Understanding Youth & Adolescent Lifestyle to Inform RH Communication Samburu County

Sectional Picture of Maralal Town

Participatory Observation Report

Samburu County 2017Integrating Youth & Adolescent Lifestyle to Inform

Reproductive Health Communication

AcknowledgementData collection & Reporting done by TW Media in collaboration with HCM

PO Report 2017

ContentOut of School male (10-14 years) 4

Married girl illiterate (20-24 years) 8

Moran (15-19 years) 14

Married girl out of school (15-19 years) 20

College girl (20-24 years) 24

Unmarried female, with child(20-24 years) 27

A Manyatta

About the study

• The study in Samburu was done in two sub-counties. These are Samburu East and Samburu Central. In each of the two sub-counties we covered 3 locations

• Samburu East

1. Sereolipi

2. Wamba

3. Archers Post

• Samburu Central

1. Maralal Town

2. Porro

3. Suguta Mar Mar

• The categories captured in this report include:• Out of school male, aged 10-14 years

• Married girl illiterate and aged 20-24 years

• Moran aged 15-19 years

• Married girl out of school aged 15-19 years

• College girl aged 20-24 years

• Unmarried literate female, with child 20-24 years

Out of School male (10-14 years)

Lekeete herding cattle in Kirisia Forest

Illiterate Adolescent Male

He is 13 years old and his life revolves around herding cattle. His day starts early as by 5.00am he takes the cows for early morning “LIMO”. This is believed to be the best time to allow cows to eat fresh green grass thus reflects in milk production. The cows graze until 9.00am then are taken home for milking. After breakfast he goes to herd the goats for the rest of the day till 5.00 or 6.00pm each day. He is from a nuclear family and the dad only has one wife. He is from a family of 4 children, 3 brothers and a sister. None of the brothers have gone to school but luckily the sister goes to school and she is in class two.

Learning from the older Morans he has discovered it is very important for a man to take good care of himself such that one of the most important rule is body hygiene and dressing well. This includes regular showering and dressing up. Its their way of remaining cool. The kind of perfume that mostly is purchased is either the ‘wararo’ inspired small bottle perfumes that have a strong smell or deo sprays. The second important thing he purchases are his clothes as for a Samburu Moran one must dress up to remain cool. Any money left is kept as savings and is used to buy things like an additional “shuka”, condoms and “ngumu” (a form of pastry that is very hard to chew).

Introduction Either go to town (Maralal), sell some animals or chickens and replenish his stock of basic needs. Considering he is a male child he pretty much caters for his needs which includes clothing. Mostly he regularly sells chicken as opposed to goats which are only sold on special occasions. On average each chicken fetches him between KES 200-300 for a layer whereas a cockerel fetches him about KES 500.

Leketee herding cattle in Kirisia Forest Traditional Samburu Shuka

Leketee indigenous ‘kienyeji’ chicken reared for sale

Dress up day. During this day he takes a shower, dresses his best, and goes out in the forest. To him, the forest is full of potential and infinite possibilities, it’s his form of ‘paradise’. Here he either 1) goes to flirt with girls 2) goes looking for honey.

At the tender age of 10 years he had his first sexual encounter. Probing further on how he learnt about sex he says he had watched several adults having sex and he wanted to experiment. He also had witnessed several Morans do the act in the forest with the girls while they go herding the animals in the wild. Since then he has learnt a lot and confesses that majority of the girls he sleeps with are about 3 to 5 years older than him. He agrees that he does not yet have a girlfriend “SINTANI” but has multiple partners. Since he knows some of these girls date older Morans“warani”, he always has to be careful not to get caught as he knows that this would cause a fight to erupt.

On the other hand for rental houses, what he is just sure it is very important that he owns them but cannot quite estimate effectively as he does not yet understand the scope of what it entails. What he can see is the existence of the need for rentals given that the rising population of Maralalthe nearest town is growing and more people need houses to let. What matters is the fact that he is willing to take the diversification risk.

