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Female Boxers Fight to Survive in Ugandan Capital Slum

Halima Athumani

   KAMPALA - In African slums, boxing clubs are seen as a good way to keep
   young men off the streets, let them take out their frustrations through
   sport rather than crime, and provide a way out of poverty. In Uganda,
   though, one woman has stepped into the ring to not only win medals on
   the continent, but also empower young women to stay off the streets and
   defend themselves.

   Hellen Baleke was walking one night in Katanga slum, her Kampala
   neighborhood, when a young man approached her and started touching her.

   She says she didn't like boys touching her because, if they did, the
   end result would be pregnancy and HIV. So, when he groped me, says
   Baleke, I wanted to fight. But he beat me up.

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