[Anne] Today I'll get you!
[Anne] You humiliated me for so long,
but I've learnt something. No!
[Naomi] This training course is very hard for them.
[Naomi] But we tell them to use what they have.
[Beatrice] I get angry whenever I think about him.
[Beatrice] Every time he sees me, he says, 'Come with me!'
[Beatrice] He has no respect for my age.
[Beatrice] I take offense and get angry at him.
[Life] No more! No! No!
[Nancy] This was because rape incidents in Korogocho were very high
for grannies, most were being raped, and targeted by small boys,
that's when the idea was born.
GRANNY FIGHT CLUB
[Naomi Wanjiro – Community Liasion Officer] My name is Naomi Wanjiro, I'm 40 years old.
[Naomi] I work with 'Ujamaa'.
[Naomi] I'm a Community Mobilisation Liaison Officer with 'Ujamaa',
then I'm a senior instructor,
then, at day-care, I take care of kids.
[Naomi] I know the problems that people face in Korogocho,
because they come and tell me, 'Naomi, this and this…'
[Naomi] 'I have a kid, I don't have school fees, tell me, where can I take the kids?'
[Naomi] 'I am sick, where can I get medicine?'
[Naomi] 'I was being abused, where can I go to get help?'
[Naomi] So I try to refer them,
where they can go to get help.
[Song] Welcome, now that you have arrived at grandma’s! Take a seat!
[Song] You should feel at home! - Welcome!
[Song] You are our special guests! - Welcome!
[Song] Welcome, now that you have arrived at grandma’s! Take a seat!
[Life] How are you? - Alright.
[Life] You came? - I did.
[Life] We haven't seen you for a long time. - We've been waiting for you.
[Life] How are you? - In good shape.
[Life] We're behind schedule.
[Coach] First things first: we start training with the definition of
what self-defence means and how we do it.
[Coach] Today, we'll learn three affirmations:
- To be confident! - To be confident!
- To talk... To act! - To talk... To act!
[Coach] That's enough for now. Everyone, get up.
[Naomi] Every week we come once and we use only two hours.
[Naomi] And it's in the morning, because
when the sun is too hot, they can't work.
[Life] He grabs you...
[Life] Hey, don't touch my breasts!
[Life] Why are you touching my breasts?
[Life] Everyone, he's trying to grab my breasts!
[Life] If he's harassing you, you need to be aggressive right away,
to show him you're not to be messed with.
[Life] What is this? A form of self-defence.
[Life] Let's get to know each other. - I don't want to.
[Life] Let's go somewhere.
[Coach] You can also use your fist
to strike the neck or temple.
[Coach] When you punch, which part of your fist should you use?
[Coach] This part. Why not your fingers?
[Coach] Because you might hurt yourself, you have bones here.
[Nancy] We've had quite a number of myths and beliefs.
[Nancy] One of the myths is that when a young man is infected by HIV-AIDS,
if he sleeps with a granny he feels like he's cleansed,
he's healed of HIV-AIDS.
[Nancy] We've also had the myth that grannies are not like young ladies,
who have so many partners in their lives, so they tend to think that the grannies
are practicing secondary virginity, so they are still intact.
[Nancy] According to a young man, it feels like you're sleeping with a virgin.
[Nancy] Also, there are communities or some of the people who believe that
when you sleep with a shu-shu and you're cursed,
maybe you're cursed by a granny,
and you go and sleep with another granny,
it's like the curse is gone.
[Coach] You hit with one hand
and protect yourself with the other.
[Coach] Harder! Harder!
[Coach] Great!
[Coach] Finished? Who's next?
[Coach] Come here. Come on.
[Anne] I feel resentment, anger growing inside me,
and I want to knock him down with a single blow, right here.
[Anne] If I hit him below the throat,
he'll go limp, and if I hit twice, he'll fall.
[Anne] Then I run away!
