Presented at the International Peace Research Association Conference
Istanbul Turkey, 16 August 2014
Copyright: Sarah Dobbs
The practice of
peace-building is broad. At its best, it involves diverse methods that
contribute to nurturing positive relationships, healing wounds, reconciling
differences, restoring self-esteem, renewing communities and instilling
feelings of security (Bell and O’Rourke 2007; Mazurana and McKay 2000; Ball
2009: Goodman et al 2002). An important
challenge lies in responding to the legacies of human rights abuses and human
suffering and examining memory and truth (Herbst 1992; Lederach 2005; Schirch
2005; Goodman et al 2002). These abuses happen at all levels of society, occur
both within the home and the community and can be perpetrated by individuals,
groups or by the State itself. Most importantly, peace-building is a human
undertaking involving building trust, encouraging dialogue and being willing to
try new ways of seeing one’s own experience and that of the Other.
My story begins when
I decided to travel to Kenya to undertake research on the role of women in
community healing. I was well versed in the human rights violations against
Kenyans of all tribes having read victim statements in the transcripts of the
Kenyan Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. I understood that Kenya
had 42 distinct tribes, and I knew that, given the violence during the last
election, there would be an increase in fear amongst all Kenyans as almost
everyone was directly affected by the violence and another election was
approaching (March 2013). There is not the time here to go into detail about
the cause of violence in 2007/08.
However, it is relevant to be aware that historically, voting has been
along tribal ethnic lines and there was a perception that general election
results of 2007 were tampered with to ensure a victory by Mwai Kabaki, a Kukuyu
over Luo incumbant, Raila Odinga [1]. Historical tensions and prejudices were
exacerbated by the election results and tribal hatred and violence became
rampant.
From January to April
2013 I met with and interviewed 675 women in Kenya and Uganda, from the slums
of Nairobi to rural women’s only villages in Samburu, north of Nairobi past the
Rift Valley, and to the south into the Maasai Mara, exploring with them the idea
of conflict, the notion of peace, and the roles they played in contributing to,
and promoting, peace in their homes and communities. Using qualitative
ethnographic and arts-based approaches, I conducted interviews, led hands-on
arts activities with individuals and with groups, and, as a researcher and
fellow human being, I observed. Within the 16 communities I visited, I
consistently asked three questions: What words would you use to describe peace?
How do you know when there is peace in your homes/community? What do you do to
build peace in your homes/community? (see Appendix A). The use of arts helped
to mediate the women’s journey from one way of knowing to another, and assisted
them in understanding each other and facilitated a new restorative narrative
(Barrett 2007; Knowles and Cole 2008; Leavy 2009; Dissanayake 1995). I made
audio and video recordings of some interviews when it was appropriate, took
photographs, and kept a journal to document the various ways in which the women
responded to conversations and workshops and began to rethink their past.
What became evident
is that these women’s involvement in peace-building is their response to the
struggles of their lives within specific contexts, and in relation to others as
part of their communities. Each of the 42 Kenyan tribes, and remote communities
in Uganda, has a distinct epistemological and ontological world-view that
contributes to its idea of self and its place within the homes, community and
country, and to the perception of peace (Lederach 2005; Ball 2009; Mohanty
2003; Escobar 2001). As I discovered, so much of what these women accomplish in
restoring peace in their communities is simply seen as “just what women do” and
is not highly prized (Goodman et al 2002; Herbst 1992; Mazurana and McKay
1999). Oftentimes, however, these acts are more effective than the work carried
out at a political level.
Rather than
recounting the transformative experience of working with and living among these
women (which was so culturally different from my privileged experience in the
Western World), I shall focus on one experience and consider connections
between the women’s lives, their diverse experience of violence, and their
individual acts of peace-building. These women, all of who live in Kibera Slum,
were victims of gender-based violence, displaced after the Kenyan 2007/08
general election. They generously agreed to participate in a workshop during
which time they were asked to reconsider their own personal narratives and,
like Lederach’s spider (2005), to weave together a web of peace and communal
understanding. In using arts-based methodologies and sharing personal
narratives these women were able to unpack the complexity of their conflicts
and actively address fears
surrounding their lack of human security.
The shared experience of story-telling, listeneing and supporting each
other through difficult discussions, provided the women with an opportunity to
move beyond their individual trauma to co-create restorative programs that
promoted peace.
