'Defend ourselves': Refugee girls in Kenya find strength in taekwondo

Young refugee girls practice taekwondo moves as they warm up for a showcase performance during a sports day event at the Kalobeyei Sports Complex in Kalobeyei on March 28, 2025. [AFP]

Along one of the many dirt tracks leading into Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp there is a large hidden compound, where inside, twice a week, adolescent girls gather to learn taekwondo, the martial arts lessons offering a safe space in the often chaotic settlement.

Kakuma is Kenya's second-largest refugee camp, home to over 300,000 people -- from South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Burundi -- and managed by the Kenyan government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since its establishment in 1992.