Celebrating International Women’s Day in Kajiado

Last week on March 8, the world celebrated International Women’s Day. Naretoi, a small, sleepy village in Kajiado Central, was not left behind. In their own modest way, they marked this day with pomp and glory despite the many challenges they continue to face. NJOKI CHEGE was there

We will overcome the challenges,

We will overcome witchcraft,

We will overcome the mountains,

We will overcome the cut…

Sopiato Sena, a community health nurse at Naretoi Centre examines one of the women. Access to health care is a major challenge for the community. [Photo: Wilberforce Okwiri/Standard]

These are the paraphrased words sung by children in Naretoi village in Enkorika division of Kajiado Central, during their International Women’s Day celebrations.

As their young, shrill voices echoed across the valleys and hills of this sunny village, I asked myself whether these children understood the depth of their words.

Rough terrain

We had come a long way to be there as Naretoi is some tedious 55km away from Kajiado town. You have to brave a rough terrain to get there. Our driver shocked us by telling us that we had come at a ‘good time’ when you can actually see the terrain. When it rained, people forgot about travelling around this area; it became one big impassable thicket.

Located in the middle of nowhere, you have to search for a single homestead, let alone a village. Yet we found more than 100 men, women and children, looking all colourful in their traditional Maasai attire and chunky jewellery, waiting to celebrate the International Women’s Day with us.

This Maasai community sang like they had no care in the world, but beneath the pomp and colour, lay a village grappling and almost crippled by diverse challenges that often infringed on their human rights.

Living in Naretoi is no mean feat. ‘Naretoi’ is the Maasai word for ‘helping each other out’ and indeed, these people need all the help they can get. Sample some quick facts: The village has only 29 homesteads sparsely spread out and separated by kilometres of game-infested thickets. The nearest river is about eight kilometres away and the seasonal river barely has any drop of water.

In a majority of the homesteads, at least one of the family members is either HIV-positive or has a serious case of tuberculosis (TB), and the worst part is that most of them don’t know what is ailing them. To make it worse, their manyattas –– traditional huts –– have poor or no ventilation at all, hence speeding up the spread of TB.

Maternal death rate

Of the 29 homesteads in Naretoi, 75 per cent of the families practice female genital mutilation, a normal procedure here. Maternal deaths are as common as a common cold, with many mothers dying at childbirth if not days later. Pregnancy in Naretoi, I’m told, is a matter of life and death. With the nearest health centre being 160km away in Mbirigani, many women die even before they make it halfway to the health centre, and they are lucky to find transport.

On this day, as our host Lanoi Parmuat –– an aggressive anti-FGM crusader –– tells us, many of the people have also come from neighbouring villages to discuss the host of issues facing the community.

"Some have walked for five hours to be here, that is why we couldn’t start in the morning," explains Lanoi.

Lanoi works with Enai Africa, a non-governmental organisation that has been piloting a project with the Free Pentecostal Church to fight FGM and create awareness among the Maasai. The community-based initiative has spread its wings throughout Narok North and Kajiado counties.

Enai Africa has been holding this ceremony for years now, with each year having a different theme surrounding the issues faced by the community.

As we gather at the recently constructed Naretoi Centre, which has a one-roomed clinic, a church and an office, the children begin to sing. They too, have walked for kilometres with their parents, but it doesn’t show on their faces or voices –– they are used to it.

Clad in orange, blue and pink uniforms, complete with chunky Maasai jewellery around their little necks, the children begin to chant the victory words of the songs, some too young to understand, but not too young to shout the words at the top of their voices.

Women’s rights

Soon, the men and women begin to give their speeches. One woman in particular, Elizabeth Muruntoi, stands out. She is the chair of Naretoi Women’s Group and a widow.

Elizabeth says: "I have never stepped on a platform such as this to speak about women and their rights. This is the first International Women’s Day I have observed and I am moved. The only thing I would want to urge you is to stop FGM and send your little girls to school instead. This vice will pull us down even further."

Rosia Roaka, a mother of five, says that International Women’s Day means the world to her since it is one of the few days that the world takes time to appreciate the role of women in society. She, however, lines up a few challenges she would like to see addressed.

"In this time and age, women in Naretoi still fall victim to ignorance, barbaric practices and poverty. We still depend on livestock for our livelihood and the little money we get from selling milk can barely sustain us," Rose says.

She gives a picture of a typical family living in Naretoi. Women start their day by taking their cattle eight kilometres to the river to drink and later to graze, as the men harvest sand for livelihood.

An average girl in Naretoi will drop out of school shortly after Standard Eight because of early pregnancy, while the average boy will most probably drop out earlier to become a sand harvester.

When life becomes tough in Naretoi, a typical man will go to the city (Nairobi) to earn a living. While in Nairobi, chances are he will contract HIV and he will in turn infect his wife.

Lanoi says the two main challenges that need to be addressed with immediate effect are access to health care and sanitation.

Sopiato Sena is a community health nurse at Naretoi Centre and has come face to face with the community’s biggest nightmares.

"The main issue here is lack of access to health care. The dispensaries are far away and inadequate. TB, HIV and reproductive health issues are common but we need a bigger facility in order to fully address these," offers Sopiato.

As the function ends, we are ushered back to our car after a quick lunch and we begin to head back to Nairobi. The thought of the rough terrain is paralysing, but we brave it anyway. A few kilometres on the road, we realise that a lorry that came before us had destroyed part of the road. It was now a dry impassable riverbank full of sand that made us doubt if we would ever get back to Nairobi in time for a dinner party I was scheduled to attend in honour of International Women’s Day.

Luckily, we managed the riverbank and before we knew it, we were on the main road, en route to Nairobi. Despite everything, I was glad I chose to spend the day with this community in Naretoi.