Fight back against rape, Kenya's women told

NAIROBI - "Poke out his eyes! Kick him between the legs!"

Karate expert Duncan Bomba yells instructions at 200 Kenyan schoolgirls watching in amazement as he ferociously attacks a colleague posing as a rapist.

With their navy and white school uniforms, tightly braided hair and socks pulled up to their knees, two girls coyly attempt the moves as Bomba takes on the role of attacker.

Fending him off, the girls draw raucous applause and laughter.

In a country where activists say one woman is raped every half hour, a growing number of Kenyan women and young girls are learning to defend themselves against assault.

"It's an innovative idea," Bomba said before his lesson at a primary school in Kenya's capital Nairobi.

Bomba heads Dolphin, which says it is the only group in Kenya showing women how to prevent sexual assaults with self-defence. It travels to schools, churches and women's groups nationwide, teaching martial arts, basic wrestling and common sense.

"We show them how they can use what they have to hit what is open on their opponent," Bomba said.

Since founding the organisation in 1998 following a brutal rape in his home town, Eldoret in west Kenya, Bomba said the group had trained almost 350,000 students.

Rape is common in Kenya, from Nairobi's unsafe slums to the country's unlit country roads.

Only a fraction of women report sexual assaults due to the cultural stigma and a tradition of blaming the victim. But stories of young girls being raped - many by family members - still dominate local newspapers.

Bomba's students say his classes have helped.

He said an 8-year-old child, taught by Dolphin, managed to wrestle off a rapist in Kenya's notorious Kibera slum by jabbing her fingers into his eye sockets.

And last month, two armed men approached Molly Adhiambo as she sat in her car. She jumped out, elbowed one in the stomach and screamed for help.

"In Nairobi, you usually comply with attackers," the 41-year-old said.

"I wouldn't have done what I did if I didn't feel I could hurt them."

- REUTERS