Box Girls was founded by Alfred Anola, a boxing coach in 2008 during a tumultuous time in Kenya.

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EDITED BY| HUXIANA

 

Sport  section -  CJ journalist

 

Nairobi - April,27,2023

 

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Sarah Ndisi was in her late teens when the victim of an unprovoked assault: a man hit her in the face while she was jogging home. The incident proved to be the catalyst for her becoming one of Kenya’s top female boxers. She had previously been persuaded to give boxing a try by her cousin and had attended a few gym sessions, but finding herself in such a precarious situation motivated her to take the sport more seriously.

Boxgirls works in marginalised Kenyan communities, using boxing to empower girls and young women while educating them on their rights and health issues. “Boxing has given me the life skills to become the leader I am today,” says Ndisi.

The academy uses self-defence training to help women and girls become self-sufficient

“In the ring, you are put under pressure by your opponent and it’s how you manoeuvre through that. Those skills you learn in boxing can be applied to day-to-day life. It’s learning about self-defence but also leadership and how they can use those skills to bring the change they want in their community.”

The organisation’s fundraising manager, Cynthia Moses, adds: “It enables us to tackle questions on gender-based violence and inequalities they experience in their communities. It’s an empowerment tool: giving girls the tools to bring positive change. Girls and young women come through the programme and want to pay it forward, to be an activist in their community and spark that change, to be role models.”

One particular passion is for educating girls on sexual and reproductive health, as well as stressing the importance of consent in a country that has high rates of adolescent marriage (around a quarter of girls are wed by 18) and pregnancy.

“A lot of girls we’re working with are from marginalised communities and it’s making them aware of their basic rights, their right to education and food and shelter,” explains Juma. “It’s also about their rights sexually when it comes to their body, which they may not understand.

One issue has been teenage pregnancies, with girls not being aware of their sexual rights or not being taught about saying yes or no, of giving consent, when to be touched. With our girls, we’ve experienced fewer teenage pregnancies.”

More than 90 per cent of the girls who have been through the Boxgirls programme said they had better knowledge of their rights, while 83 per cent reported “an increase in positive identity, self-awareness, self-worth and self-confidence”, according to statistics in the annual report.

Another figure Moses highlights is the 65 per cent of those in the programme who finish high school – in some areas of Kenya, it is less than 10 per cent.

There is an element of service to humanity; girls are really invested and are empowered to change things. The programme builds the self-worth of women and they can take it to different levels. They have the opportunity to identify what the world is to them and what dreams they now have.”

Boxgirls itself has big dreams. Plans include running a national women’s boxing competition and a community radio show. Moses concludes: “We’re really proud of who we are and how far we’ve come. We have a lot of work to do and we want women to perceive they can become whoever they want.”

 

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