Who will relieve the Karimojong girl-child of her plight?
Jun 01, 2008
A baby screams from a ram shackled hut for about 20 minutes, under the baking sunshine. Later, the mother returns home carrying a jerrycan and firewood.
By Conan Businge
A baby screams from a ram shackled hut for about 20 minutes, under the baking sunshine. Later, the mother returns home carrying a jerrycan and firewood.
The young Karimojong woman, dressed in tattered dirty clothes, looks tired and tied down by her chores as a wife.
Twenty-year-old Maria Kudoni, a resident of Lobulio village, married six years ago. She had just lost her mother and was over-weighed by responsibilities at home.
She was also the only daughter of her father who resided in Naitakwei village in Moroto district. Therefore, she decided to marry a karachuna (rustler).
Many a girl like Kudoni were married off at an early age.
Some of them who are still living with their parents can hardly go to school. In this land, girls do most of the work as the boys relax.
Before marriage, girls stay at home to do domestic chores or odd jobs in town to get money for food. When they turn 13, they are married off.
Women are supposed to take care of their children, alongside building houses for their families. The men rustle and take care of livestock as well as meeting their friends at their manyatas (homesteads) everyday to drink local brew.
Immediately the Karimojong girls get married, they have to work hard to appease their husbands for the hundreds of cattle that the men paid for bride-price.
Before the boys marry, they spend a lot of time at their fathers’ kraals, but after the wedding, they spend most of their time at home relaxing. “This is our culture. Why would I bother collecting water or even constructing a new hut in my manyata when I paid bride price for someone? That is not sensible,†an old man in his 70s explains.
Unfortunately, like other Karimojong, Kudoni’s culture does not favour girls. She produced four children, but two of them fell sick and died a few months ago.
“My husband is not bothered. He told me that it was the responsibility of women to look after their children. My eight-month-old baby may not live to see next year. She is also terribly sick,†laments Kudoni.
Nakapiripirit has 13 health units and one hospital at Amudat. Tokora and Nabilatuk health centres will be upgraded to hospital status. However, the health units are dogged by a shortage of drugs and equipment.
Amudat, the main hospital, is located at the Uganda-Kenya border and is not easy to access.
Amudat is located in a territory controlled by the Pokot, some of whom have been at loggerheads with the other Karimojong sub-groups over rustling. This has forced many girls like Kudoni to seek health services from places far away from Amudat.
As fate would have it, these are the same girls who can hardly access education in this region.
Paul Abul, the Moroto’s district education officer, says: “Parents believe if their daughters attain formal education, they will become less competent wives, prostitutes or run away to marry non-Karimojong men. They fear the men will divert them from the Karimojong culture.â€
Save the Children’s national adviser on basic education, Zakariya Kasirye, says there should be division of labour in Karamoja and more counselling services if the girl-child is to have a decent lifestyle.
The 2002 population census revealed that 78.7% of school-age going children (6-12 years) in Moroto have never been to school; 50.3% were girls and 81.8% of children between 13-17 years have never accessed education, of which 50.1% were girls.
The net enrolment rate at primary school level stands at 34.33%, with females at 27.92%. The net enrolment ratio is the number of pupils of recommended age group that should be in school.
In the neighbouring districts — Nakapiripit and Kotido, the ratio for female pupils is 35.61% to 24.94%, respectively.
Save the Children’s Alternative Basic Education for Karamoja has given most of these girls an opportunity to go to school. But that has not solved their problems.
“Most of the girls do not concentrate in class and others are not even allowed by their parents to go school,†says Eric Kiiza, the Moroto Save the Children team leader.
The organisation recommends girl-only boarding schools and having female role models to work in the community so that they can encourage girls to stay in school.
It also recommends setting up a university scholarship scheme for Karimojong girls so that more girls can access tertiary education. Compulsory education, which is in the offing, is also considered a means of relieving these girls of their burdens.
The state minister for gender, Rukia Isanga, says the Government has set up programmes to uplift the region and the girl-child countrywide. She says boosting education in Karamoja is the greatest weapon that can be used to help the girl-child.
