Community

I just left Umoja and Unity, two women-only villages in the Samburu district of Kenya. The average temperature in this arid part of the country during the past five days ranged from 41 - 47 degrees celsius. Although hot, it was not highly oppressive, as the humidity is low and, when standing along the edge of the Ewasa Nyiere river, a breeze cools your skin. However, the heat does make the lives of these women more difficult as their huts are structures made of wood and mud or newspaper. The interiors consist of three rooms. One is for sitting and eating together, another larger rooms is where the children sleep and, next to where the cooking is done, is a goat-hide upon which the mother sleeps.

Unlike most Kenyans, the Samburu and Maasai have maintained the old way of life, choosing to come together in villages rather than purchasing their own "shamba" - a plot of about an acre of personally owned land that they farm individually. The importance to people living within the villages in working together is palpable. The Samburu also have large families of 7 to 15 children making it difficult to gather enough money for food, clothing and education.

The reason why this is important to the notion of community is when people stop working together, toward the benefit of all, life can be much harder. Most of these women have come to these villages to escape arranged marriages, female genital mutilation (FGM), or they have been sent away form their husbands because they have been raped. Although performing FGM is viewed internationally as a violation of human rights, shifting cultural practice is something completely different. The grandmothers still push for female circumcision as they fear the young women who are not circumcised will not be able to marry.

 
In these villages women are truly working together and the collaboration is what is making all of their lives easier. It appears to me that they heal their community and re-story their lives through collectively working towards financial independence and building new lives for their children, other women in nearby villages, and for themselves.