VOA标准英语2010-Program Teaches Poor Women, Girls in Nair

Program - I'm Worth Defending - teaches girls and women how to defend themselves

Rape² is a constant threat for girls and women living in the crime-ridden slums of Kenya's capital, Nairobi. It is estimated that one out of five women are raped³ in the slums, and there are few arrests of rapists. A U.S.-initiated and funded program is working hard to change all that. 

Charity Waithera has been to hell and back. During the country's post-election violence, she was brutally⁴ gang-raped near a section of Nairobi called Korogocho.

Some eight months after her ordeal⁵, the 46-year-old mother of seven joined a group called "I'm Worth Defending." Her life has since been transformed.

"I have been taught to remove the rape experience from my heart - that is very important," she said. "I have been taught how to protect myself if I meet with gangsters⁶ or rapists. I have also been taught how to run away if I am in a compromising situation and which areas of the man I can hold if I am being attacked."

I'm Worth Defending is an international non-government organization based in Korogocho and operating in other slums in Kenya's capital.

The group teaches girls and women self-defense⁷ skills and provides counseling on rape.

"We bring to light that frailty⁸ is not the thing. It is about you as a person and the inner belief that you are worth defending, that your spirit tells you that you have a purpose and you have to defend that purpose," said Philip Otieno, the executive director of I'm Worth Defending.

He says that his group also focuses on rape prevention and life skills.

"We are not blind to teaching the boys who are potential rapists if they are not talked to. We have a boys' class that is pure lecture session where we give them the eight basic rules that we want them to adhere to. We are talking about respect for women as rule number one," he said.

In the self-defense classes, students are shown how to talk their way out of dangerous situations and, if cornered, what areas of the rapist's body to strike.

Student Veronica Njeri describes how she can use her body to fend¹ off a rapist. "I have been shown how to break the knee of my attacker using my legs so that he cannot run after me. Using the side of my hand, I can hit my attacker continuously on the neck area and face just to confuse him. Using my elbow, I can hit my attacker in the stomach area if he is holding me from behind," she explained.

"After the class, they are optimistic," says defense instructor⁹ Maggie Mbatia. "The training empowers girls and women,  They are saying, 'Oh my God, I did not expect this from that class. Oh, it makes me feel like I am worth a lot more than what I think I am because I thought I am just that woman who can do nothing. If there is no man around to defend me, then I cannot defend myself. But after this class, I really feel powerful. I really feel that I have a purpose and I must fulfill¹⁰ it.'"

The Nairobi slum of Korogocho is among the poorest, where most people earn less than $1 a day and crime is rampant¹¹.

Girls and women are especially vulnerable to being raped in these parts of town.

It is easy for attackers to break into houses made out of mud and corrugated¹² iron. Streets and alleyways are not lit at night. Women are stigmatized¹³ if they report rapes¹⁴ and can even be hurt or killed for doing so.

There are no reliable statistics as to the number of rapes in the capital or nation-wide. The Gender¹⁵ Violence Recovery Centre in Nairobi reports that they see an average of 230 new clients a month, most of who are sexual assault survivors¹⁶.

Officials report that more than half of the victims live in slum areas.

I'm Worth Defending's Otieno says he wants girls and women to be equipped with the skills to defend themselves before the rapists can get to them.
 

1 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。

2 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

3 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

4 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

5 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

6 gangsters   

匪徒，歹徒( gangster的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gangsters offered him a sum equivalent to a whole year's earnings. 歹徒提出要给他一笔相当于他一年收入的钱。
• One of the gangsters was caught by the police. 歹徒之一被警察逮捕。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 frailty   

n.脆弱；意志薄弱

参考例句：

• Despite increasing physical frailty,he continued to write stories.尽管身体越来越虛弱，他仍然继续写小说。
• He paused and suddenly all the frailty and fatigue showed.他顿住了，虚弱与疲惫一下子显露出来。

9 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

10 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

11 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

12 corrugated   

adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• a corrugated iron roof 波纹铁屋顶
• His brow corrugated with the effort of thinking. 他皱着眉头用心地思考。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 stigmatized   

v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was stigmatized as an ex-convict. 他遭人污辱，说他给判过刑。 来自辞典例句
• Such a view has been stigmatized as mechanical jurisprudence. 蔑称这种观点为机械法学。 来自辞典例句

14 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

15 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

16 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者