Relationships are
central to Kenyan culture – relationships with one another and with each
person’s environment. Men and women support their extended family and are quick
to provide for others, seemingly with little concern for providing properly for
themselves[2]. They value friendships and work associates,
keeping in contact with them by mobile phone or through an arranged meeting
(rather than texting or emailing as is the way in Canada). While North Americans generally view
success an individual achievement Kenyans view success as being collective. As
we will see later, this plays out in their view of peace as when they talk of
success and safety, they talk about their connections with their extended
family.
However, in any
relationship there is divergence of varying degrees. From my observations and
discussions with the Kenyan women it became apparent that a number of
conflicts, ranging from those that are rooted in specific disagreements within
relationships to systemic violence, are perpetrated by family and government[3].
Gender-based violence
is pervasive within Kenya and has been used as a weapon of war and oppression
to humiliate and to undermine women, through rape, sodomy and defilement[4].
Yet gender-based violence does not simply become manifest in the use of sexual
violation but in any restrictive form of violence towards women. These
restrictions could include a lack of access to education, severe poverty, land
ownership, inheritance rights, an imbalance of household roles within a
patriarchal society, discrimination based on ethnic and tribal identities,
rituals such as female circumcision or female genital mutilation, and many
other forms of power that target women’s identity or social and cultural roles
(Walker 2009).
The presence of
gender-based violence contributes to a collapse of relationships, alienation, a
loss of one’s sense of identity, and interferes with connectedness with others
(Mollica 2006; Niaz et al 2009; Skidmore 2003; Lederach 2003). According to Lederach (2005), when
relationships collapse, so does the “center of social change” (p.74). The
transformation of relationships after violence is very much like a spider’s
web. When a strand of its web is severed or knocked down, the spider rethinks
its strategy and adapts to begin a renewal process of recreation. It weaves
together the lost strand rebuilding to create a more sturdy structure. By being
like spiders, or “smart flexible” (Ibid. p. 84), we understand that permanence
is found only in adaptation and in our continuous response to ever-changing
situations. The women I met had a deep understanding of this concept.
Continually adjusting to their situations, they strived to maintain harmony at
home, to rebuild peace, and to help reconstruct their communities.
Case Study: The Slums
of Kibera
Nairobi’s Kibera Slum
is the largest slum in Africa measuring two-kilometre square in which two
million people live; there is little electricity, sewage or roads. In fact, if
there is a house fire, or a flood, there is no way aid can reach most of the people
who live there. Toilets are outhouses shared by approximately 50 families. A
young resident told me that when the outhouse is full, boys carry the excrement
to the Nairobi River and dump their buckets (in conversation February 15,
2013). Water is retrieved from boreholes located throughout the community and
boiled over charcoal-filled clay pots. A typical dwelling is 4 metres square
constructed of mud walls covered in concrete, dirt floors and a tin roof. There
is a railway track that runs through the slum and when a train comes people who
have been using the track as a thoroughfare scatter. So with little
infrastructure[5] residents are in a
constant state of poverty – lack of food, lack of health security, lack of
financial security, and a general absence of protection. Not surprisingly I
suppose, Kibera Slum is a place where drugs and violence permeate daily life.
It is also a place where individuals from each of the 42 tribes co-exist[6].
Two weeks after I
arrived in East Africa, I ran a workshop for women in Kibera (February 2013).
The eight women were all from different tribes and were displaced victims of
the 2007/08 post-election violence. Since another general election was
approaching (4 March 2013) the women, experiencing an increase in tribal discrimination,
were apprehensive about the safety of their families and mistrustful of people
from other tribes. All were mothers of varying ages and they had never met one
another. I devised a workshop in which I used the arts as a means of engaging
in conversations that otherwise could not take place, and as a visual tool
through which the women could reflect on their lives and re-imagine a future
where difference was embraced. I know from experience that community-based
participatory art methodologies have the potential to benefit those who are
suffering conflict by stimulating personal and communal change through
reflection and empowerment[7].
The social support that comes through the collaborative artistic process, which
by its very nature is subjective, would bring the women together, thus enabling
them to discover each other’s personal narratives. This social support is
critical to rebuilding and transforming the community toward sustainable peace
(Lederach 2005; Staub et al 2006; McNiff 1992; Schirch, Spring 2008).