In my view he is very enlightened not only for his age but also considering that he is not only illiterate but also lives 90% of his life in the wild. He has adopted to his environment and learns a lot through observation. He is an optimist who not only wants to live better in the future but also knows and understands the need to diversify his wealth. So unlike where he comes from where people believe in the accumulation of wealth through animals he is wise enough to realise than for his future survival he needs more than animals and is therefore seeking wider options for wealth creation that are also sustainable.

He currently does not have a phone but is looking forward to owning one and currently saving for it. If he had a phone he says the first person he would call are the girls he flirts with. He feels that it would greatly influence and enhance his relationships

Kirisia Forest where he goes to meet girls

All the same he has big dreams for his future. In the next 10 years he is hoping to have achieved the following: 1) have at least 30 chickens 2) between 100-200 cows 3) between 400-500 goats 4) a plot where he will build rental houses 5) at least 20 camel who will be participating in the annual Camel derby. Notably for animals that he is well versed with how they work and their worth he can already clearly estimate how many he would like to own.

Dreams & Aspirations

Sexual Behaviour

Condoms

Challenges that greatly affect adoption of contraceptives:

• Distance

• Fear of judgement at point of purchase

The programmes that would work for this target have to include:

• Moran to moran & younger males before inititiation information transfer

• Education at initiation through a Moran CHV

For these programmes to work they have to be attached to catalysts that directly affect his lifestyle e.g. wealth creation. The need to show him that in case he does not protect himself he may never achieve his goals

In this case, what he does is ask for condoms but in case another customer comes in before transaction is complete he asks for different medication and tell retailer to return condoms he did not ask for them then waits until the customer purchases and leaves. He then returns the medication and starts process of asking for condoms. This goes on until when he can successfully purchase the condoms with no other customer in sight.

Conclusion

To ensure he does not contract diseases or make any of the girls pregnant, he ensures to use a condom every time for all encounters. He purchases several packs of condoms during his free day when he goes to the nearest town, Maralal which is about 6KM from home. Each pack of condom has 3 pieces and costs KES 20-50 depending on the brand available at point of purchase.

Condoms

The barriers when purchasing condoms do exist since once he gets to the chemist to purchase the condoms he cannot ask for them directly in front of people. It is usually a process and sometimes it takes such a long time at the chemist before he gets a chance to buy. The only advantage is that the retailer never questions why a child is purchasing the condoms as I am meant to understand that sometimes older people send kids to purchase on their behalf. The nearest Chemist is in Maralal town which is at least 6 KM from home. Thus he takes advantage of the days he has to go to the market to purchase condoms.

Spears used to protect the herd while in the forest

Married girl illiterate (20-24 years)

The shanga worn when betrothed for marriage

Illiterate Female Youth, Married

Rose is 23 years old and a mother of 4 children, 2 girls and 2 boys. The first born is 10 years, second born 7 years, third born 4 years and the forth born is a new born who is only one month old. She got married at the age of 10 years to a husband who was almost 35 years old. Upon her betrothal she underwent circumcision. Luckily being so young she healed within two weeks. Then she was married off.

Her household chores include: fetching water, washing clothes, farming their one acre of land, fetching wood from the forest, making meals; milking etc. She is also the one in charge of building the house which has to be redone every two years.

Her husband has about 10 cows and 10 goats and this is their core income source. Three cows are milked and each give about one and a half litres for which they sell to buy basic needs. To pay for school fees they sell a goat.

Introduction

Rose holding her one month old baby

The roof of her manyatta that she makes out of Cypress tree bark

The compound that she also uses as the cow / goat shed at night

Dreams & Aspirations

She has big dreams for children and her life where her children will get to complete school and pursue a courses of their choice.; this includes girls. She believes studies is their way out of poverty early marriage. She also hopes to purchase a bigger parcel of and where she will be farming all year round. Currently she only farms one season per year

d. Female circumcision – having gone through the process, she does not want her daughters to go through the same.

e. Early marriage and chosen marriage partner –it has been culturally right to choose partners for the girls and also marry them off from the age of 10 years. She intends to allow her daughter’s choose their partners and at the age they feel ready. She says that around here (Porro) one in every 4 homes you will find a girl who was married off early. However, majority do not want their children to go through the same experience and working very hard to ensure they go to school.