[Nancy] We've got between 50 to 80, 85... 105 years old.
[Nancy] She can only do the verbal skills the 105 granny,
the physical skills are a little bit tricky for her.
[Life] OK, courage! - Courage!
[Life] No, louder!
[Life] Courage! - Courage!
[Life] Intelligence! - Intelligence!
[Life] Eyes! - Eyes!
[Life] Voice! - Voice!
[Life] Don't beat me! - Don't beat me!
[Life] Respect me! - Respect me!
[Nancy] When you talk about Korogocho,
we still have black spots where young women or old ladies,
or old grannies cannot go through, because of insecurity,
and they can be raped at that point.
[Naomi] There are so many cases of rape.
[Naomi] So we asked them, 'What can I do for you?'
[Naomi] Some people have disclosed,
[Naomi] 'I have been raped by 6 people, by 3 people…'
[Leah Muthoni] I don't have parents.
[Leah] My mum died in 2005, my dad, in 2011.
[Leah] He died in jail.
[Woman] Because of what? [Leah] For raping me.
[Leah] I was very young. [Naomi] She was eight. Seven or eight?
[Leah] Seven. [Naomi] Seven years old.
[Leah] She took me in and took care of me,
took me around, then I was taken by one of the orphanages that she worked for.
[Leah] So many children are being raped.
[Leah] Mostly not by their fathers.
[Leah] Some by their fathers, and some with just other men from other places.
[Leah] I was raped by three people.
[Naomi] Yes, there were three.
[Naomi] I took three people to the jail.
[Woman] And one of them was your father? [Leah] Yes.
[Nancy] Most of the residents of Korogocho live on less than a dollar a day,
and most of their livelihoods come from small-scale businesses,
and most depend on the Dandora dump site.
[Nancy] Also, most of the young ladies in Korogocho
find themselves maybe engaging in crime
or even other vices that are not good.
[Anne] I usually get up very early to go to the market.
[Anne] I'm going there now, it will be hot later.
[Anne] I'm going to buy goods to sell in the evening.
[Anne] I hope to earn some money.
[Anne] Coming early means I can choose the best goods.
[Anne] I once met two bad guys.
[Anne] They grabbed my child and tied him up.
[Anne] At the time, I hadn't completed the 'No To Violence' training.
[Anne] I hadn't learnt to shout 'No! No!'
and I didn't know other techniques that would have helped me.
[Anne] I couldn't prevent the rape.
[Anne] They raped me until I was in a very bad way.
[Anne] They raped me in front of my child's eyes.
[Anne] I pick out the largest, juiciest corn ears,
which will be delicious after being grilled.
[Anne] I think about what the customers will like.
[Anne] I don't buy bad corn ears.
[Anne] Everything's different now that I've been trained and have experience.
[Anne] Walking along, I can see if the people coming towards me are good or bad.
[Anne] I'd be able to defend myself from rape and calmly carry on.
[Anne] Why corn? I sell 4 cobs for 50 shillings,
which is half a dollar.
[Anne] Bad guys used to hunt weak grannies.
[Anne] Now, because of the self-defence classes, they are more cautious.
[Anne] The grannies now stand their ground,
where previously, rapists would just grab and rape them.
[Anne] The grannies have learnt to shout
to scare rapists and make them run away.
[Anne] Sales were better than normal today.
[Anne] I think it went pretty well.
[Anne] I made some money and am happy with my day's work.
[Anne] The profits are pretty good.
[Anne] This neighbourhood isn't very safe.
[Anne] You wouldn't want to visit someone's house here.
[Anne] Even if you see something happen, you can't tell anyone,
because they'd come for you after dark and ask:
[Anne] 'Why did you denounce us?'
[Anne] So if you see something, just stay silent.
[Anne] Calm down and stay silent.
[Naomi] We have grannies who have been abused.
[Naomi] Now we pray. We have our prayer here, to heal.
