Boxing against violence in Goma, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo
Alessandro Grassani
portrait
May 2018. Goma has been sadly labelled the ‘rape capital of the world’ and one of the worst places in the world for women to live.
18 year-old Blandini, abandoned by her husband and evicted by her step-father occassionally sleeps in a building site. Once, she was covered with petroleum by a group of men and set alight like a candle; the scars a reminder of that night.
She and other women meet in Goma’s boxing clubs, learning to box to survive ever-present threats of violence and discrimination, the chance to earn a living and even to become a champion.