Fading CultureShe notes that there are several things in the Samburu culture that are fading away such as:

a. Polygamy – she believes as modernization catches up with Samburu people, more men are marrying one wife. Herself and most of her friends do not have co-wives and they are hoping none comes. Though she sights that mostly it is the men who have the say not wives on whether there will be a co-wife.

b. ‘Shanga’ – it was a means to mark a jewel prior to marriage. The shanga were worn on the neck and another on the leg (nkupuri enkeju) and could not be removed after that as they were permanent. Currently, the shangas have been modernized such that for those that still wear them, they can remove them at night when sleeping. Majority of those in urban areas only choose to wear them during occasions. She is a good example of a modern lady as she only wears her shanga when going to visit her parents or during occasions. She lives in Porro which is peri-urban location.

c. Education – Samburu people never used to value education. When education was introduced, parents used to choose the bright children to be left at home and the ‘stupid’ ones would be taken to school. Today many of them are taking all their children to school. Her three children are in school and she hope they can attain the highest possible education that is university level.

Her removable leg shanga

She takes cognisant of the fact that her husband has the final say on the matter. However, has already started negotiating with her husband to ensure this dream is achieved. This is because she does not want to risk him changing his mind when her daughter becomes a teenager.

Rose is a mother of 4 children

Sexual BehaviourHer initiation into sexual life was traumatising. At the age of 10 she had not started puberty; she had never seen or heard about menses; no breasts; no pubic hair; in short she was still a child. Her first sexual experience was a mixture of confusion, shock and wounding. She did not understand what was happening and unfortunately she was not allowed to ask any questions either; and she could not share with anyone. When she was identified for marriage, she got circumcised and after two weeks to heal she got married. The husband controlled everything and she had no rights. She got her menses after her first child. By this time, she was a bit enlightened from the hospital advice she got so she purchased pads.

Despite her lack of knowledge she has managed to space all her four children effectively. She says for the first 2 children she did not know about contraceptives and what helped was the fact that she did breastfeeding for two years for each child during which period she did not get her menses.

After the second born she was convinced by the nurse to use a contraceptive and she settled for depo. She says depo has not affected her in any way. Based on her friend’s complaints she understands that jadelle causes excessive bleeding and back pains. She hopes to get two more children to make 6. However, she says if her husband gets his way, he wants 12 children, who she feels may strain the family too much.

Porro Health Centre where she goes for the contraceptives

Conclusion

Challenge expected are the long distances that girls have to walk to access the nearest health centre in order to access the relevant information

Propose the use of ladies like her who have actively adopted use of contraceptives and empower them to be ambassadors for the local community by her :

• Being a living proof thus ambassador testimonial for giving reassurance to the girls that after use of contraceptives one can still conceive; a good example of

how spacing should be done considering she has successfully managed to space and is considering having two more children

• Enhancing the message that taking girls to school is a plus to not only empowerment and in breaking cycle of poverty; through walking around her

neighbourhood with the CHV or being trained as a CHV helper and passing the message to the rest of the girls

Mini manyatta’s made at the local health care centres to mimic a real manyatta and encourage more girls to come to hospital to give birth

The women walk long distances to go to the market, health centre etc.

Moran(15-19 years)

Patrine has to adorn himself with bangles as part of enhancing his look

Male, illiterate and married

He is 19 years old and almost one year in marriage though no children yet. The wife is 18 years old. He lives in the outskirts of Suguta Mar Mar in a traditional manyatta. He hails from a family of 9 children, 5 ladies and 4 men and the father has a co-wife who has 6 children. He has one wife but hopes after getting 4 children he gets a second wife just like his dad.

