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- WORLD, Page 43World NotesKENYAA Night of Madness
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- Sometimes it takes a tragedy to startle people from the
- complacency of old -- and destructive -- attitudes. On July 13,
- Kenyans received such a shock, when 271 teenage girls were
- attacked during a rampage by dozens of their male classmates at
- St. Kizito, a boarding school in central Kenya. Chased into a
- corner of the dormitory where they were trying to hide, 19 girls
- died of suffocation in the crush. Doctors say another 71 were
- raped. Last week 29 boys ages 14 to 18 were charged with
- manslaughter; two were also charged with rape.
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- The assaults were rendered all the more chilling because
- of the dismissive note struck by some officials. The Kenya
- Times quoted Joyce Kithira, the school's deputy principal, as
- saying, "The boys never meant any harm against the girls. They
- just wanted to rape." The episode is forcing Kenyans to reexamine
- attitudes that have long permitted rape to be a part of many
- girls' school years.
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