Kenyan boxer Amina Martha: From growing up in abusive home and working as domestic help to aiming for the Olympics
Martha turned adversity into opportunity by finding a sport that helped ease her pain and anger. The 30-year-old is now on a mission to inspire as she chases Paris 2024 Olympics qualification at the Africa Olympic Qualifier from 9 to 15 September.
Boxing
Amina Martha is a woman of many talents.
Over the years, she has tried herself in writing, hairdressing and fitness training. She is also a great masseuse and draws beautiful paintings. But her greatest gift, it turns out, is boxing.
Trying the gloves on at the age of 26, it was then that she first felt whole after enduring years of domestic abuse.
“I grew up in a violent and broken family. It was terrible,” Martha told Olympics.com. Her voice trails off as she is clearly still distressed by the childhood memories.
“I had the roughest life as a young girl. Until I found boxing... I was able to release all the tension and frustrations I have held on for most of my life. I felt lighter and better after each training session.”
Martha took up boxing to help her lose weight and get in shape. Stepping into a ring a few weeks after her first lessons and lacing up for an amateur boxing match, she found peace that had eluded her for years. An incredible feeling.
“I competed in the Nairobi novices and lost 2-1, but the one round I won gave me a lot of motivation. I told myself if I can train for a week and win a round, what would happen after some solid weeks of intense training?”
The Kenyan is now bracing for the biggest fight of her life.
She is chasing qualification for Paris 2024 at the Africa Boxing Olympic Qualifier at Dakar Arena in what she hopes will be the start of a phenomenal journey.
Amina Martha on surviving domestic abuse and working as a teenage maid to support family
Growing up in a rural area of Western Kenya, Martha was multi-skilled from a young age. She loved athletics, especially the sprints, and was also good in the horizontal jump events. She was an outstanding footballer and captained her school team.
The sports were the tidy bit of her otherwise tumultuous life. Living at home was tough. It wasn’t the safe place it should have been, and she dreaded being in the house.
“I had a rough life. My life was so violent. I grew up seeing my mum being beaten and abused constantly…by my dad. My siblings and I were not spared either, he would beat us up all the time. Despite having enough to lead decent lives, we would be denied basic things and struggled most of the time,” she said, her voice shaking and almost muffled from recalling the adversity.
Sinking into depths of despair and pain, her mother finally summed up the courage to walk away and save her children from the physical and emotional abuse.
Little Martha was 10 years old at the time. She managed to scratch through primary school.
But with no dependable source of income, her single mum struggled and worked hard to get through each day to educate Martha and her five siblings.
It was barely enough, and the young teen had to adapt to a new world, working to supplement her mother’s meager earnings.
“Mum hustled to see us through school despite not having a job or steady business. We saw how much she struggled to raise us, and it forced us to start working at a young age,” Martha, 30, recalled.
“While in high school, I worked as a house help just to get money to supplement her income. I'd wake up very early in the morning, go to work, get back home and get ready for school, and in the evening as well. After school, I’d go back to finish up cleaning and cooking for my employer. That’s how I raised part of my school fees and also helped with buying food at home.”
Despite the burdens and stresses of her early life, Martha got accepted to a university, where she studied journalism, thanks to a government bursary and part-time jobs including hairdressing.
The young woman was pressing forward, determined to lead a better life in her nation's capital, Nairobi, but the trauma of her early life continued to weigh her down.
Finding peace in the ring
In 2019, a neighbour convinced Martha to join him at the gym.
That is when she discovered boxing.
The sparring and hitting proved relaxing, unleashing the punches helped her release pain and mental stress. For the first time in her adult life, Martha was at peace.
“I fell in love with boxing the first time I did the pad works," she said referring to the use of boxing gloves and pads.
"The more I punched, I was able to release all the tension and frustrations I have been holding to for most of my life. I felt better and lighter after each training session.”
Martha turned around her first career loss by pushing hard in training. Encouraged by the progression of women's boxing locally and motivated by the success of top Kenyan pro boxer Fatuma Zarika, she kept packing the punches.
“The pandemic turned out to be my breakthrough as a boxer, as I would train twice, mostly solo. I did this for nearly two years,” she told Olympics.com shortly before flying with the national team nicknamed ‘Hit Squad’ for Havana, where they trained with Cuban coaches and renown boxers like double Olympic champion Arlen Lopez.
“Then at the end of 2021, I went for the national team selection. I overcame the opponents who I had previously lost to and was also named the best female boxer of that year.”
Martha's acceleration through the sport was impressive.
Even more important, putting on the gloves helped her to find a voice and she started reassuring others who were also facing hardship.
“After my tough start to life, I always imagine that someone out there is going through the same trauma," Martha said. "Thanks to boxing, I found an outlet to channel my anger, anxiety…That’s why I began sharing messages of encouragement on my social media. I am thinking of that person who feels alone, and they can relate to some of them.
“I am an introvert, but with boxing I gained some unexplained courage. I began addressing crowds, something the old me would never do. I became courageous. It also boosted my self-esteem.”
How Amina Martha turned hardship into opportunities with her ‘magic hands’
The two-time world championship participant is not only growing in the ring, but also making strides outside the ropes.
“Boxing has been a blessing in my life. In 2021 a lot of people unfortunately lost their jobs, but I acquired new skills and made the national team. I have mastered the exercises I learned over the years and now do personal training. I trained in massage and I also do art.”
Boxing has been a source of endless inspiration for Martha. She creates beautiful female-inspired paintings showing feminine beauty in striking ways.
Is there nothing this boxer can't do?
“I call myself magic hands… these hands do a lot,” she said, laughing. “I am indeed blessed.
“My paintings are mainly of women... I feel women are afraid to face issues. They have pent-up emotions, and I encourage them through my work to express themselves. It also has something to do work my mum. Her life has been a huge inspiration for my painting.”
As her passion for art grows, so does the drive and determination to be one of the best boxers.
And the Olympic stage, she feels, will set her up for that success.
Martha is one of about 20 women chasing Paris 2024 tickets in the women’s bantamweight (54kg). Eleven female boxers will qualify directy from the African Qualifier in Dakar.
“When I began boxing, my dream was to make the national team. Then after achieving this, my next goal became the Olympics. Just boxing in the qualifiers means I am nearly close to my goals," Martha said. "I’m driven by my passion for boxing that saved me and driven by the desire to achieve these goals, one step at a time.”
Kenyan boxer Amina Martha (in blue) during a bout in 2023.
How to watch the Paris 2024 Boxing Africa Qualifier in Dakar
All the action from the quarter-finals onwards - from Wednesday, 13 September - will be streamed live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices.