Kenyan activists are on a mission to end gender-based violence as attacks on women surge

By TOM ODULA
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Njeri Migwi is the co-founder of a community-based organization called Usikimye, which means “Don’t be silent” in Swahili. The organization helps women escape violent relationships, puts them up in safe houses and counsels them on how to rebuild their lives. Migwi is on the front lines of a war against a silent epidemic of gender-based violence in Kenya, where the government says almost 60 women have been killed since the beginning of the year. Kenyan activists say that only in January, 32 women were victims of femicide, defined by the United Nations as “the intentional killing with a gender-related motivation.”