If nothing is done about the Karimojong girls’ plight, several of them may never share the fruits of a developing region. They will always be kept in the backyard.
A baby screams from a ram shackled hut for about 20 minutes, under the baking sunshine. Later, the mother returns home carrying a jerrycan and firewood.
The young Karimojong woman, dressed in tattered dirty clothes, looks tired and tied down by her chores as a wife.
Twenty-year-old Maria Kudoni, a resident of Lobulio village, married six years ago. She had just lost her mother and was over-weighed by responsibilities at home.
She was also the only daughter of her father who resided in Naitakwei village in Moroto district. Therefore, she decided to marry a karachuna (rustler).
Many a girl like Kudoni were married off at an early age.
Some of them who are still living with their parents can hardly go to school. In this land, girls do most of the work as the boys relax.
Before marriage, girls stay at home to do domestic chores or odd jobs in town to get money for food. When they turn 13, they are married off.
Women are supposed to take care of their children, alongside building houses for their families. The men rustle and take care of livestock as well as meeting their friends at their manyatas (homesteads) everyday to drink local brew.
Immediately the Karimojong girls get married, they have to work hard to appease their husbands for the hundreds of cattle that the men paid for bride-price.
Before the boys marry, they spend a lot of time at their fathers’ kraals, but after the wedding, they spend most of their time at home relaxing. “This is our culture. Why would I bother collecting water or even constructing a new hut in my manyata when I paid bride price for someone? That is not sensible,†an old man in his 70s explains.
Unfortunately, like other Karimojong, Kudoni’s culture does not favour girls. She produced four children, but two of them fell sick and died a few months ago.
“My husband is not bothered. He told me that it was the responsibility of women to look after their children. My eight-month-old baby may not live to see next year. She is also terribly sick,†laments Kudoni.
Nakapiripirit has 13 health units and one hospital at Amudat. Tokora and Nabilatuk health centres will be upgraded to hospital status. However, the health units are dogged by a shortage of drugs and equipment.
Amudat, the main hospital, is located at the Uganda-Kenya border and is not easy to access.
Amudat is located in a territory controlled by the Pokot, some of whom have been at loggerheads with the other Karimojong sub-groups over rustling. This has forced many girls like Kudoni to seek health services from places far away from Amudat.
As fate would have it, these are the same girls who can hardly access education in this region.
Paul Abul, the Moroto’s district education officer, says: “Parents believe if their daughters attain formal education, they will become less competent wives, prostitutes or run away to marry non-Karimojong men. They fear the men will divert them from the Karimojong culture.â€
Save the Children’s national adviser on basic education, Zakariya Kasirye, says there should be division of labour in Karamoja and more counselling services if the girl-child is to have a decent lifestyle.
The 2002 population census revealed that 78.7% of school-age going children (6-12 years) in Moroto have never been to school; 50.3% were girls and 81.8% of children between 13-17 years have never accessed education, of which 50.1% were girls.
The net enrolment rate at primary school level stands at 34.33%, with females at 27.92%. The net enrolment ratio is the number of pupils of recommended age group that should be in school.
In the neighbouring districts — Nakapiripit and Kotido, the ratio for female pupils is 35.61% to 24.94%, respectively.
Save the Children’s Alternative Basic Education for Karamoja has given most of these girls an opportunity to go to school. But that has not solved their problems.
“Most of the girls do not concentrate in class and others are not even allowed by their parents to go school,†says Eric Kiiza, the Moroto Save the Children team leader.
The organisation recommends girl-only boarding schools and having female role models to work in the community so that they can encourage girls to stay in school.
It also recommends setting up a university scholarship scheme for Karimojong girls so that more girls can access tertiary education. Compulsory education, which is in the offing, is also considered a means of relieving these girls of their burdens.
The state minister for gender, Rukia Isanga, says the Government has set up programmes to uplift the region and the girl-child countrywide. She says boosting education in Karamoja is the greatest weapon that can be used to help the girl-child.
If nothing is done about the Karimojong girls’ plight, several of them may never share the fruits of a developing region. They will always be kept in the backyard.