Two days ago, I heard a deafening scream from my neighborhood but I was not quick to run out and catch up with what was happening.
Moments later the screams intensified forcing the few of us who were awake at the dead of the night to respond by peeping through our windows and at least have a rough idea of the scene before getting out of our houses.

Having acquired a few tips on principals of good neighborhood, I decided to wake a few people via my cell phone and respond to the distress call from a woman who seriously needed our help. It is not my norm to peddle in lovers/other people’s issues but this was one of its kind, from the screams, someone could tell that the woman was in serious danger.

I managed to assemble few people who saved the woman from her angry husband who was at the moment threatening to kill her after a 30 minutes argument over their son’s birthday party.

Grace Kanana had been married to this man for almost three years but this was not the first time that her husband beat her, she had gone through such beatings but opted to keep quite for the sake of her family and her two sons.

“I have gone through this since we got married but opted to keep quite for the sake of my children and my family, but I have never seen my husband angry as he was when I asked him about our second son’s first birthday party, he got angry and started beating me asking me whether I knew how bad he was financially,” said Kanana.
Statistics have it that there is an upsurge in domestic violence cases with few women seeking help from justice institutions while others opt to suffer in silence for the sake of their families and children.

“I ran to the police station on two occasions after my husband had come home late at night…and started hitting me, chasing me around the house holding a knife. This happened many times, until one day he cut my palm and cheek,” recounts Linda*.

“The first time I got to the police station, the officer at the counter teased me that perhaps it was because I was not satisfying my husband sexually. He smiled as he dismissed me to return home and satisfy my husband, saying this would be the end of the beatings.”

It wasn’t - but Linda received no more help in the course of her second visit to police in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, than during her first. When she returned to the same station, Linda told IPS, she was turned away by a policeman who said her complaint was not a matter for the authorities. Now she sees no point in reporting abuse, even though her husband continues to batter her.

While police indifference plays a part in discouraging women from reporting violence, so do cultural attitudes that lead women to see battering as normal.

The absence of legislation on domestic abuse has complicated matters in Kenya still further.