As the day for the
workshop approached, my apprehension grew and I asked myself “how can I give
voice to those who are quietly engaging in peace-building on a daily basis
within their own homes through communal ritual. I come from Canada where we
have what we need. I don’t understand this new culture and am scared of
imposing my own ideas” (8 February 2013). As scholars and practitioners in the
field of peace-building agree, it is so often the mistake of the peace-builder
to be parachuted into a community and impose what we think is needed, rather
than allowing the inhabitants to lead the way (Lederach 2003; Ball 2009;
Escobar 2001; Mazurana and McKay 2000; van Tongeren 1999). I hoped to listen
and to learn and to avoid making this mistake. In my journal I wrote: “In a
country where there are 42 tribes, it seems to me that, rather than embracing
all the diverse tribal cultures and people, there is a deeply rooted fear of
difference and of change which has contributed to the violence” (9 February 2013).
As mentioned before, all these women were
displaced after the violence of the previous election. It is important to
recognize that women and men experience forced displacement differently
(Mazurana and MacKay 1999; Braziel 2008; Alcoff 1996). Scholarly research
suggests that while women's diverse experiences of migration can be interpreted
as having been a liberating process, for others existing gender roles remain,
fixing women in their place within the family (Reid & Holden 2010; Kusakabe
& Oo 2007; Redekop 2002; Pink 2009). Feminist scholarship further suggests
that women's migration relies heavily on extended networks, including not only
kinship networks but also religious communities (Ibid). The value of these
created community networks became evident during the workshop as when it ended
the women continued to embrace their new relationships and sought opportunities
for collaboration on peace-building efforts.
The day began with
introductions and some tea and the ritual prayer which starts and closes most
community meetings in Kenya. We sat outside and, using a tape recorder, I asked
the women the three questions (Appendix A) and recorded their answers. Not only
did the women answer the prescribed research questions, they went on to share
their experience of violence and what brought them to Kibera. Each time one of
them spoke they held a ball of yarn, that they in turn unraveled and passed
along to the next speaker (all the while maintaining a hold of some of the
yarn). They spoke of their fears for their families and for their own security.
The women would listen intently, and then search for a connection that led them
to share their own narrative. In this way, we created a web (symbolic of
Lederach’s spider’s web) so we could visualize our connections to one another[8].
After sharing stories, the women gathered in a circle, held hands and sang a
prayer. We then washed our hands and ate lunch together[9].
After lunch I
introduced an arts-based activity that would engage the women in a collective project
for three hours. The women were invited to consider together how to divide a
large sheet of paper into sections that would reflect their perception of their
communities. The sections would symbolize what they agreed it was like (a)
before the violence, (b) during the violence and (c) after the violence. They
were invited to decide on the significance of the time of each section and
allocate it space – so something more significant would have a larger space
allocation on the paper. They were asked also to choose a fourth area on the
paper where they would visually represent their hopes and dreams for the future
after the general election. The first hour we spent exploring the idea of
community and what they experienced in their various communities before the
post-election violence of 2007/08. Together they discussed the community
elements that made them feel at peace – schools were open, hospitals looked
after them when they were ill, transportation ran smoothly, flowers grew and
children played. All was calm.
They then talked
about the challenges and violence they had had to endure (no matter where they
lived) and how they had come to live in Kibera. They spoke of defilement, rape,
killings, the destruction of property and a more pervasive poverty and
worsening fear. They made markings on the paper, using words and images to
reflect what they had witnessed. During this activity, the women spoke about
their apprehension of the forthcoming elections and the violence that might
occur afterwards if the outcome was not popular or if the politicians or press
encouraged protests. The women reflected on how their community was different
now that the election was imminent. During this process, they were able to
speak to one another and found shared experience. “My sister left me in
hospital to give birth. Despite the violence, she had to go home because to
stay at the hospital would be very expensive. To avoid being raped by the men
carrying sticks, she threw herself into a river filled with sewage and covered herself
in garbage. They didn’t see her and she made it safely home, but she was
traumatized. I gave birth. There was no food in hospital, there were no
doctors, no way to communicate outside of hospital. People from Kibera were
coming, their intestines hanging out from being beaten” (Mukadi in
conversation).
Narrative is one of the ways in which
individuals make meaning of their experiences (Burstow 2003; Herbst 1992; Hunt
2010; Barone 1990; Bresler 2006). Through the act of telling, the women were
organizing events and experiences that had occurred in their lives.
Instinctively, each storyteller assessed the “capacity of others to hear”
(Mollica 2006 p. 111) in order to make decisions about what to share.
