patriarchal views, socio-economic
02:27inequalities and insufficient legal protections, researchers say.
02:32Kenyan law does not criminalize spousal rape, which means it can only be punished under
02:36laws covering non-sexual assaults.
02:40Activists say Kenyan police routinely fail to respond to complaints.
02:44For now, the Kukuju Kinge say they can only count on themselves.