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Author
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Topic: Women-run village draws male ire
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Granola Girl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8078
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posted 18 July 2005 05:58 PM
From Kenya: quote:
Ten years ago, a group of women established the village of Umoja, which means unity in Swahili, on an unwanted field of grassland. The women said they had been raped and, as a result, abandoned by their husbands, who claimed they had shamed their community.Stung by the treatment, Lolosoli, a charismatic and self-assured woman with a crown of dark, puffy hair, decided no men would be allowed to live in their circular village of mud-and-dung huts. In an act of spite, the men of her tribe started a village across the way, often monitoring activities in Umoja and spying on their female counterparts. What started as a group of homeless women looking for a place of their own became a successful and happy village. About three dozen women live here and run a cultural center and camping site for tourists visiting the adjacent Samburu National Reserve. Umoja has flourished, eventually attracting so many women seeking help that they even hired men to haul firewood, traditionally women's work.
...and... quote:
They became so respected that troubled women, some beaten, some trying to get divorced, started showing up in this little village in north-central Kenya. Lolosoli was even invited by the United Nations to attend a recent world conference on gender empowerment in New York."That's when the very ugly jealous behaviors started," Lolosoli said, adding that her life was threatened by local men before her trip to New York. "They just said, frankly, that they wanted to kill me," Lolosoli said, laughing because she thought the idea sounded overly dramatic. Sebastian Lesinik, chief of the male village, also laughed, describing the clear division he sees between men and women. "The man is the head," he said. "The lady is the neck. A man cannot take, let's call it advice, from his neck." Of Lolosoli, he said, "She's questioning our very culture. This seems to be the thing in these modern times. Troublemaking ladies like Rebecca."
Seattle Times Link.
There's also another article in the Van. Sun about the village, this one more specifically detailing the attacks carried out on the village by those opposed to its existence, including the fact that certain shopkeepers in the surrounding areas have refused to sell things to these women. The link is here, but unfortunately it is behind a fire-wall. Maybe someone with a subscription can access it? Partial story here. [ 18 July 2005: Message edited by: Granola Girl ]
From: East Van | Registered: Jan 2005
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skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478
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posted 19 July 2005 09:10 AM
What an inspiring story. Thanks so much for the link, GG.  In spite of the insecure and threatening men -- and that dynamic is so clear, isn't it -- these women have just become stronger and stronger. And this appears to be far from an isolated development in Africa: quote:
As African women's gumption has met with a trickle of influences from the outside world, a version of feminism has grown progressively alongside extreme levels of sexual violence, the battle against HIV-AIDS, and the aftermath of African wars, all of which have changed the role of women in surprising ways.A package of new laws has been presented to Kenya's parliament to give women unprecedented rights to refuse marriage proposals, fight sexual harassment in the workplace, reject genital mutilation and prosecute rape, an act so frequent that Kenyan leaders call it the nation's biggest human-rights issue. The most severe penalty, known as the "chemical castration bill," would castrate repeatedly convicted rapists and send them to prison for life. In neighboring Uganda, thousands of women are rallying this month for the Domestic Relations Bill, which would give them specific legal rights if their husbands take a second wife, in part because of fear of HIV infection. Eleven years after the genocide in Rwanda, in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed, women in the country hold 49 percent of the seats in the lower house of parliament. Many of them are war widows who have said they felt compelled to rise up in protest after male leaders presided over the 1994 slaughter of Tutsi tribal members by the Hutu majority. Across the continent in West Africa, Nigerian women are lobbying strongly for the nomination of more female politicians, including a president in 2007, saying that men have failed to run the country properly.
Stunning accomplishments -- and what a valuable summary. We need this article as background for some other discussions on babble. I loved the detail about the delegates from around the world bonding by watching Oprah.
From: gone | Registered: May 2001
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Erstwhile
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4845
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posted 11 August 2005 03:55 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Uknowimright:
The village did well until all of the women died of old age. The end. No men=no children. Cute feel good story though.
Maybe you should, you know, read the fucking article. quote:
Umoja has flourished, eventually attracting so many women seeking help that they even hired men to haul firewood, traditionally women's work.
In other words, in-migration keeps the population up. Kind of like, oh, I dunno, Canada? Next time you want to grace us with a bon mot, please make sure it comes from your mouth and not your ass, plskthx.
From: Deepest Darkest Saskabush | Registered: Jan 2004
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BCseawalker
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8468
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posted 16 August 2005 02:16 PM
Quote from nonesuch:
quote:
half the children brought by the original settlers are male, yes? If those boys are brought up right ... and if only a small fraction ... decide to stay and are good enough to be allowed to stay... Well how many males are really necessary?
The Umoja story is heartening. It also highlights an irony. A group of Canadian women who live far below the poverty line wrote a book of their stories and recommendations for change. Consistently, their dreams are to own land on which they can have a small home and produce their own food. Collectively, they dream of creating a self-sustaining village that runs strictly on a gift economy - no money. Alas, because they are poor, they could never acquire "an unwanted field of grassland." [ 16 August 2005: Message edited by: BCseawalker ]
From: Unspecified | Registered: Mar 2005
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