Boxing is a lifeline for girls from Nairobi slums

Boxing coach Alfred Analo Anjere (left), founder of BoxGirls Kenya, holds punching pads for Emily Juma during a boxing traning session at the Kariobangi community centre in the northern part of Nairobi. Photos:SIMON MAINA / AFP

The sharp slap of pounding leather gloves attracts the attention of a few passers-by who peek through the barred windows of the community centre in one of the sprawling, impoverished Nairobi suburbs.

Inside the rundown building in Kariobangi-North, it's almost entirely women and girls, all training under the watchful eye of boxing coach Alfred Analo Anjere - founder of BoxGirls Kenya.