My abusive husband came home drunk waving a machete... then he slashed me

After years of brutality, Ann escaped with her life and is now helping other women find their voices in Kenya's Taita Hills.

- MIRIAM DONOHOE

PEACE Ann has found a new life in her little oasis due to ActionAid Ireland It was a miracle I survived and didn't bleed to death. I nearly lost my life ANN ON ABUSE AT THE HANDS OF HER HUSBAND How Irish support is helping Kenyan women rebuild their lives amid terrible femicide crisis

MIRIAM DONOHOE reports from Kenya on the rising femicide rates and women's struggle for justice. Packed by ActionAid Ireland, and supported by Irish donors, women are being offered hope, protection and a path to independence.

HIGH in the spectacular Taita Hills of southeastern Kenya, 50km from the dead heat of the main town of Voie, the air is cooler, the earth richer, and life slower for the communities who live here.

Ann, 52, a grandmother, a mother, and a survivor, has forged a peaceful life in this lush green oasis near Wesu village after suffering years of horrific violence at the hands of her husband.

Her simple and remote two-room brick home is modest but spotless. She proudly shows me her small but flourishing kitchen garden, and her two cows enclosed in a wooden pen.