Ireland's support is crucial in tackling Kenya’s femicide crisis

Irish Aid funding is making a difference to women’s lives in Kenya

Members of the Sauti Ya Wanawake group at the Kishushe Resource Centre, which has become a place of renewal and dignity in Kenya. File picture

Wearing bright kanga wraps, many with babies tied snugly to their backs, the chattering women began streaming into the Kishushe Resource Centre in Taita Taveta County in eastern Kenya for their weekly meeting. Laughing and teasing one another, the room buzzed with a warmth and camaraderie that belied the horror of abuse they each had experienced.

I was there to meet members of the Sauti Ya Wanawake (Swahili for Women’s Voices) group. Each woman had survived brutal violence at the hands of a husband or partner. Some had fled marriages marked by years of beatings; Others had survived attacks with knives, sticks, or machetes. Several had been cast out by their families for daring to report the abuse.