Though he is not learned he hopes to take his children to school. The barrier he sites is the fact that the nearest school is an ECD centre which is about 1-1.5 kilometres away from his home. The centre is supported by the Catholic church and is also used as a church on Sunday’s. All the primary schools and beyond are in the nearest town centre of Suguta Mar Mar which is about 3KM away. He says that though around the community majority of the people are illiterate there is slow progress on value of education. The distance to access the schools just makes it all that harder. This is because if for example the kids should go to the ECD centre they would need to be escorted there and picked, and unfortunately there is no one to do that. This was evidenced by the small kids (about 5) all below the age of 6 years we found in the homestead and all don’t go to school. That’s when I realized how bad the issue of distance and safety becomes an impediment to deriving the value of education to a marginalized community.

The issue of getting two wives is the provision of assistance to not only take care of the animals but also manage the household duties. This as he believes he will get more animals. He is a cattle herder and currently owns 30 goats and 6 milk cows, though none of the cows are being milked yet. Given that this is a dry season (June) he and his fellow moransmust go search for animal fodder a hundred plus kilometres with the nearest location being in Baragoi. Anytime he must travel he makes several arrangements as he will be gone for at least six months such that:

• He must be accompanied by a younger boy from the family, this acts as security for his family but also he needs a helper. No moran travels alone and in this case he travels with other morans and mostly in the same age set as him. The traveling in groups allows them to form groups to both take care of the animals as well as provide security for the animals

• He sells a cow and gets into an agreement with a local shop where makes payment for food items. The estimate is based on how much the family will use in the next 6 months. Any extra items the family uses, he pays when he is back. This introduces family stability and gives children a chance to go to school as they do not have to keep migrating with the father as he seeks fodder for the animals.

Introduction

Education

Patrine, 19 years and married. Sitting on his bed

Suguta Mar Mar primary school that is 3KM from his home

Being Moran

Giving birth to a baby boy is very fulfilling for any Samburu woman. Reason being a home without a boy is considered not to have children. In addition without a boy the woman has to be the one to herd animals throughout, while also the man being head of the household will not get the respect he deserves from the peers. For any woman who does not give birth to boys, the man automatically should marry again as he seeks to restore his respect in the society.

Being Moran is a journey that happens in many small steps and this makes them special in the society to an extent for an outsider they are viewed as condescending. The Moran culture not only is it designed to make them wild but also to be ‘heartless’ such that in case of war they will not have family attachment being an impediment.

Similarly, herding is instilled at a young age to the sons. At the age of 3 years a son is given his first responsibility which is herding the kids (baby goats); between the ages of 5-8 years the boy looks after calves; and from the age of 8-10 years he is placed in charge of a whole flock, and gets assistance from the elder brothers (if he has any) or dad. In cases where the boys are attending school, then they herd during the weekend whereas during the week an elder brother who did not enrol in school herds.

In cases where a family does not have a son and they need help, there is allowance to seek assistance to mix a flock with one of a family member or neighbour they herd together.

Moran’s are the proudest set in the Samburu society. In the level of importance in the society first is the elders and secondly is the Moran’s. Everyone else is others. The role of morans in a community is to provide security and be ready to defend the society and their wealth (animals) under all circumstances.

Cow pen next to Patrine’s manyatta

The wife’s room with the kids inside a manyatta & kitchen storage in Patrines’ manyatta

A father who has sons shares his animals with them at different stages. While a young boy, a son is allocated some animals (all others born out of his share increase his herd); when the boy becomes a Moran, he gets another share of animals from his father’s flock. He will either get his last share when he marries and has to start his own herd or if the father passes on then all remaining animals are shared amongst the sons.

Moran-ism is attained upon circumcision. Circumcision is done in age sets and in cycles of 7 years each. The last circumcision was held in 2013 and the next is expected in 2020. But the question remains, what happens if you miss an age set for one reason or another and realise that you are becoming too old such that you can’t wait for the next age set? The response from an elder was that in such case parents can approach elders and seek exemption for their son. One valid reason that would make elders permit your son to get circumcised outside an age set is if the son wants to marry. After circumcision stage, several things happen:

• A son cannot eat at the mother’s house but rather in the forest. After circumcision, a ritual is done where a certain part of a sheep is given by a son to his mother as sign of thanksgiving since he was born. This also to signify his last meal to eat in his mother’s house. Post circumcision, the only way a mother can assist a son is with probably purchasing for him some foods to go share with fellow Moran’s. am meant to understand this also serves to ensure Moran’s from not so well up families also get to feed well by sharing with the rest.

