Do you know there is a place where only women live and exist? Yes, all Men are ban from coming, living or staying in this village. It was started as a small community of rejected and depressed women kicked out by there husband’s and families to grow into a Village. You may never have seen or read this but i will explain to you, all about this village and where you can find it below.Umoja is the name of the village, in the grassland of Samburu, northern Kenya. It was founded in 1990 by 15 women who were raped by British soldiers. The population of the village have now grown from the initial 15 to include women escaping child marriage, FGM-female genital mutilation, domestic violence and rape. All of which are cultural norms of the people of Samburu.
Are you getting surprised now….you may say wonderful. But why did this women leave there husband’s houses or family to come to Umoja. Where they victims of circumstances or what?Some of the rape survivors say their husband’s accused them of bringing dishonour to their families and kicked them out. They have no place to go or run to as the entire community also rejected them. They had no place to go, so they found a piece of land and settle in it to start life all over again. They name this land, Umoja.
Do you know it was one Rebecca Lolosoli who founded Umoja and she is the vilage matriach? She was in hospital recovering from a beating by a group of men when she came up with the idea of women-only community. The beating was an attempt to teach her a lesson when she dare spoke against the many injustices melted on women in the community.
Funny enough, this women manage to survived. There are currently 47 women and 200 children in Umoja. Although they live extremely frugally, these women and girls earn a regular income that provides food, clothing and shelter for all.
Many visitors and tourist do visit the village to see wonders for themselves. The women charge a modest entrance fee and hope that, once in the village the visitors will buy jewellery made by the women in the craft centre. What a a business idea you will say.
I told you a Village like this exist, its in Kenya and you can check it out if you plan a vacation to the country. You saw it here. So how do you rate this article?