Storytelling involves creativity and artistic license thus offering the teller
the opportunity to make choices (the truth or not), and having a sense of
control (“how much do I want to tell”). In turn, the listener brought her own
experience with her (Bohm 1994; Staub et al 2006; Bresler 2006), and therefore
acted as a witness, gaining insight into “the human face of the Other” (Redekop
2002 p. 292). This encouraged empathy, creativity and non-violence that in turn
lead to sustainable peace (Hart 2002; Lederach 2005).
Catherine, a Luhya
explained that all she saw was Kukuyus getting killed. In fact, everyone on her
bus was asked to show identification. As she was Luhya she and her sister were
let go while she watched all the others on the bus get stabbed and killed. As
she neared home, her Luo neighbours were threatening a Kukuyu man. She spoke to
them, pointing out that they had known him for years and that he was their
friend. She implored them to make peace. She saved his life by hiding him under
her father’s bed in her rural home for over a month until tensions subsided.
No matter what tribe
they belonged to, they had all experienced loss, displacement and violence.
They marked the paper and spoke of the renewed tribalism that was prevalent at
the time of our meeting. Joyce, a Kukuyu said: “At the last election, the Luo
were standing outside my house saying ‘kill Kukuyu, kill them all’. I left with
my children and then, on the road if you are this tribe, you cannot pass here,
or if you are this other tribe, you cannot go here. I am so scared”.
In his book The Moral
Imagination (2005), John Paul Lederach points out that, even though we cannot
change the past we have choices in how we remember it and what we do with it.
This notion of restorying – of narrating experience and reflecting on its
impact on self, identity and community – provided this group of women with a
renewed sense of agency. Rather than seeing themselves as solely victims of
violence they saw the potential of working with their experience toward a
sustainable peace. History is not memory
but, rather, divergent rememberings, shaped in culturally specific ways,
created by individual narratives (Dissanayake 1995; Lederach 2005; Escobar
2001). When we articulate our memory or our experiences in the way they hold
truth for us – whether through song, dance, orally, visually, or through the
written word – we can begin to rebuild our lives.
Throughout the workshop, participants were provided several
opportunities to tell a story, to alter it, and to make creative choices which,
according to scholars, leads to individual healing and reconciling collective
trauma (Hart 2002; Bohm 1994; Staub et al 2006; Redekop 2002; Lederach 2005).
In many cases the freedom to choose had been taken away from these women and
they had faced in life/death situations, so facilitating opportunities for
decision making and storytelling, contributed to building trust and
reconciliation (Perlstein 1994; Bar-On 2002). As Lederach (2005) says,
peace-building involves risk as those involved in the process are stepping in
to unfamiliar territory (p. 163).
The section of paper
these women had chosen to represent their hopes and dreams for the future was
large and they drew images of more schools, better transportation, toilets and
hospitals. When they began working on this section, they became animated and
excited at the hopeful possibilities. They envisioned a peaceful community in
which they could get enough food and where their important relationships were
restored. They articulated that, through the experiences they had witnessed and
now embodied, they could begin to see a bright future and move forward.
According to Knowles and Cole (2008), images rendered artistically can generate
empathy that makes action possible. Strategically using the visual arts as a
tool for mediation, critical thought[10]
and dialogue helped to create social change by shifting preconceptions,
prejudices and patterns (Bohm 1996; Redekop 2002; Lederach 2005). This
arts-based activity was reflective and encouraged the women to think about how
their experience had contributed to their view of their community. They
pondered their self-image and each reflected on how their experience of
violence and displacement, had also offered them an opportunity to now work
together, to teach their children, to promote peace. “Now, at this time, I can
do business with a Luo, but nearing the election, I do not know what comes into
my mind, but I don’t want to see a Luo. A Luo doesn’t want to see a Kukuyu.
Everywhere there is just [the desire of] killing, killing killing. I get so
angry and feel hate in my heart. This time, if there is violence, it will kill
us” (Catherine). They discussed how they
related to one another and how the violence they had experienced had become a
part of their identity.
Scholarly research
shows that through a shared trauma, the connectivity with other displaced
people, provides an opportunity to establish relational spaces that become
meaningful through their social relations, lessening the sense of geographical
distance (Smith 2009; Parreñas and Siu 2007; Lang 2005; Murdock 2006; Nickel
1993; Thobani 2007; Herman 1992). According to the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber relational space
has to do with the idea that any relationship lives in the space between us.