• No Moran eats alone but rather a culture of sharing is instilled in them. This is aimed at building togetherness which becomes their anchor in times of war. This ensures they are self sufficient

• With all the controversy on how Moran’s relate with food I was curious as to whether there is any lady who can cook for them and they eat. The two scenarios emerged:

• An old lady can cook for them tea, but for them to drink she would still have to leave the room

• If a Moran marries, he will not eat his wife’s food until he does a ritual that will allow the elders to convert him to a ‘mzee’. The ritual is done after about 3 months in marriage and during this celebration then he is crowned and has effectively graduated. During this celebration there is also ‘muratina’ a local brew made by grandmothers out of a mix of sugar, honey and herbs (‘SUKUROI’ sticks)

• They cannot eat in front of females. This to an extent that when in a hotel, some have sections for Moran’s only where no female is allowed. This taboo is so strong such that in case a woman / lady goes seeking firewood in the forest and accidentally bumps on them when they are in the process of slaughtering or preparing a meal, the woman / lady has to take off at high speed. This is because it is believed ‘umekanyanga chakula’. What this means is that they can’t eat that food. In case by bad luck they catch up with the lady she is beaten and made to eat all the food

• They do not eat birds e.g. chicken. Interestingly, Samburu is blessed with plenty of ‘kienyeji’ chicken but the Moran’s do not eat, as its considered a taboo

Patrine shows us what he carries with him daily: a knife, soap, mirror, match box and perfume …

• Moran’s are believed they do not poo but rather remove cowrie shells

• One should remain a Moran for about 13 years. Initially the set age by the elders was 15 years but this they duly reviewed recently. During this period, there are several “MUGET” (Moran graduation) ceremonies held:

• Two years after circumcision, a leader is identified amongst the age set by the elders

• No Moran within this age set can marry prior to the leader getting a wife. The wife is carefully selected from a family that the elders feel after a careful investigation process befits.

• In case any Moran wants to marry before the leader gets a wife, he has to seek permission from the elders and after a lot of deliberations, if the reason is found to be compelling then he is permitted. Example of compelling reason is if a father dies and the son being the eldest has to take up head of household then in such a circumstance he may seek elders permission to marry before the leader in the age set marries

Sexual BehaviourHe opened about the courting process which he describes as playful, fun and happens in different steps which are described as:• A Moran spots a potential girl• Approaches and speaks to her’• The moran surveys the girl through friends to confirm her

character and how hardworking she is. This gives him assurance that he has found a wife who can build a home. As it is in Samburu culture, the women do 90% of the work at home including: herding animals, fetching water, building the manyatta, being the breadwinner, cooking and all other household chores. The men take the animals only to far away places to herd during drought seasons

• They chat for some time and if in agreement they move to the next step

• The Moran visits the girls parents to tell of his intentions• He negotiates for himself to the girl’s parents on number of

animals he is expected to pay as dowry• The girls’ father comes to a consensus on number of animals

Patrine’s cow hide bed

A Samburu girl from fetching water at the river

However, this dies off with time. This he attributes to:• The culture does not teach the art of pleasure but

rather sex is viewed as the action of a female satisfying a man’s needs

• Their lifestyle, where a man having been out all day herding comes back tired and he says he does not think any man will have time to flirt with the wife

In his opinion he says some of the things that fuel

RISKY SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR include:

• The singing events held in the wee hours of the

night where Moran’s are present with ladies with

no supervision provides an open risk platform

• Culture, where older men marry very young girls.

Unfortunately, since sex is an act not for

pleasure, there is increasing cases of infidelity. In

this case the married women are seeking younger

Moran’s for pleasure while still in marriage. This

is because as a young Moran one ‘seduces,

touches and stimulates’ whereas for husbands

who are also way older than the wife’s’ there

does not exist any level of intimacy. In fact, one

described it as an act that is preceded by a ‘TAP’

on the thigh which is supposed to signal the wife

its time to turn, the man satisfies his needs then

goes to sleep immediately and the wife is not

expected to talk or ask questions. Asking why a

wife cannot talk to a man after sex a lady jokingly

said ‘after the act wanaume wanapandisha moli’.