[Naomi] If a granny comes and says it, the granny can be healed.
[Naomi] You can see: 'Serenity Prayer'.
[Naomi] 'God, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
'the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference,
living one day at a time...'
[Naomi] My kids! Hey, my kids!
[Naomi] This is our day-care.
[Naomi] Before we had four day-cares,
but we closed two of them because of a lack of funds.
[Naomi] There are so many kids in our community.
[Naomi] We could take even 200 kids,
to take care of them, because some of their parents are sick,
some of their parents have died because of HIV.
[Naomi] My kids!
[Naomi] Hey, I'm your mum!
[Naomi] I'm exhausted.
[Naomi] And a lion came.
[Naomi] A very strong lion.
[Naomi] Whom did he kill?
[Naomi] The lion killed Mum.
[Naomi] The lion killed Dad.
[Naomi] And now, save yourselves!
[Naomi] Why aren't you running away?
[Naomi] Don't cry.
[Naomi] Don't be afraid. Who's next?
[Naomi] Who else is afraid? - Me.
[Naomi] Did you get a fright?
[Naomi] Come on, come to me.
[Naomi] Are you happy now? Yes?
[Naomi] I have four kids, two boys and two girls,
but they are in school.
[Naomi] We're going to visit one of our grannies,
who has a small baby.
[Naomi] So we are going to visit her at her
home, where she stays with the other orphans.
[Life] Granny! How are you?
[Life] OK. - Have you been waiting for us?
[Life] Hurry up, open the door.
[Life] It's us, we've come to visit. Open the door.
[Life] Doggie! - A doggie?
[Life] A little one. - A little one.
[Life] A little one. - Is it a good doggie?
[Beatrice Njeri Murage] A kiondo.
[Beatrice] That's the name of these bags.
[Beatrice] This is how I make them.
[Beatrice] I sell them so I can buy food.
[Beatrice] It will take me two weeks to make.
[Beatrice] It takes so long because now I have my granddaughter with me.
[Beatrice] When I'm alone, I can make a bag in three days.
[Beatrice] I came here after my children died.
[Beatrice] This is how I live now.
[Beatrice] My second daughter left me three children.
[Beatrice] I'm raising my grandchildren and I have no one to leave them with.
[Beatrice] Recently, I went to the shop
to buy food around 9 pm.
[Beatrice] On the way I met two young men, almost boys.
[Beatrice] They said, 'You're coming with us. Don't even think about disobeying.'
[Beatrice] So I used a technique I was taught.
[Beatrice] I said, 'I'm ready to come with you.'
[Beatrice] 'Just let me buy something at the shop, then I'll come.'
[Beatrice] I bought what I needed and said to the cashier, 'Help me, walk me home'.
[Beatrice] He did so, and when I got home, I locked the door right away.
[Beatrice] I'm now learning more self-defence techniques.
[Life] Is there room for everyone?
[Life] You should all have enough space.
[Life] One, two, three: Courage!
[Life] Courage!
[Life] Intelligence! - Intelligence!
[Life] Granny, eyes are here, intelligence is here!
[Life] Intelligence! - Intelligence!
[Life] Eyes! - Eyes!
[Life] Voice! - Voice!
[Life] The whole body! - The whole body!
[Coach] Now, let's stand like this.
[Coach] If we want to hit the eyes,
we get in this position, look him in the eye,
'one-two-three' and look him in the eye.
[Coach] Why do we resume this posture?
[Coach] Because you can't say: 'Wait, I'm going to poke your eyes out.'
[Coach] So we get in position and strike directly, one-two-three: No!
[Nancy] All of our trainers are hired in their respective areas.
[Nancy] That is, in the five slums where they work.
[Nancy] So our trainers, when they are hired,
first they go through what we call '3 weeks intensive'.
[Nancy] After these 3 weeks intensive,
they are attached to a trainer who has trained for 1 year.