Relational space doesn’t exist in me or in you or even in the dialogue between
us, but rather in the space in which we live together (Smith 2009). It is
created by our interactions: a form of human geographical inquiry that is
reflected in the way in which humans are “embedded in spatial formations”
(Murdock 2006 p. 1). “So here we are all together. When we go out of Kibera we are
alone. We are each a part of another tribe. But when we are here we are
together. What kind of relationship do we have together. Sitting beside each
other. It is women who bring peace. We are meeting we are having tea. We are
creating a drama to show how women have suffered, to show how women are
encouraging peace. We will tell our sons who are fighting ‘we are your mothers,
we will not vote for [someone] who encourages fighting’. We will not vote for
someone just because he is of our tribe. We will vote for someone who is
peaceful, not someone who gives money and encourages violence and drink. This
is what we are doing. We are making peace at a grass roots level”.
After tea, I invited
them individually to create an image that represented peace to them. During
this time, they stopped talking and focused one their individual symbol. Most
women used the image and components of the flag of Kenya – “peace is the unity
of the people of Kenya” (Eunice). “We must be one community, one Kenyan, and
one nation”(Mukadi).
Because of the memory
of violence and the apprehension of it recurring, personal narratives have been
broken and several of these women, at the outset of the workshop, saw
themselves as victims. As Lederach (2003) asserts: by looking at our past and
“acknowledging its value and its impact on us [we can find] a way of
incorporating that past of remembered and lived history, to recent events to
the present and into the future” (p.141). This is the “past that lies before
us” and reflects an African world-view – so different from a view from the
West. The women explained that they continued to be angry towards those who had
been perpetrators of the violence – even if their anger was not directed at an
individual but toward a particular tribe. During the workshop, however, through
story-telling and shared narratives and by listening attentively to one
another’s stories, they became witnesses of each other’s trauma and were able
to begin to embrace (rather than fear) their experience and to re-imagine their
lives. They agreed, as they were drawing and talking, that they would work
together to promote peace and that, through example, they believed they could
change people’s attitudes towards tribalism.
Findings/Analysis
The concept of
weaving implies collaboration. It involves two distinct yarns being interlaced
at right angles to form a fabric. Weaving involves working with colour and
fabric at once. As the colour takes over, the fabric comes into being. Like the warp and the weft, the colour and
the yarn, these women wove together a fabric that was strong. Through their
shared narrative, these women were able to move toward new ways of seeing one
another. In sharing their stories they were able to weave together their
commonalities, creating a web that aimed to embrace their difference and shift
their perceptions of one another, and to work together to promote peace through
example and ritual.
The conflicts within
East Africa are complex. Tribal
patriarchal attitudes towards women have been overlaid with colonial practices
of exploiting tribalism[11].
Historically women were not allowed to own land[12]
and are frequently uneducated, and so, if widowed, they are left with few
skills to support their families. In many instances, women described to me how,
after their husband’s death, they had been banished from their homes and had no
place to live. In order to combat this, these women seek each other out and
work together to support one another. As
mentioned earlier, they view success is
a collective experience.
With my privileged
eyes I had conceptualized the notion of peace in a united global context, where
people and nations get along together.
What I discovered through my discussions, observations and documentation
was that the concept of peace is intrinsically different and more personal than
I had imagined. For many of the women with whom I spent time, peace was a
highly intimate experience that often meant security: security of home,
finances, family, nutrition, education and friendships. Many told me that they
envision “peace as harmony and balance within their home and within their
hearts. It is in the relationships we have with one another (in conversation
with Joyce, Kibera). As a result of the extreme poverty, trauma and internal
displacement they have suffered and witnessed, they have feelings of
alienation, their individual identity has been ruptured and these women desire
to be connected with the community from which they have been separated.
It is generally
believed that narratives can be both personal and communal since individual
stories and rememberings contribute to group identity (Lederach 2005; Winslade
and Homer 2001; Freedman and Coombs 1996). Through the use of arts-as-method,
these women were able to re-imagine their lives and traumas. Fear of tribal
difference and gender roles was replaced with a curiosity about the patterns
within their communities, the cycles of violence, and the women became alert to
a “story that repeats itself” (Lederach 2005, p. 148). I found that they began
to trust one another, and me, and to view themselves and the others in a new
light.
