October 1-15, 2010
ISSUE 026
A bimonthly on-line newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service
Women from Modogashe at a workshop on Agenda Four issues. These women have suffered historical injustices and continue to be ostracised by the community. Picture: Abjata Khalif
Modogashe’s concubines Women kidnapped in clan conflicts, sexually violated and now ostracised by community
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By Abjata Khalif
t is afternoon and the scorching sun is causing discomfort in Modogashe town, some 250 kilometres from Garissa. The main route to other towns in northern Kenya like Wajir and Mandera passes through this dusty town, which gets its temporary glory when a convoy of vehicles from Garissa makes a stopover. As you approach the town, a village with makeshift houses made of polythene will attract your attention. However, as get closer to the dotted structures, you will notice a group of women and children by the
main road. They are almost like beggars, hoping to get relief food from here. The relief food is normally distributed in this village. These women have not received the ratios in the recent past due to the heavy rains that rendered the road impassable, hindering lorries carrying relief food from reaching the area in time. But before we can satisfy our curiosity, a woman inside our vehicle shouts: “Look at these women, they are ‘conflict concubines’ and are not allowed into the main town.” She then proceeds to explain to other women passengers: “It seems they are hungry and their ‘business’ is not good these days.”
The statement raises debate inside the bus as the conductor says that the ‘women prostitutes’ are hungry as they have not received relief food for the last two months due dilapidated road. Women passengers inside the bus curse the women outside and call them names, a sign that the society does not welcome them. But unknown to the passengers, journalists from Kenya Pastoralist Journalist Network (PAJAN) are inside the bus on a mission to meet the concubines. The objective of the trip is to train the women on issues surrounding Truth, Justice, Reconciliation among other Agenda Four issues like constitution review and national cohesion.
These are women who have suffered historical injustices and are victims of crimes against humanity. Among the community here, to hold on to one’s virginity is chaste. If one loses their virginity either by choice or through other circumstances like rape, the burden of guilt is with the woman. These are women who lost their virginity, and did not get married according to cultural or religious norms. They have been forced to face the wrath of the community through no mistake of their own. Cursed and ostracised from their communities, these women and their illegitimate children have moved to this area Continued on page 2
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