This means in case a wife questions she is calling

for thorough beating. If even sex can lead to

gender based violence, there will be no reason

for a wife not to seek the younger Moran who is

willing to provide pleasure she so much desires

but does not get.Moran adorn with strong perfume

Moran’s adopt pomp & color for special occasions

Challenges that greatly affect adoption of contraceptives among the Moran’s:

• Fear as Moran’s remain an untouchable segment of the Samburu community

• Seclusion: Moran’s don’t mix with the rest and expected to eat and live in the forest or jungle

The programmes that would work for this target have to include:

• Generational transfer of information at circumcision

• Recruitment of Moran CHV’s

• Programmes in line with the herding cycles of Moran’s

• Moonlight programmes during cultural music nights

Conclusion

On SEX and RELATIONSHIP, he says male are not only dominant but rather women have minimal rights. He is quick to reiterate that during recent times as Moran’s are marrying girls their age mates, there is element of freedom to a certain extent such that during the early years of marriage there is pleasure but also the lady can ask for sex.

Married girl out of school (15-19 years)

Naanyu at the settlement where she does beading

She is 19 years old married with 2 girls . One aged 5 and the other one aged 2 years old. She was the only girl in her family and was never allowed to go to school. She was married at the age of 14 years as a source of dowry for her parents and also to educate her 4 other elder brothers. She lives with Her husband is aged 34 years and 2 other children aged 12 and 9 who were left by the previous wife of her husband.

Her daily routine involves waking up at 5:00 to prepare breakfast for the 12 year old child who goes to school and in class 2.The 9year old girl was supposed to start school in the beginning of the year but she has not started as she assists her mother in herding the goats .

She always looks up to meeting other women in the market and has made it part of her routine to go to Archers post market even if she does not need to make purchases. She always returns to the house at 10:00 and the first thing she does is fetching water from the water kiosk which they buy at KES 5 per 20 litre bottle. She then prepares lunch at 11:00 before the child from school arrives for lunch. The afternoon is her work station time where she starts her beading and she has taught the 2 children aged 9 and 12 and they always assist her whenever they are home in the afternoon.

The beads are always bought by tourist who come to the village to be entertained by the Samburu cultural dances where they always wear the beads and display the rest. Saturday is the market day and they take their beads to Archers post market together with the livestock for sale. The beads range from Kes 50 to Kes 500 depending on the size of the beads and the buyer as the tourists always buy the beads at a higher price

Introduction

At 8:00 she goes to Archers post to take the beads that she can use for beading. This is always an opportunity for her to go and interact with the other women in the market and discuss on the issues around the women and also about life, financial empowerment and betterment of their children’s future.

Display of beadwork

Samburu Manyatta in Sereolipi

Dreams & Aspirations

She wants the best for her children and her step children as he sees them as his own. She is a victim of early marriage and would not like the same for her children. She would like to see that all her children go to school and successfully complete their education irrespective of their gender. One of the child is not in school taking care of the herd but she says she will allow her to go to school the coming year

They have a Chama of beadwork where each of them contributes 100 weekly for their welfare and through the Chama they have a greenhouse where they plant tomatoes. She is also saving so that she would bring up a green house and maybe move from the Manyatta to a brick house.

She admits that she had started having sex at the age of 12 years with the Morans when she was herding the goats. She was the last born and was left to herd as her brothers went to school. She had a Moran ‘boyfriend’ who would give her money in return for sex. At the age of 14 her father introduced her to his widowed friend who finally married her after impregnating her. She did not having any information on contraceptives until she gave birth to her first child where the nurse introduced her to the depo which she has been using since then without telling her husband who she says is violent and she would dare not even speak about it. She is not willing to get any other child as for now she has 4 children under her care.

Having been married to a 35 year old man who is nor 39 years old she has other sexual partners who are about her age who they mostly meet in the market. Her main concern is pregnancy

Sexual Behaviour

Her main source of information are the women at the market who always enlighten her on how to take care of her children and savings for their education and also investing as a Chama.