What I discovered is
something so foreign to my own personal experience: that the narratives I
listened to are embedded in tribal identity. All the women I met sought to
maintain their tribal identities while at the same time recognizing
preconceived notions of one another as a result of tribe. During our time
together, by actively listening to their traumas, they were able to recognize
each other separate form their tribal allegiances. As one research participant
said: “We can heal our community and build peace by telling people that peace
is the only way. Through sharing our stories, we can weave together our lives
before and after violence to create something new”.
Appendix A –
Interview Process
Interviews were
conducted either individually or in a group setting. In most cases, an audio
recorder was passed around the group and the women would speak of their
experiences – this was done after guidelines set by a community-building
workshop group were created for each meeting in order to establish
confidentiality. In cases where the women did not speak English, an interpreter
was present[13]. In some instances, after
private interviews, I would transcribe what the women had said through
annotations in my journal.
Throughout my time in
Kenya and Uganda, I asked each woman the same three questions:
1) What words would
you use to describe peace?
The response to this
question evoked words such as community, harmony, coexistence, cooperation, and
caring for each other. The three sentences below reflect the sentiment of those
who were interviewed.
“Peace is
understanding your neighbour and accepting all tribes.”
“Peace is when you
have enough to eat and when you are together calmly.”
“Peace comes when we
love each other, even though we are different.”
2) How do you know
when there is peace in your homes/community?
Many of those with
whom I spoke talked freely and clearly about their immediate situation and
community. Words and phrases that were used frequently were calmness,
togetherness, free speech, enough food and sleep.
“When everyone is
talking, no matter what tribe they are from, there is free interaction.”
“Peace is knowing
that I will not be circumcised and can go to school.”
“I have a place to
live where my children are safe.”
3) What do you do to
build peace in your homes/community?
Most women spoke of
friendship, helping one another, sharing the little we have, talking to
neighbours about peace, and rituals such as dancing.
“We work together to
earn enough money to feed our community.”
“I speak up for education so children can
contribute to their families’ well-being.”
“We hold cultural traditions
close to us but do not encourage tribalism.”
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[1] The Kukuyu had their fertile highlands taken
during colonization, and after Independence they were settled onto lands
traditionally inhabited by the Maasai. Since independence there is a perception
that the Kukuyu dominate Kenyan society and business.
[2] Almost every person I met in the three months I was in East
Africa, either housed, educated, or financially contributed to extended family
members or children orphaned by political or tribal violence or by HIV/AIDS.
[3] The human rights violations perpetrated by government are being
redressed through Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commissions in over 39
countries worldwide.
[4] “Defilement” is a term used when a virgin child has been raped and
it is regarded as more serious than rape. In Kenya, it is very difficult to
prove rape when a woman is sexually active because the responsibility falls to
her to prove lack of consent (Kenyan Truth, Justice and Reconciliation
Commission 2010, transcripts).
[5] I was told there is little political will to improve the living
conditions and infrastructure as to do so would lessen the amount of foreign
aid to the Kenya.
[6]
The tribal majority is Luo many of whom displaced victims of
violence as a result of the 2008 post-election violence.
[7] The use of arts as a method to promote tolerance
and social change has been well documented by scholars (Gray et al
2010; Weber 2008; Knowles and Cole 2008).
[9] The ritual of prayer, washing of hands and the act of sharing food
provides an opportunity to increase trust and build relationships. Ritual
creates a way to participate in a process (Herman 1997; Goodman et al 2002) and
equalizes social hierarchies. Each woman poured the water for another, served
the other, and became unified in their prayer.
[10] By critical thought, Bohm (1996) refers to
both our conscious intellect and our feelings, desires, emotions and
intentions, or our “active response of memory in every phase of life”.
[11] For instance, the bible was translated into Kikuyu before any
other tribal language in Kenya. In addition, when the colonials left, much of
the land that had historically belonged to another tribe, was given to the
Kikuyu. This has compounded the tribal hostilities.
[12] This has changed with the new Constitution of 2010 (which mandates
equity between the sexes) but the cultural practice has yet to catch up with
the new legislation.
[13] In larger group settings where there were time constraints, and in
view of the number of participants, I would ask the three specified questions
and each woman was given a piece of paper on which to write her response. They
were asked to write it in the language they were most comfortable with and if
illiterate were invited, if they wished, to have someone transcribe their
words.
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