[Nancy] So they train alongside a trainer who has been here for one year,
as they check on what they are teaching.
[Life] How can you use the palm?
[Life] To hit the chin!
[Life] Where? - The nose.
[Life] To hit the nose. No!
[Life] Then you can hit his chin. Got it?
[Life] Get in position, defend yourselves, and...
[Life] Don't forget to shout, OK? Let's do it together.
[Life] One-two-three and we start hitting.
[Life] Hit with one hand, defend with the other. - Move the girl out of the circle.
[Life] Let's teach the child. - Come on, help her.
[Life] Let her go, let her go. Look, do this.
[Life] One-two-three and hit the nose! No!
[Coach] When we teach girls or grannies,
we normally tell them 85% is the use of the voice,
and 15% just when it is the last and only option.
[Life] Do I hit here? - Yes.
[Life] No! No! - Louder, granny!
[Life] Now I want you to practise the knee to the groin.
[Life] We're going to train the knee to the groin with this pad.
[Life] The man's thing is here.
[Life] We're targeting this very spot to strike a blow that will hurt him.
[Life] Where should you hit in self-defence?
[Life] His manhood.
[Life] Yes, his delicate area.
[Life] His testicles! - Yes, there!
[Elizabeth Obesh – instructor in Korogocho] One
day I was walking from my bathroom to the house,
when a man came from behind,
it was at night, and caught me.
[Elizabeth] I didn't know someone was behind me.
[Elizabeth] He grabbed me and wanted to overthrow me.
[Elizabeth] And after catching me, I used my hand to go down
and I caught hold of his manhood,
and the man made a high-pitched sound.
[Elizabeth] So I finished him off, and I ran away to my house.
[Coach] First of all, bend down.
[Coach] Use your waist, move a little forward,
grab him by the ***** and shout, 'No!'
[Life] He's in pain! Great!
[Mary Mjoki Wanaina] My name is Mary Mjoki,
[Mary] I'm 85.
[Mary] I came here around 1952, during the war of independence.
[Mary] I've been living here ever since.
[Mary] My husband died a long time ago.
[Mary] I have 5 children and 8 grandchildren.
[Mary] I decided to go to these classes to develop self-defence skills.
[Mary] That's why I went there, to learn to stand up for myself.
[Mary] I used to work at a dump,
earning what I could.
[Mary] Now I have too little energy to work there every day.
[Mary] I stay at home a lot more. I don't know how to get by.
[Mary] This is my office.
[Mary] I come here, change my clothes, leaving my good ones here.
[Mary] I look for anything that might be useful,
that might be sold, that might bring money.
[Mary] I earn about 40 shillings a day,
less than half a dollar.
[Mary] I collect empty milk cartons, which can be recycled,
bones, plastic, I collect anything people will pay me for.
[Mary] If anything happens,
[Mary] I now know what to do.
[Mary] I'll keep my distance.
[Mary] I'll look him right in the eye,
and use my fingers to poke the rapist right in the eye.
[Mary] And if he starts harassing me, I'll hit him with my palm in his neck.
[Mary] Now I know how to defend myself and I feel confident.
[Mary] Now I'm going to hand all this in,
and go to the training session.
[Woman] That's two kilos.
[Elizabeth] If you believe you can't be raped again,
or you can't be raped at all, you're not going to be raped.
[Elizabeth] We work on spirit.
[Elizabeth] When your spirit will tell you that you are not supposed to be raped,
believe me, you are not going to be raped,
because you are going to use your skills to defend yourself.
[Elizabeth] You can talk with the man, you can negotiate,
you can give money, but you will not be raped.
[Life] -I’m saying no. - NO! -Don’t touch me! -Respect me!
-I’m saying NO! – NO! -To the rapist! -NO! NOOOOO!
[Song] 'This train's moving, choo-choo!
[Song] 'This wonderful train is moving and singing, choo-choo!
[Song] This wonderful, divine train.'