The Samburu tribe occupies extensive arid lands in the north of Kenya. They are related to the Maasai tribes of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are a seminomadic tribe and their primary economic activity revolves around the growth and sale of cattle, sheep and goats. Samburu society is gerontocratic, meaning that the tribe’s power lies in the elderly, and they are the ones that arrange marriages, mediate conflict and take all important decisions that affect the community.
Samburu culture is strictly patriarchal. Every fifteen years, the tribe perform a mass circumcision of its male members between the ages of 8 and 25 years old. Five years after being circumcised, male members are allowed to marry. Cultural traditions force Samburu women to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) and Samburu women are married off to other members of the tribe starting at a very young age. The Samburu are a polygamic culture, and it is common that the young women married off to older men are usually that man’s second or third wife.
The Samburu woman is humble and strong. They are responsible for coordinating grazing (which is done by children chosen by the family), domestic work, construction of houses — nkaji or manyatta — and water collection, among others responsibilities. A majority of the women do not go to school, and education is usually reserved for men. However, not all of the children of a family go to school are only some are chosen to get an education, depending on the resources and desires of the family.
The Samburu culture is a culture where the opinion of women does not matter. A Samburu woman tends to have no say over her life or body, and she can be punished with physical violence for any reason. Additionally, the children belong to the man. In the event that the woman decides to leave the husband for abuse (and the laws are starting to support women who are abused) she loses rights over her children and they are left to the abusive husband. Because of the polygamic structure of most Samburu families, a patriarch shares a nkaji with all his wives, which often produces confrontation among the women of the house. This is a serious psycho-social problem.
This situation of the Samburu woman — genital mutilation, many responsibilities of pastoral and domestic work, denial of education and physical violence in some cases — is clearly an abuse of her human rights hidden behind traditions that are accepted by both the men and women of the tribe. This situation demands action by both the national government and the international community. At the local level, actions aimed at empowering women through education are incredibly important because it is only by educating women that they can begin to discern what is desirable and what is not desirable. For all these reasons, I decided to come to Kenya, where the Samburu tribe lives. I believe that in the 21st century we all have a duty to give our time and talents to contribute to the well-being of other human beings. By educating others on their rights, we can become a seed that brings about immense change.