The Village of Women: Umoja Uaso

In honor of Women’s History Month this post will be about a group of women who have made a life for themselves despite male violence and oppression. For hundreds of years, all over the world women have lived under the oppressive heel of men. Particularly in Samburu, Kenya, all types of violence against women have been extremely common. From female genital mutilation, forced marriages at a young age. rape, domestic violence, and being killed, the women of the Samburu tribes have suffered greatly, and now they are fighting against it. So they created a village with no men.

The all female, matriarch village of Umoja Uaso, was founded by a Samburu woman named Rebecca Lolosoli who has been a fervent women’s rights activist. She was married off at the age of 18 and then began to speak up about supporting women who were raped by British soldiers. The men of her village ware angry about her speaking out, so they beat her until she was hospitalized. When women would come to men about being raped by British soldiers, they would beat them, leave them, or force them out the house for fear of catching an STD from their “defiled” wives. Samburu women women are considered property, and a man could do whatever he feels like to her, even kill her if he felt like it. As a result of this and the beating from her speaking out this was when she, along with 14 other Samburu women, created the village of Umoja in 1990.

As of 2015, they are 47 women and 200 children in Umoja. The is a safe haven for all types of women, as well as children. Men are not allowed in the live in the village but they can visit. The only men allowed to sleep in the village are the ones who have been raised in Umoja since a young age. The village is doing well and the women earn income by selling jewelry and other crafts to tourists. They even run a Campsite for tourists as well. In Umoja women are allowed to be free and live as they want without fear of male violence and discrimination. In the Samburu tribes, when matters would be discussed men would sit in a circle and the women would sit on the outside and would rarely be allowed to comment. In Umoja, when discussing village matters women sit under the “tree of speech” and all women are allowed to speak, as in Umoja, all women are equal and have the same status.  With the money they have earned they have created a school to educate all of the children. The Umoja women also go to other villages to protest women’s rights and empower other women. Lastly, the reason why there are so many children is because the women still do have relations with men outside the village because they still want and love children, because while the culture may care, the women do not care if they’re unmarried or not.

There is a great video from VICE on the village of Umoja, it is 26 minutes and even the first few minutes of watching it you are able to get an understanding of the village with no men. I really liked writing this post because it is amazing to see how far the Umoja women have come and to see how they created a community where they can feel safe and secure. They have done well for themselves and they are also trying to reach out and help other women. Women of all races and cultures experience what the Umoja women go through and hopefully like the Umoja women other women can find a space that makes them feel safe and secure.