GreenHouse in Archers PostThe main source of information is mouth to mouth at the market place:

• They have groups that they save, invest and talk about their children’s future – these can be leverage for information dissemination using influencers within their circle

• The nurses and medical practitioners are a great influence to decisions on health and contraceptives – recruit known medical practitioners and create a revolving community contraceptive action group. The action group can administer the contraceptives at the homes of the women as well as track those that have to do spacing; keep tabs of girls growing up; thus administer the contraceptives when necessary to school going girls too

Conclusion

Porro Radar station situated at the highest point in Samburu

College Student

College Student Introduction

She is 22 years and a first-year college student at a local

college in Maralal where she attends evening classes between

5.30 to 7.30PM daily. She is pursuing a diploma in tour

guiding. During the day she works at the same college as a

secretary which is her side hustle. She hopes to get a job

immediately after school. She lives in Yare with her family

which is about 10 kilometres from Maralal town.

Her dreams are to get married after working for about 2-3

years and have 3-4 children. She says she is open to getting

married to either a Samburu or non-Samburu man. She is sure

her family would also be open to her marrying a non-Samburu

man. What she is sure of is that she does not want a co-wife

because even the dad has a single wife with whom they have

5 children.

Her greatest motivation and admiration comes from a cousin who is not only

working but also seems to have his life organized, he knows what he wants, how to

get it and where and what to do.

Her worries revolve around the uncertainty in her future – when to complete her

studies, get a job, getting school fees for each term, and achieving a level of self-

reliance.

Her main sources of income are her parents with supplements from her side hustle

and friends. In her free time she enjoys going for a game drive with her friends at the

Samburu Lodge, swimming, clubbing and drinking. Mostly for drinks, her and her

friends have preference for vodka which they buy the 750ml bottle (top choices are

Smirnoff and Blue Moon) and share with choice mixers (e.g. Sprite, etc.). Their

favourite hangout joint is Samburu Lounge and Yare Lounge which are all out of main

town. This is because they walk home, their preference revolves around locations out

of town towards home such that with Yare lounge being the last stop over for the

night is within short walking distance from home. Mainly they go out on Friday’s after

the evening lesson with a mix of friends from school and out of school.

Relationship and sex

Her conversations with her friends mainly revolve

around studies, hustle, money, sex and family

planning. Some of the things they talk about in family

planning include use and non-use of condoms, use of

P2. Though she admits she does not know much about

other family planning methods, she has heard her

friends talk about some of the methods like injections

and also heard there are those that have side effects.

She and her boy friends have been dating for three

years and within this times its only one that they did

not use a condom and ended up buying a P2. Her

agreement with her boyfriend is that they have to

keep using the condom until when they are ready to

get serious then they will both go to the hospital and

get advice on the best method for her to use.

Education: her and all her siblings were

enrolled in school

Early marriage: her and her sisters are sure

they are not at risk of early marriage

considering her parents are not only educated

but also her being the first born and is still in

school and past the age of 20 she is convinced

FGM: she was not made to undergo the

cut but rather went through the

alternative right of passage

Fading culture

She feels that being born within proximity of an urban centre and her parents having gone to school

has contributed to who she is today. To this end she feels some of the cultural practices are slowly

fading away. These include: ‘Shanga’: growing up she did not wear shanga

but rather wears them now as part of beauty

during occasions not as a mark of identity.

Additionally, the shanga

Female working & in business(20-24 years)

Salome outside her one bedroom house in Maralal

Single mother, literate Introduction

She is a single mother of two school going children, a girl aged

6 years and a boy aged 3 years. Her day starts early at 5.00am,

she washes her face, lights the jiko, makes breakfast, prepares

the children for school. She is cleaning officer at the Maralal

County Hospital where on a typical week she works for at least

6 days a week on a shift system. She has been working at the

hospital since March 2017 and she says this has greatly made a

significant change in her life. Prior to the employment, she

would make homemade liquid soap and sell, though in her

view this had a downside of irregular income. This used to see

her really struggle to keep up with school fees payment and

rent. Currently she says the regular income from employment

has seen her grow and stabilize as she can plan her growth.

