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Lulu Gaitan Kayage

Kayage (born 6 October 1990) is a professional Tanzanian boxer and advocate for equal rights and pay for women within the sport of boxing in Tanzania

Biography

Kayage was born and raised in Dar-Es-Salaam in the Iringa region which is in the centre of Tanzania, centred on a cliff that overlooks the great Ruasha river.Her mother died in childbirth, leaving her father to raise her. But when he died in a traffic accident, 8-year-old Lulu was left with her extended family. Kayage started selling fruit in the local market when she was 16 years old and began saving money to start her own business, that was until one morning on her way to work she was stopped and attacked by a group of men, stealing her savings found hidden in her basket. This ultimately lead Kayage to find a gym and exercise to allow her to stand up for herself in future altercations. At the age of 18 this altercation would be what kicked of her boxing career as she then found a gym and started boxing in order to protect herself. She started getting up at 3 a.m. to go to the fruit market, then going to the gym from 6 to 7.30 a.m. to exercise, and then travel to her modest shop before 9 a.m. In the evenings she would go to the gym for another couple of hours off training. It wasn't long after her coach saw her potential and encouraged her to pursue boxing professionally. Kayage believed In Tanzania, there are no families that would accept a sport like boxing, especially if you was a girl., so naturally she would face a lot of challenges. Kayage also believed her family wouldn't accept what she did so she would keep it a secret. She concealed her secret for years until it was discovered in a newspaper piece in 2013 that she would contest in the South African internationals.. After seeing a photo of Kayage with a squad of boxers, her uncle informed the rest of the family about her boxing profession, which surprised them all. Lulu went on to win the internationals at age 23. The success evidently caught her whole family by surprise but were ultimately proud of her which earned her a lot of respect. Lulu would be considered one of the few female athletes in Southern Africa competing in a sport that is still dominated by men. Kayage has met many women who like boxing, but she is saddened for them that it doesn't pay as boxing is not a job in Tanzania.

She now has a boxing match every other month and also continues working her other job as a fruit seller by the road. Lulu seeks to make the ring a more comfortable place for women and believes that if there were more female boxers in Tanzania, they would have a voice.

So, where does she go from here? Kayage aspires to be a female boxing coach because she has first-hand experience with male trainers' verbal abuse. She understands that boxing is far more than a source of revenue, self-defence, or fitness. It has been reported that Kayage is reducing the gender gap in boxing and she is starting to make Tanzania a place that accepts women boxers. Kayage believes there is still a long way to go however every time she steps in to the ring she hopes to bring females closer to de-stigmatizing female boxing and eradicating the stereotype.

Awards

She has won six out of seven international matches against competitors from South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, and Zambia in her flyweight category.

Kayage has had 17 professional bouts with a record of:

• 7 wins with 2 coming by knock out
• 7 defeats
• 3 draws

Kayage's most recent fight was in Tanzania against Stumai Mukion on 26th March 2022 where she unfortunately suffered a defeat through unanimous decision from the judges