Presently, every evening and her off days she works at her

grocery kiosk to supplement her income.

She was born from a family of 5 children and her mom was widowed. This meant that she

did not get to go school. She does not want to deny her children a chance to go to school as

she knows it’s the most important thing and gift she can give to them. Thus her greatest

dream is to get a better and more comfortable life while also providing good education for

her children. This is also in addition to her dreams for her kids to study up to college /

university and become lawyers and doctors. Some of the challenges she has is taking care of

her children during the days that she has to do night shift. As it is she takes the two children

to her sister’s house and picks them up after work at around 10pm-11pm. This she feels is

an inconvenience for her children as for now she is not in a position to hire a helper who can

look after her children. Though she knows her sister is okay and happy to look after her

children, for her it’s about the hustle her children must go through and coping with the

movement to and from her sister’s place two to three times a week.

Salome’s kitchen space in her one bedroom house

Salome at her sister’s garden where she gets kales for selling in her grocery kiosk

• Mode of dressing – the ladies are expected to

dress in a skirt and shuka to act as the top.

However, as modernization slowly checks in the

ladies are now allowed to wear tshirts beneath the

shukas. Its important to note that all the skirts are

expected to be below the knee in terms of length

• Father Daughter relationship – the girls are not

expected to stay or sleep in the same house with

the father thus a separate house called the

‘SINGIRA’ is built for them. If the girl is in the

house and the father arrives she has to exit the

house with her face down. In case the girl needs

anything in the house while the dad is still in the

house she has to call the mom outside and send

her whatever she needs from the house. All these

are signs of respect.

❖ It is considered shameful for a girl to seat

in close proximity to the father

• ‘Singira’- Girls are allowed to go and sleep in a

different ‘singira’ within the area. Sometimes

these ‘singira’ are used as meeting points

between Morans and the ladies. If Morans visit

the ‘singira’ at night in an unwarranted

manner, the girls are at liberty to report them

to the elders. This will see the Morans being

taken to the forest and beaten as a form of

punishment by the elders. For many of the

girls it is at the ‘singira’ visits that they get

initiated into sexual behaviour.

CULTURE

According to her, there are several things in their culture that has made Samburu women remain reserved. Some of these are:

• Ladies relationship with elders (male) -

ladies are expected to hold high respect

for their elders though out their lives.

This is exhibited through:

o When a lady / ladies are walking

on the road and see an elder they

are automatically expected to

walk on the other side of the road

keep a significant distance from

the elder

o She cannot address the elders

under any circumstances

• Early pregnancy – the main places where the girls are exposed and end up engaging in sex. These

are:

o At the ‘singira’

o In the forest – during the day as girls go to the river they sometimes deviate and end up

meeting with the Morans ass they herd cattle. Mostly the younger girls have sex with older

Morans

o In the bush – there are cultural festivals that are held at night where Morans and ladies

sing, dance and celebrate in a night vigil. During these occasions the girls are also exposed

to sexual behaviour

▪ If by any chance a girl gets pregnant, then it was a nightmare for any girl. This is

because it is a taboo for a girl to get pregnant outside wedlock. Thus, it was usually

upon the grandmothers to take care of it. Traditionally the grandmothers would take

the girl deep into the forest. Dig a small shallow trench, place the girl there and

using the elbow or the knee, press the girl’s lower abdomen until the girl aborts.

After the process a mixture of herbs with cow or goat oil would be given to the girl

to help clean the stomach. Unfortunately, the harsh process of using the knee or

elbow using to have extremely negative effects on the victim; some of the girls

would:

• Die

• Become invalids from then on

• Get very sick

FADING CULTURES

All the same, it is good to know that some of the cultures of which most of them were considered

oppressing especially to the woman are fading. Some of the fading cultures include:

✓ The girls can now live in the same house with the father.

SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

One of the plants whose traditionally are used as tissue

Porro view point to the great Rift Valley where urban youth from Maralal go when they have money to spare